ELLE.com is always generating clever content that inspires women to celebrate their style – and not just in clothing. We chatted with Ruthie Friedlander, the Deputy Web Editor of ELLE.com, whose extremely honest stories and personal accounts leave the reader wanting more every time. What’s the perfect way to showcase a lingerie brand on ELLE.com? Well, Ruthie wore a lace Fleur du Mal catsuit to work to see what it felt like to dress like Beyonce on Grammy day and wrote about it. Here are some tips on how to pitch the fearless editor.
Name: Ruthie Friedlander
Media Outlet: ELLE.com
Circulation: Worldwide
Title: Deputy Web Editor
Twitter: @RuthieFrieds
How do you prefer to receive pitches?
Via email! But personalized. I hate getting emails like: Hi! What are you working on? Those automatically go in the trash box!
How far in advance do you work?
Week TOPS.
What is the best time to reach out to you?
Doesn’t make a difference! I read every email I get!
What types of pitches/stories are you looking for?
Ones that make sense with the site. It’s important that PR pitches make sense in terms of the other things we’re writing about. Usually, if a person takes 10 minutes to really look at what we’re writing about, it can inform the types of products/stories we’d be interested in.
What makes a great pitch?
Personalized, targeted to our site, offering something unique and different.
If you are interested, what do you need to move forward?
Something that will be able to set my story apart from other websites’ stories. Sometimes this is getting it up earlier, sometimes it’s having a quote or an image.
What is the best way for a publicist to build a relationship with you?
Get to know me! Really show that they know what ELLE likes/wants. If you see that we’re writing a lot about women in tech, say that you’ve seen that recently and pitch me something dealing with that! If you notice that we have our annual Women in Hollywood issue out, make note that you’ve read it.
What is a guarantee that a publicist will never hear back from you?
Spelling my name wrong, sending a generic email, sending something to me that is SO off brand that I can really tell they’ve sent the email to 1000 people and not given any thought to whether it’s in line with our brand or not.