Things I Don't Understand About PRs

So as promised below, I wanted to let you know the good parts of my journalistic communications with the PR dudes. Here you go:

{cavernous echo}

Only joking. Seriously, over all it's been good. When I sent out requests on Response Source, Gorkana and the 4Media group, I was slightly hoping to get replies that included something extra daft to chuckle about. These free services exist to connect journalists with a wide range of PRs and their wares. But many of the journalists I know talk about them in quite derisory terms, swapping stories about the time they asked for information about penile implants, and got a press release for a product that washes your vavoova instead.

Alas, I didn't get anything all that random, but did get lots of useful information which in turn led to stuff I could write about. I am old enough to remember the days when, if you wanted to contact a bunch of PRs, you just had to grab your contacts book and a phone, get your head down and start dialling. So when used well, these sites can be a great resource on all sides. But there were still some aspects of PRs behaviour I couldn't quite follow.

• The sudden silences
  If you send a press release, and I reply with "Oh yes, I've used those, they're great - send more info/jpeg pic and I'll write about it" that's not a trick response. I'm not taking the piss. And it's certainly not a cue for you to go silent and never get in touch again.
• I only said hello, no need to propose
  Just because I asked for press releases on parenting stuff, doesn't make it a good idea to put me on a mailing list for everything you ever represented. I have enough trouble keeping track of info on stuff I'm interested in, I just don't have the brain space for all the rest as well.
• The terrier-like persistence, even though the plot has moved on considerably
  Our friends, The Bunnies in the Mirror, still rang me up to see if I was coming to their event. Twice.
• Why so coy? You're promoting this stuff, right?
  A large proportion of PRs who replied to my request simply hit 'Reply' and didn't bother to put anything in the subject matter about what they were promoting. Still more simply put "For ParentDish" in the subject line. I do keep press releases that I don't use straight away, and I do look back over them. But when you have a dozen with the same subject matter, it's hard to see the wood for the trees. It's a simple thing, but you'll make yourself stand out in a journalist's inbox if you say what it is you're offering in the subject line.
• Why phone people who don't want to be phoned?
  I was very careful to leave my phone number off my media requests, for the simple reason that I prefer to be contacted by email. This is practical as much as anything else, as I am often coaching by phone for an hour at a time, so if you call you won't get me. And if you do, I'm probably just a teensy bit busy. If you pitch by phone I'm less, not more, likely to listen.
• The messages that make no sense or are just plain wrong
  Some of the messages I received simply made no sense at all - they were just fragments of phrases that had been cut and pasted a little too often. And saying "This is for your new health site" when it's not a health site, won't turn it into one just because you have a health product to promote.

So aside from all that, if you are PR-ing for something in the parenting/family line, yes I do want to hear about it. But dudes, none of the above please.

Comments

[Bristol Editor]

Great advice there!

Question is, why oh why don't the majority of PRs deliver their client news in the way we request to receive it?!

The obligatory, non-solicited phone calls drive me nuts, as do the repeat emails...ho hum, that's life in the PR fast lane I suppose. When you're getting 250 PR emails per day, it can get tiresome but I put a few advice pointers to PRs together, might be useful to add to your excellent post Jo!

http://bristoleditor.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/advice-to-pr-people/

Bestest,

BE

[Anne]

"I only said hello, no need to propose" - so true. Had an email today from a PR who I'd asked about helping out with comments for a feature for a new website (and thus a new client for me). Ah, she says, we can do more than just provide comment for one feature, are you editing the site, who can I talk to about, should I phone them... I actually nearly sent an email back with "AAAAAAAAAH STOP!" in it because it was so over the top and pushy.

[Anne]

Argh! She then bombarded me with ideas, all of which were way too basic to pitch, so I explained I needed newsy hooks for features, so she said she'd get in touch with the relevant person about the basic stuff (which is not what I said) and would send me news stories (which is not what I said) and looked forward to working with me over the coming months and aaaggggggghhhhhhh.

[Joanne Mallon]

Thanks for comments Anne & BE. I sometimes wonder which planet these people are from. I had one PR ring up to pitch something who was a terrible mumbler - he really would've been much better on email.

I am miffed that my telephone number has obviously gone on to a list somewhere. Screening calls seems to be the next step.

[Viagra Online]

The sudden silences
If you send a press release, and I reply with "Oh yes, I've used those, they're great - send more info/jpeg pic and I'll write about it" that's not a trick response. I'm not taking the piss. And it's certainly not a cue for you to go silent and never get in touch again.

nice and true!!

[becx]

I have shared your frustrations on so many occasions and actually thought it would make me the perfect fashion pr. Reality is that no matter how much an ex journo tells an agency director that the 10th call today is overkill, pr needs to fill her media call sheet somehow. There's often a ton of pressure on prs to be annoying! If only their clients knew...

[Joanne Mallon]

@becx Thanks for your comment. Since I wrote the above I have taken to not answering the phone most of the time, but the bunnies are still not taking the hint.