Photo Credit: Screenshot of The WHAT website.
Just added to Tin Shingle’s Media Contacts Database, The WHAT. This e-newsletter has been on my radar for a while, as I’ve subscribed to it since 2016, according to my Gmail filter, and then it disappeared! I always enjoyed the emails, as they had deeply sincere recommendations. As you’ll see after you subscribe, there is no pay for play in their editorial. Thank gosh they reappeared again in my email.
Proof of The WHAT from inside my inbox…Get a feel for their content.
Described as “A clever list for curious people. Lovingly created by two BFFs on a mission to spark intellect and whet appetites.” You can read all about what The WHAT is on their official About Us page. But don’t let their cozy BFF lingo fool you - these two are powerhouses!
The Benefit Of The WHAT - It’s A Newsletter
The co-founders - Gina Pell and Amy Parker - are entrepreneurs. And they love the Internet 1.0, which is when people connected, and newsletters were heavy (they still are…it’s just not talked about in digital marketing as much at moment…but I predict a shift back to newsletters…which I think is already underway). Remember DailyCandy? You probably had - or have - other favorite newsletters that you live by. The WHAT is like that. And they have a Summit.
Having been involved in several ventures, one of them their own successful website, Splendora, was a huge success and was purchased by Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, a former Google president and former Polyvore CEO. According to this article at SF Gate: Splendora was an online style and culture website that provided women with high style purchasing recommendations, as well as produced city guides, blogged, had its own social network, and even developed an iPhone app early on. But that was then…
Pitching The WHAT
Back to The WHAT, because that’s what matters now. We’re talking very special, personal, recommendations. This will be quite a pitch you make. Subscribe to their newsletter for sure, and read the emails you’ll receive. Get to know their style. What makes them happy? What makes them feel useful to their readers? What books do they value?
Their editorial style is very buddy buddy BFF. It will be easy to feel like you are their BFF, and spill your guts to them. So be sure that you are very clear in what you are telling them about. Make no assumptions that they will click on anything to learn more, and they don’t need to hear your life story. They need to know why your thing is a must-know-about and should be in their list of 5 special things they recommend on Wednesdays. Their recommendations are only about 2 sentances long. Be punchy, up beat, authentic, and go for it!
“I Can’t Help It! I’m Spilling My Guts To Them!”
I know. I do this too. How do you control yourself from writing too much in your email pitch? Don’t worry - Tin Shingle has a forum for that called The Pitch Whisperer. Yeah that’s right - we have a forum, and it’s so Internet 1.0. It’s a place where you can go to connect with other like-minded Tin Shingle Members and copy/paste your email pitch, and we’ll give you feedback. It’s group-editing. We do have a private FB group, but this is for people who 1. prefer to not be at FB all the time, 2. need longer form writing and 3. can easily find what they conversed about last year. The Pitch Whisperer forum is part of our Community package of membership, so it’s real entry level.
Contact Information
You can get their contact information and recommended way to contact here, but you can also get it from within Tin Shingle’s Media Contact Database if you are a All Access Member of Tin Shingle, where you can get other ideas like this one when searching for the best, most perfect fits of media outlets who may want to tell their readers about how you are making the world a better place. Like, what if you didn’t know about The WHAT in the first place? If you were searching in our database for “Women’s Interest” or “Books” or “Wellness” or a few other areas of interest, you’d discover it.
