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Three of the entrepreneurs who’ve reached out to me recently had similar advice for accomplishing their own PR. Their secret: email pitches to reporters and editors they did not know. Cold emails, but with a twist--In all three cases, the entrepreneurs took particular pains to study the writers’ articles and background and then approach them uniquely not to implore coverage, but to offer up what they had that might be of value to the other individual. They warmed the cold-call message with a desire to seek help only within the context of what would also (and even firstly) be helpful to them.
It’s the strategy April Morse, whom I wrote about last week, uses to approach reporters in addition to the writing she does for her blog.
Sar Haribhakti became a national columnist by mastering the art of "warm email" (Image courtesy of... [+]
It’s also the strategy Justin Lafazan, the 19-year-old founder of the NextGen Summit for millennial entrepreneurs (and current student at Wharton) used to get himself covered in USA Today, Entrepreneur, Inc., Huffington Post, and yes, into one of my own prior columns on June 26 about the particular requirements of millennial entrepreneurs. I counted the number of emails we’d exchanged before arriving at an idea I finally agreed would be fitting for one of my columns. Thirteen. He was polite and persistent (one of my own favorite PR tactics as well—be pleasantly persistent). At the point he finally won me over he admitted to spending an actual all-nighter to come up with an idea I would find too good to refuse. And it was.
This week I heard from a friend of Lafazan, a student from the University of Rochester, Sar Haribhakti. He struck up a conversation with me on social media by noting in a private message that he’d been reading my columns as inspiration for his own columns as a contributor to Huffington Post. He has just turned 21. He’s a university student, founder of a design business and also author of an upcoming book on authenticity in business and life for millennial entrepreneurs. I was fascinated. How did Haribhakti become a national columnist, I asked?
"It’s a crazy story,” he told me. He had reached out to Ariana Huffington in an email, with no intention of asking for anything. He had an article in his hands that he had written, and invited her thoughts on his piece, based on several articles she had written on a similar topic several years ago. Within six hours of receiving his message she had personally invited him to continue his writing as a regular contributor to Huffington Post. This was one month ago, and he’s written and posted eight columns so far.
One of his favorites, Warm Up Those eMails, outlines the strategies he talked about in his discussion with me.
Here are his secrets:
- Avoid traditional cold emailing rules. Like many millennial job seekers, Haribhakti had been given a prescribed format for the messages he should send to anybody in a position to help. First, his name and situation. Next, tell how he came to discover them and express his interest in what they do. Thirdly, do not expressly ask the individual to give him a job, but ask if they could simply meet for a visit over coffee at the time and place of their choice. The strategy resulted in meetings, sure enough. But the meetings (and the resulting relationships) were shallow. “Why would a renowned author, an investment wizard or a highly sought-after speaker help you because you sent them aesthetically pleasing emails with perfectly organized paragraphs?” he mused. Cold emails, even politely and personally phrased, essentially sow the seeds for a parasitical relationship, he realized. “If you are bold enough to ask for a coffee meeting in the first email, you might as well ask for a job or a million dollars in the same cold message,” he said. Which leads to secret number 2:
- Make people feel valued, not leveraged. Instead of disrespecting people’s time, take the time to offer a way to make their lives or work easier. “People don't care about your name or where you came from unless you are Warren Buffet or Seth Godin,” he says. “But they do care about how you can add value to them.” By helping people in even the smallest of ways, you sow the seeds for a genuine relationship with someone that over time (and often in a surprisingly short time) yields fruit in that the other individual will also be inclined to do their best in helping you achieve your own goals as well. In this way Haribhakti has created personal relationships with people like Alex Banayan, the world's youngest venture capitalist and Dorie Clark, a renowned marketing consultant and the author of Stand Out and Reinventing You. He “warm emailed” them by researching their background to see where and how he could add some value to them. No, he has not benefited tangibly from those relationships as of yet, but he believes that surrounding yourself with high caliber people can make a tremendous difference.
- Listen more than you speak. In establishing a working relationship with an author or editor, you get to learn from their journeys and from the paths they took to become successful.
- Establish credibility and trust. By bringing forward information that you couldn’t have known without research, you gain credibility with the person you are hoping to know.
- Plant the seeds for a lasting connection. The goal of a “warm message” sent with authenticity is not to get a response, but to get yourself onto the recipient’s radar.
There may not be a big amount of value you can add to a busy editor, but your authentic effort to take an interest in their publication and their work in order to add ideas, feedback or background on fitting stories holds tremendous significance. But in every case, begin your relationship with reporters (and others) by helping them with a step up the ladder instead of treating them as merely a step in your own ladder for getting ahead.
Haribhakti noticed too late a major spelling error in his message to Arianna Huffington. A “perfect” cold email would contain no errors. But the sincerity in his message came through in the same way that the sincerity in his message to me rang true and resulted in this column.
Contrast this approach with the hundreds of pitches I’ve received from entrepreneurs who have approached me with the following requests (not kidding):
- “I’m looking for someone to profile me in Forbes.”
- (This, in a call to my cellphone on New Years Day) “It’s my birthday today. And my present to myself is that you’re going to write about me in Forbes.” (I did not.)
- (Ignoring the background on my columns—ideas that could be instrumental to other entrepreneurs.) “What's in this story for other entrepreneurs? They should be inspired by what I’ve done.”
Haribhakti did none of these things. Now he’s a national columnist, which opens up the opportunity for him to grow his business and personal brand. And I’m sharing his PR strategy (my idea) in one of my columns on innovative entrepreneurial PR. This is an approach to PR that would help any business, large or small, with no agency or high budget, just a little time and effort involved.
Cheryl Snapp Conner is author of the Forbes eBook Beyond PR: Communicate Like a Champ In The Digital World. Do you have a great entrepreneurial PR story that others could learn from? If you do, reach out to Cheryl Conner via Forbes with your thoughts.
