Minisode: How to Nail Your Subject Line – Podcast Transcript

Lexie Smith 

Hi guys Lexie here, another minisode headed your way. Today, I have to give a disclaimer that by sound nasally it’s because I am, I am sick and I’ve been sick for over a week. Now, life goes on. So if I sound a little bit stuck up, stuck up, stepped up stuffed up. So word, it’s because I am Anyways, today we’re going to talk about how to nail a subject line. And this is something that are really passionate about because I don’t think it gets enough attention. So much focus is on nailing the pitch. But let me point something out to you, you could write the most perfect pitch. I mean, you could truly, truly nail it. But it doesn’t mean a thing if the email never gets opened. So many amazing pitches, never even get read. Because we have forgot or we have neglected to nail that subject line. So today we’re going to go over some best practices. Some things that I’ve learned, I’m going to give you some examples. And hopefully you find it helpful. So first thing when it comes to pitching in general, and knowing whether or not you’re nailing the subject line, I highly highly, highly suggest that you get some sort of software or technology that allows you to monitor open rates. Okay, now, if you have a paid software like decision, probably muck rack etc. You probably they probably honestly, I’m not sure they probably have their own system that monitors this fantastic. But if you’re operating out of Gmail, there’s tons of solutions that are completely free on the market. I use streak streak is an extension that integrates directly into my inbox, that shows me if and when my email was opened. This is a great indicator of whether or not our subject line was effective. So before you send your next pitch, or you start your next campaign, make sure you have this set up and turned on. This brings me to a strategy that my team and my agency use. It does not have a fancy name, I’m just going to call it drip and monitor. So here’s how that here’s what that looks like. So let’s say for giving campaign, we are going to send out 20 pitches. Now these 20 pitches have been very thoughtfully curated, customized and individualized, right? Before I sit down in time block an hour of my day to just press send, send, send, send, send, what my team and I will do is send one to two, from our I say kind of B List b list contacts meaning not like the main main main like top of our list, Wish List feature, but someone somewhere in the middle, maybe even towards the bottom. Wait, I send the email, maybe I send one or two or three Max, and I monitor to see if they get opened. If they do, then I start pressing send, send send and I can do it a lot more efficiently. If they don’t, this gives me time and space to really tweak my subject line. Because there’s likely two things that are happening if they aren’t getting opened. Three rather one that the journalist is out of town that we can’t really control, maybe you’ll get a bounce back to there’s a likelihood or a reality that you might not even be making it past their company’s email firewall, or you’re hitting spam or three, it’s just not that good. And you’re getting sent to trash. So by starting with a couple of pitches, and monitoring and being patient that allows us to troubleshoot in real time. So that’s a strategy you can play with. Now, what do we put in the actual subject line? I want you to think of your email inbox, like you would think of Google. I want you to think about it like Google in terms of searchability your email operates and works off search keywords just like Google. So your email subject lines should be thoughtfully keyword stacked. So here’s what I mean, let’s say you’re pitching a Mother’s Day gift guide with a fashion product. In your subject line, you should have Mother’s Day gift guide, fashion and your company name. Because what that allows us to do or allows the journalists to do is efficiently search for your pitch beyond the first time they see it. So, insider tip, tons of journalists have meticulous digital organization and categories and labeling systems in their inbox. Okay, so if you can only imagine they’re receiving hundreds 1000s Dozens depending on the journalist of pitches a day, and a lot of them like to hang on to them. Because while a pitch might not work for their specific article load at that point in time, it could look in the future. So they end up filing pitches based on topic and keyword and beat. I’ve spoken personally to journalists who have their labeling system based on beats. So it could be anything that says tech in a subject line gets filed into a folder, it can be labeled by outlet. So if something hits their inbox, and the subject line says this is a pitch for Forbes, and they’re a freelance writer, it gets filed. So be really, really thoughtful and literal. With the keywords you’re putting in your subject line. In my experience, it’s best practice to also be straightforward, and tell them what is in the pitch in your subject line. I don’t suggest being funny or cute, or wording it like you might a general sales or marketing email, you really straight to the point and think about it from an SEO or searchability standpoint. So I’m going to read you a couple of subject find examples of emails that we did for my team. So there is a for the outlet, work life, work life, a given journalist, she has a series that are called WTF articles. So basically, she goes like, What the eff is insert category. So for our subject line, we said, WTF our hush trap hush trips, Article idea for work life. Literally, that was what the pitch was, we pitched her an idea on what the FR hush trips for work life. And she opened it. And she wrote the article. And she actually used that subject line as the Well part of that subject line as her headline. So that’s an example. Now I’m going to give you a local example. So for press release news, something that I have personally found really effective is highlighting that you have local news. So I’m just going to search my inbox in real time for you guys. So also your subject lines are going to depend on what you’re reaching out for and the type of pitch if you’re a PR firm and you’re representing someone new I always have a subject line kind of format that works well for me, especially for local husband, new local representation for company and quick question. That’s something I’ve I’ve used a lot, but I wanted to give you some press release subject line examples. So I’m going through my email inbox, this was one that got coverage. So my company was EDC, which was known to this given outlet. So I said, ABC News Update for when I put the outlet, plus quote from Assembly Member and then I put her name, right, so all super, super searchable, relevant, straightforward to the point. Another one launch of new county wide initiative and business resource hub for Ventura County. Again, this was a local one. So what I’m getting at here is keyword stalking, being straightforward. And being relevant and calling out exactly what is in your pitch, right, make the journalists like, easier to know straight up upfront what that pitch is about. So to recap, I want to remind you that we are in 2023, and we have so many cool tools, I guarantee there’s a million kajillion more tools I don’t even know about but minimally monitor those open rates. Consider a drip and monitor approach. If you aren’t sure if you’re nailing the subject line and really keyword stack and be literal and upfront with what your pitch is about. I would love to you to hear from you guys about what subject lines have been most effective for you. You can send them to me on Instagram slide into my DMs at pr underscore Inc. You can also email me Lexie at the pier bing.com. And yeah, that’s all I wanted to chat through today. So thank you and until next time on the pigeon and sipping podcast

Lexie Smith 

Hey guys, if you are enjoying the pigeon and sipping podcast please do me a huge favor and leave a review wherever you are listening. If you want to connect with me to learn more about the PR bar Inc. You can do so on Instagram Act, the PR bar underscore inc or you can check out my website at the PR bar inc.com Cheers