How To Submit For the Official ABC Show Dailies

by Mary Gerlach, associate editor

If you’ve read our newsletter (sign up here if you don’t get it) then you know that Baby & Kids magazine is producing the Official ABC Show Dailies. This show really is the crème de la crème of children’s shows, so we’re excited and honored to take on this challenge.

Last week, the hard work of writing the articles kicked into high gear and I started getting calls from PR people inquiring about how to get in. I thought I’d take this opportunity to address how to submit for editorial consideration in the Official ABC Show Dailies. If you’re not going to the show, no worries; these tips can apply when you’re pitching any journalist, and I put some general PR tips at the bottom of the post, too.

For the ABC Show Dailies:
We’re writing a lot of the content before we get to the show, so contact me soon if you want to be included.

• Have high-resolution images (300 dpi) and product information available to e-mail when you call or send your pitch e-mail to me at mgerlach(at)talcott.com. We can’t run computer renderings. We need images of the final product.
• Got an event in your booth? Planning a special promotion? Let us know! We aren’t just covering product launches. Noteworthy speakers and events are newsworthy.
• Be proactive about making appointments and sending images. You’ll never bug me if you send me a press release and high res images without me having to ask!
• On that note, don’t be upset if you aren’t covered. This doesn’t mean you won’t be included in another publication later. I met Beth from Fireside Comforts at the May Spring Conference and it was five months before I included the company in an article.
• Booth location, images, contact person and company details are helpful to have on hand.
• Don’t be surprised if we just drop by your booth. Sometimes you find yourself with 20 extra minutes in the middle of the day, and this is often the best time to say hi to someone you never made an appointment with.

Here are some general PR tips you might find handy all year round.

• Follow-up. Editors are busy, and sometimes we need reminders.
• When you’re e-mailing back and forth every five minutes, it’s time to pick up the phone.
• Know the company’s real news. Everyone gives their products to celebrities or wins an award, so don’t make that your pitch. Real news is an event, hiring or promotion related to retail sales, new product and line. Also, use the word innovative sparingly. Editors see everything in an industry and won’t have to be told if something truly is innovative.
• Know the magazine, what it covers and its audience. I am always disappointed when I hear about something I want to cover, but find out the company sells through its Web site only because I only cover companies with wholesale programs.
• Don’t argue with the editors. If he or she says your product is not a good fit for the magazine or article, the editor will know best because he or she is the one actually writing the article. If you are absolutely convinced the editor is wrong about this you may have done a poor job explaining the product.
• Don’t use guilt as part of your pitch. I can speak for the editors here when I say we’d love to include everyone, but that’s not possible.
• Don’t get offended if a tactic you’ve used shows up on this list, or you think I’m wrong. Editors. Magazines. PR pros. We’re all different.