I find myself ranting about how *dumb* most PR people are about online PR frequently. So I thought today it might make a nice change to show an example of an emailed pitch from a *smart* PR gal. I get more than 100 emailed press releases and pitches a day. This is one of the few I didn't delete. Instead I clicked on "reply" to set up the interview. The tactics she used are repeatable across industries:

SUBJECT LINE: Gale Group introduction [ok kinda bland, but not as bad as 'News from"]

MESSAGE COPY: Hi

Gale Group is a leading Internet content supplier. We're the world's largest publisher of reference information for libraries and have a fast-growing content licensing business. I recently discovered MarketingSherpa and like it very much. I've seen Gale mentioned in interviews and articles (sometimes as Gale Research -- a name we used until 1998).

I intend to add you to our media list, but would also like to offer our content experts as sources of interviews. For example, we're seeing a subtle shift in the content marketplace from pure content to content management tools (like indexes, thesauri, vocabulary tools). That shift, however small, signals a change in the content industry -- only a handful of companies currently build effective content management tools.

Gale's VP of Business Development -- Chris Morton -- is a thoughtful interview on this topic (pretty much anything on content is in his bailiwick). He understands the strengths of the main players and where the content industry is going. In an interview, his answers are meaty -- lots of depth and insight.

The MarketingSherpa interviews I've read have been quite interesting, so forgive me for providing a list of questions that you may already be contemplating, but I could envision questions like...
* Are you seeing a change in what content buyers are purchasing this year versus past years?

* Why are information buyers looking for content management tools?

*What tools are they looking for?

*What does that say about the sophistication of today's buyers?

*What does that say about where the content industry is going?

*What different skill sets do buyers and sellers need now versus a year ago?

*Who benefits from this change?

*Will there be an industry shake-out?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. I'd like to get to know you and also provide you with more background on Gale. My contact information is below. Thanks.

Beth Dempsey
Manager, Corporate Communications
Gale Group