Pitching is daunting enough on its own without having to worry about your inquiry getting lost in the wrong inbox! One of the biggest hurdles to pitching is finding the right person - and their contact info - to send your pitch email to. But, with a little research, it's much easier than you think to find the right person, or at least someone close to them, to send your pitch to.
1) Check their website: Always, always start with their website. You're looking for something referencing media contacts.
You may need to navigate to a general contact page first, within which will be several contact addresses for various types of inquiries, including media.
If that doesn't work, try looking for a PR page, or press releases. Either way, there will often be a media or PR contact person listed on one of these types of pages.
I try to avoid contact forms as much as possible, because who knows where those inquiries end up. The exception would be a smaller company, where the contact form is more likely to go to someone closer to the brand team.
2) Google it: "[Company name] media contact" or "[company name] press contact". It's that simple.
3) Use your network: If you've been blogging for a little while, you probably know other bloggers. Don't be afraid to ask around to see if someone has a contact at the brand you're interested in. And don't forget: when it's your turn to reciprocate, jump at the chance!
4) Peruse LinkedIn: Wait, you've been building your LinkedIn profile and network out, right? You should be! LinkedIn is a great way to network, and comes in handy when you're trying to do a "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" think to connect with a brand. Use the search bar at the top of your home page to locate the company profile for the brand and then peruse the company employee directory associated with the company profile for people with marketing, brand, or PR in their title. Find the most appropriate title you can and reach out.
5) Spam 'em. Ok, no, not really. But if you really, really can't find an email address on the website, try sending out a bunch of emails to generic addresses for the company. Examples:
- contact@[companydomain]
- info@[companydomain]
- hello@[companydomain]
- inquiries@ [companydomain]
- media@[companydomain]
And so on. They'll likely all bounce back, but it's a last ditch effort, so you have nothing to lose by trying.
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Bonus tip: If you're not certain whether the contact is the right person to be talking to, don't be afraid to acknowledge that in the email. I often include, as the last line before my signature, something along the lines of:
If you're not the right person to talk to about this, I'd appreciate it if you could forward my email to whomever is the person I should be talking to, or point me in the right direction (and I'm sorry to have bothered you).
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