Just in time for Mother’s Day, we’re especially excited for this How to Pitch Q&A with one of our favorite online destinations for modern moms. Founders Katie and James met at on a press trip – Katie was most recently the Senior West Coast Editor of Refinery29 and James is operates the successful blog Bleubird. Soon after, the two came together to launch Mother, a unique full-service, style-leaning parenting site.
Name: Katie Hintz-Zambrano, James Kicinski-McCoyKatie: Via email and personalized! When I get an email that says ‘Dear Editor,’ or worse yet, ‘Dear Blogger,’ I hit delete! Please read our site and know what we would likely cover before sending a pitch over.
James: I prefer to have at least two weeks, so I can make sure that if a photoshoot needs to take place I can properly prepare, but one week ahead works just fine in many cases
Katie: I work around the clock (probably a bad thing!), so I could get something at 2pm or 2am, and I’ll see both!
Katie Hintz-Zambrano with her son
James: Anything that resonates with Mother and makes sense for our brand and audience, whether that be a lookbook of a new fashion line for women and/or children or a new beauty product launch.
Katie: I love when a publicist shows that they are clearly fans of the site and get what we do. It’s always nice when someone pitches a specific column or comments on a past article that they read. It shows they’ve done their homework and I’m much more likely to respond to those emails to show them that courtesy back. When people pitch a product or a person for the site, attaching images (the person with their family and interior shots of their home, if they are pitching a Mother Stories profile), is really key, as is having a link-out to the product/person’s website high up in the pitch.
James: Detailed brand and product information and samples that we choose ourselves, so we can shoot our own beautiful photography. In some cases, photos from the brand that match our aesthetic.
Katie: I think sending us personal notes about articles they liked (if it’s genuine) is always a nice thing. Again, it’s great to know that they get what Mother is all about. If your client wasn’t mentioned in an article that you think they could have been in, it’s okay to send a nice email about that, too!
For example, ‘Hey, I loved your article on toddler shoes. Would love for you to consider my client XYZ if you ever publish a follow-up piece!’ If I just honestly forgot about your client, I might even add them to the current article! That’s the beauty of the web. Also, we’ve started doing a lot of events, so helping support us with gift bag goodies, tabletop designs, and offering samples for shoots we might have is all really appreciated.
James McCoy with her 4 children
James: I don’t like copy and pasted, impersonal pitches. Know who you are sending an email to and take the time to make sure that your pitch makes sense for our site and audience.
We’ve started doing a lot of events, so helping support us with gift bag goodies, tabletop designs, and offering samples for shoots we might have is all really appreciated.
Katie: Mother is a very specific parenting website. It’s for smart women who also care about aesthetics. Just because your client makes a product geared towards mothers and children, doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll cover it. The same goes with venues. Sometimes I’ll get pitches about family resorts or hotels, but there’s really nothing cool about the property. We would never suggest that our readers use their hard-earned money to go somewhere that didn’t feel special and beautiful.
PS: Don’t miss out on our Parenting/Kids Media List, currently 20% off through Mother’s Day in the shop.
