Lately something has been in the air. I don’t know what is happening, but more and more of you are connecting with me, and the mama tribe is growing!
What has really blown my mind is all the awesome submissions I have been receiving. I’ve have also received a lot of requests on how to go about submissions and what to submit. So I decided to throw together a quick blog – the rules are pretty simple.
First and foremost, keep in mind my fabulous audience – they are probably just like you! My main crew are crunchy millennial moms, millennial moms to be, mompreneurs and working moms with a splash of feminist. Know this.
Generally, I prefer to cover women, women-owned business, or products that cater to the wellness of women. Make sure you understand my readers before you pitch!
Your company, product or talent should…
1. Just be AWESOME!
At HypeGirls.com I love to see unique ideas (or new spins on existing ideas), creative companies, up and coming artists and really cool products! I also love to feature bad ass moms who are killing it in their careers and motherhood. I ask that you or your company be fully ready for a feature, meaning you are actually up and running! Like you have a website, or a following or something. Remember, by covering you or your company I’m telling my readers that they might enjoy checking it out. I don’t want to waste their time by sending them to something that isn’t usable or stable. And I don’t want to waste your time by giving you a feature that doesn’t generate interest in you. That’s so 2010.
2. Fit into HypeGirls “coverage world”:
In a nutshell, when it comes to media HypeGirls is a Motherhood, Health, Work, Hippie-Cultured “vlogazine” geared towards millennial women, particularly millennial mothers. While I love mainstream pop culture, sports teams, sexy models and many others types of entertainment, it’s not my core focus. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule– really cool product releases, major events and new business tools, etc. – but generally speaking we like to maintain our coverage focus.
3. Have not already been covered to death elsewhere:
A certain level of exclusivity makes your news much more interesting to me! Like you, I’m also a young startup that depends on page views and subscribers to pay the bills. No one wants to read about something they’ve seen a million times elsewhere, so keep that in mind and make sure I am one of your first media outlets. However, I honor all embargoes! If you prefer to submit your news to the masses, I will still read it over. And if I like it I will post it, whether or not it is blasted everywhere already.
4. Submit to our #MomSoHYPE series:
I am SO happy to be launching my #MomSoHYPE interview series this summer in collaboration with other publishing partners. While I encourage you to submit your pitch the usual way (via email – nicky@hypegirls.com), the #MomSoHYPE series has some special criteria. It also gives you a chance to explain your company, brand or talent in your own words, from a mother’s point of view. To learn more, email me directly at nicky@hypegirls.com. Just use MOMSOHYPE in the subject line. More info coming soon!
5. Personalize your pitch:
Receiving an email that says “Dear News Editor!” is not the way to go. That is clearly sent to a huge BCC list – or worse, a CC list- and is quite a turn off. Even worse, you spell my name wrong – yes, this has really happened to me. Try and make it clear that you actually read HypeGirls and know about the topics we cover! And my name too.
6. Be concise and to the point:
Please be mindful of the fact that I receive several submissions each day by keeping your pitch concise and to the point. Above all else, I’m most interested in actually seeing your site and work, so try and work the relevant URL into the first couple of sentences so we can check it out. Be sure to include any main points such as the company name, contact info and location. Ya know, the usual.
7. Come to our events!
If at all possible, you should try and attend one of our HypeGirls workshops or partner events and pitch me your story in-person! Although I am based in Miami, I am trying to accommodate people all across the country, from any timezone. In coming months, I plan to hold more events in Tampa, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles. I just might have a few international events in the works in St. Croix and Jamaica, so stay tuned!
Your company, product or talent does NOT have to…
1. Be overly complex:
There are a lot of awesome things I cover that people from pitches put together in less than a week, sometimes a day! If it’s something I think is interesting and meets the above criteria, I will cover it!
2. Be venture funded:
A lot of the best ideas and business – mine included – don’t have millions of dollars behind them, yet. Remember both Napster and Facebook were started in a college dorm room. My goal is to help you get out the hell out of there!
3. Be friends with HypeGirls staff:
While you’re certainly welcome to buy me a drink or send a cupcake basket my way, I cover businesses based solely on merit. Also, my contributors are NOT allowed to receive gifts or compensation for media coverage and nor are they allowed to personally feature their friends or family, so please do not even try.
4. Have a PR firm:
It’s actually quite exciting for me to hear from the actual artists or founders of companies versus their paid representatives, (with all due respect to the mostly excellent PR people I get to interact with daily). But don’t feel like you must have a representative or agent to contact me, I don’t bite! Most days…
5. Be a new business or a business at all:
If you’re an existing company or brand launching a new product or service that is relevant to our audience and meets the above criteria, I want to hear about it! Even if you don’t have a business, but you’re an amazing artist, musician or person – I want to know you!
Remember, HypeGirls is a collective of fellow entrepreneurs, mothers and wives. We want to help great freelancers, work-from-home moms and companies like you get the word out and be successful. We depend on you as much as you depend on us, so please keep your news coming and we hope to see you at an event soon!
Thank you Natt of Planet Umoja for being my mama muse!