How do you prefer to be contacted by PRs?

Email, absolutely.

Is there ever a time when it’s worthwhile giving you a call?

No. I suppose if you’re working on a specific project together and you’ve been emailing and it’s quicker to phone than to reply over email. Fine. But if it’s unsolicited, or about something you haven’t already discussed over email, then always send one first. It’s just because it gets so busy in a news environment. You’ll have time to go over emails...but it probably won’t be in the middle of the day. It will probably be at seven o’clock in the evening.

How would you like to hear about a story?

I think, where possible, face-to-face is really good. It’s just making sure that it’s relevant and that if you’re using someone’s time over lunch that it’s totally relevant for them.

Is it important for the PR to have an understanding of what exactly you cover?

We write for very specific audiences – woman aged 18-25 who are quite urban and very web-savvy – so there’s nothing more annoying than getting a press release about a new pair of toddler shoes or a pram or something. There’s no way our readers are going to be into that. You can tell when you get an email from someone who genuinely wants to work with your brand, as opposed to when they’re just trying to get the numbers up on their mail-round.

Do you think that strong, ongoing relationships with PRs are helpful?

Absolutely. Particularly in fashion and beauty, we really try to promote those relationships. It makes the content so much better so everyone wins. They get click-through to their product, it gets promoted beautifully and we get traffic.

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