Emily Radford

The temptation to send more is real. A busy sent folder feels productive. But volume without quality is just noise, and journalists have very little patience for it.

When Emily started focusing on fewer, better pitches, something shifted. Response rates improved. The pitches that did go out were sharper, better targeted, and more likely to get a reply.

Part of that quality control is practical: she sends every pitch to herself first to check formatting before it goes out. It sounds simple, but it catches problems that are easy to miss — odd spacing, broken links, a subject line that looks different in a real inbox versus a draft window. A final proof the next day, with fresh eyes, catches what the first read misses.

Good outreach isn't fixed. What works changes — by sector, by journalist, by time of year. The PRs who keep improving are the ones who treat their outreach like an experiment.

Emily tests consistently: subject line formats, pitch lengths, different ways of framing the same story. Some tests don't move the needle. Others do. Either way, you're learning.

A few habits worth building into your routine:

• Send pitches to yourself first to check formatting and how they look in a real inbox
• Do a final proof the following day — you'll catch things you missed first time
• Test subject lines: length, format, tone, even emojis
• Track what gets replies and what doesn't — patterns will emerge over time
• Follow other PRs on LinkedIn for fresh techniques and perspectives

And when the inbox is quiet, don't assume your pitch wasn't good enough. Journalists are busy. Emily has seen PRs get replies months — even a year — after pitching. The follow-up, or simply the right timing, often makes the difference.