“Here’s a Very Professional Note You Can Send…”?
Um, did you mean to send that?
Not long ago, I received a pitch from an author who wanted to be interviewed on the podcast I help produce. I get pitched all the time and always give each pitch a fair look. Some of our best guests and show ideas come in that way, so I am interested. Anyway, this one was short, polite, and hit the usual marks, except that something about it felt… off. Right at the top of the message, the first line read:
“Here is a very professional note you can send with just the right tone.”
At first, I was confused. Huh? Was she offering me a professional note to use? What? Did she think I needed help with my tone? That didn’t make sense. Was this some kind of pitch hook?
And then it clicked.
OMG. She had asked an AI assistant to write her pitch, and she had copied and pasted the entire thing, including the AI’s setup line. It was meant for her, not me.
Ah.
<laughing>
Well, this is a blog for savvy readers. Content can come from any situation.
So, I had options.
Do I write her back and thank her for the professional direction? Funny, yes, but she might be embarrassed, and do I really want to do that to someone?
Or… do I mention it gently, and ask her if she meant to include that line? Since I do teach classes on how to pitch, I could use this as a teachable moment.
In the end, I decided to let it go. I simply replied to her pitch, completely ignoring the AI direction at the top and continued the conversation.
The original AI note was still there in the reply thread. I’m sure she saw it and probably had her own “moment”. She probably learned something from it, too.
But beyond that, there was a stiffness in the message. It wasn’t her voice. It wasn’t even really a pitch. It was a generic, AI-generated note. Efficient? Sure. But connection? Zero.
Here’s the thing: I’m not anti-AI. As I have said before (in fact, right here), it is a tool. Use it. But don’t lose yourself in the process. Don’t have it do all your writing for you.
Media relationships–in fact, all relationships–are built on presence, clarity, and personality. (That em dash was written by me, by the way. It is a favorite punctuation mark used by AI in general, I have noticed.) If you want someone to say yes to your pitch, you need to sound like you. Not like a bot. Not like a bland template. Like a person who genuinely cares about the conversation you’re trying to have.
Bottom line
Polish is great, but connection is what gets remembered.
So if you use a tool, wonderful. But before you hit send, make sure you have brought your own voice back into the piece. Add warmth. Realness. Your humanity. That’s what gets noticed.
To your success!
Joanne
P.S. Call your own shots.
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