“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
That quote is credited to quite a few notables including: Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, Voltaire, Blaise Pascal, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Winston Churchill, Pliny the Younger, Cato, Cicero, and Benjamin Franklin
Whoever said it defined the essence of effective writing. For example, in the public relations realm, it’s always easier to write a three page press release than a one page release. The trouble is that no one will read a three page press release, primarily because those releases are generally crammed with a litany of boring facts and/or superfluous superlatives.
So, yes, it’s true, when it comes to effective writing and effective communication, less is certainly more.
In that same vein, it’s not easy to create the perfect pitch to present you and your work to the media. The knee-jerk reaction is to try and include everything about your history, your style, your approach and your art. But generally when you include everything, you end up conveying nothing. Too much information generally causes the listener to simply shut down.
Ironically, the more you speak the less you’re heard.
With that conundrum in mind, we’re offering artists a chance to practice their communication skills and give us their best pitch.
So, on Friday, April 1 at 7 p.m. at the Sidewalk Theatre in Burbank, California, we will conclude the PR For Artists Seminar, by allowing artists to give us their best 30 second pitch. The pitch deemed to be the most effective (a purely subjective choice by the team at PR For Artists) will win a free month of PR.
Regardless whether you pitch at the seminar or not (although we hope you will) this is a great exercise. You don’t want to spend those thirty seconds trying to sell, or to encapsulate your entire life into thirty seconds. It’s not about talking as quickly as possible so you can cram those thirty seconds with a non-stop cascade of words.
Design your pitch to interest the listener. Pretend your pitching your story to an editor, producer or journalist. What about you, your journey or your art would interest that person? Keep the media’s listeners, viewers or readers in mind and remember what will interest the Wall Street Journal will most likely be different from what will interest Art Forum or CNN. Be media-specific in your pitches. Focus on what will interest them, as opposed to what interests you.
Your pitch is a tease. Don’t try to tell your whole story in your pitch. Think of this as your film trailer. The trailer’s objective is to interest the public enough so that they buy a ticket to see the full film.
So, what is your verbal trailer?
Give it a try.
Then come to the PR For Artists seminar and give us your pitch.
You just might leave with a free PR campaign.