AARP Travel Pitch Call Explainer

Here's how one publicist's pitch stood out from the rest

Hi everyone!

I love writing for AARP and I write for them quite a bit. I write for both their caregiving section (like this recent piece on Adaptive Devices That Make Mealtime Easier) and their travel section (including four pieces this year, like this recent piece on Four Pumpkin Patches to Celebrate Fall). Speaking of pumpkin patches, the pic above is from a pumpkin patch that I took my niece to in Wisconsin this weekend. Notice my Eau Claire hat? Well, my recent newsletter on How this Publicist Got Me to Go to Eau Claire Instead of Italy and Iceland was one of my most-viewed newsletters of the year!

Anyway, back to AARP. As much as I love writing for them, I kind of dislike the pitch call process because I almost never receive good pitches. Why do I say this? Because, despite me specifically outlining what I’m looking for in the pitch calls I send out in my free newsletter, the vast majority of publicists and destination reps that respond seem to ignore my request and send me whatever the heck they want to. Why? I have no idea, as this wastes all of our time and doesn’t help build our relationship.

Considering that I have another AARP Travel piece in the works (expect to hear about that in the next few days), it’s quite a timely topic so I hope you find this info helpful.

Cassandra

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AARP Pitch Call Rundown

Whether it’s for AARP or Travel + Leisure (which I also wrote a T+L pitch call explainer for), it’s extremely time-consuming to go through dozens or hundreds of pitches, which is typically what I and other writers receive when we send pitch calls for top-tier publications. In most cases, I can decide in 5-10 seconds whether or not I’m going to read the full pitch or immediately delete it.

To help you craft the perfect pitch, below is an extremely detailed AARP Travel Pitch Call Explainer, along with the one pitch that I got for the recent Pumpkin Patch article that stood out from the rest. The pitch was from Sally Spaulding of her one-woman Sally Spaulding PR agency. Her pitch was not the result of a press trip and I have never met her in person. Even though we don’t have a relationship going back many years (as is the case with other destinations and publicists who also pitched), Sally’s pitch stood out because it was pretty much the perfect pitch. The farm she pitched immediately earned itself a spot on the list.

Here’s exactly what I look for when considering a destination for AARP Travel pieces and what Sally did right (including her full pitch, which I’m sharing with her permission).