Let’s get this crystal clear, collection notes are the most important thing when it comes to pitching for a brand. It’s a tool that can make or break your online presence in the PR industry.They not only help you to attract, lead and engage with a set of audience, but also establish authority in your industry, and ultimately grow your business.
Collections notes are the key in the PR Industry especially when it comes to pitching your brand to the media universe, they are the shortest form of a brand’s identity and their offerings. When approaching a piece of writing, most editors first check for the big picture to do “macro edits.” But the most common dilemma is the content of the story—how it flows, if it all makes sense, if the tone is appropriate, and if there are any questions we did answer that readers might have.
If you want to ace your pitch game, then these are the common mistakes you should not make in a collection note
1. Don’t make your Intro Unnecessarily Long – Always get to the point, when you are sitting to write, there is only one important person in your life. This is someone you will never meet, called a reader. You are writing to impress someone hanging from a strap in the tube, who will stop reading in a fifth of a second, given a chance. And this is one of the most challenging parts of writing a collection note, so always make sure to keep your introduction on point with all necessary keywords that describe your brand idea.
2. Too many Words – Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words or information , a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This doesn’t mean that you need to make your content short or miss out on all details or treat the subject only in the outline. Common culprits are overused adverbs and adjectives
which one should lose and this will make your content look more concise and persuasive.
3. Start with a very specific subject title – Generally when we start writing, we do tend to write on bigger topics and make our subject line even more broad and boring, Always pick more specific and quirky topics as they tend to attract more targeted audience which tend to be higher quality and are more likely to convert into leads and consumers. Once you nail this ideation process, it becomes much easier to draft collection notes.
4. The Conclusion Doesn Conclude or Doesn Exist – If the lede is meant to hoke the reader and convince them to keep reading, the conclusion is meant to neatly tie up the piece, so readers come away satisfied. Conclusions can be tricky but always tie up your draft in such a way that makes a lasting impression. It’s an opportunity to ask your readers to engage with you further.