More and more journalists are considering press release emails spam.
At least that’s what one reporter – Josh Bernoff of Forrester’s Groundswell – feels about his own recent emails.
In his recent blog post, he names three PR ‘firms’ that have sent him emails in the past few days. He’s upset, and rightly so, since these three release have not targeted him. The sender simply sent an email out to as many journalists as possible.
I discussed a bit about targeting last month, but it seems some haven’t heeded my warning.
So let’s get a bit deeper.
Reporters want your news, if it’s what they …read more

Drew Kerr’s insightful post on Ragan’s really got me thinking…

Sure, I agree PR people shouldn’t use the words “excited,” “thrilled” and “honored” in press releases because, as Drew points up, they are just fluff.
But I also think there plenty of marshmallow words that public relations writers whould ban from their news release vocabulary.
Words like:

‘solution’/ ’solutions’ -  As in “This new solution provides the answer.” It appears more than thousands of times in Google News.
‘announces’ – “Company XYZ announces the…” First, a company cannot announce something. Only a person can announce. Second, surely there is a better way to beef …read more

Over at The Power Publicist, I talked about all the recent announcements from media outlets who are cutting back.
And just yesterday, the Detroit newspapers announced they would no longer deliver on weekdays.
Things in the media world are tight and a bit scary for those working in it!
It means fewer reporters working on more stories, or even covering more than one beat.
I’ve always said how smaller newspapers and trade magazines are a publicity-seekers best bet for coverage. That’s because with a smaller staff, if a press release is good, they will more likely run it as is. Now, it seems that …read more

It’s the time of year when calendars start to crowd out the books and magazines in bookstores. But there’s a special kind of calendar that all good public relations professionals use – the editorial calendar.

Except for the year and the names of the months, these calendars bear little resemblance to the glossy hang-up calendars in the stores. No swimsuit-clad models, lush scenery, puppies, kittens or cartoons of Dilbert. Editorial calendars are usually bare-bones lists of upcoming issue topics and major features—or at least the cover stories or special sections. Not much to look at—unless you’re a PR pro trying to …read more

There are many instances when you can’t provide advance notice to business partners about an announcement.

But when collaboration is possible, take advantage of the chance to give organizations that you’re partnering with a chance to get their communications planned.
If there are restrictions on the distribution of information, be clear about those restrictions. If you need feedback on the facts and statements, ask explicitly for that help.
It’s much easier to fix problematic wording ahead of time. After you’ve made the information public, it’s harder to track down everyone who’s using the information and getting it corrected.
Other Quick Tips from Common …read more

Everyone has a theory about the status of public relations these days. Let’s listen in on the discussion on This Week in Tech #142 podcast:
47 Minutes
Leo Laporte: “Scoble’s been complaining because he get this constant chatter from PR.”
Patrick Norton: “If your job is to be a journalist, press releases come with the territory. That’s … part of the thing that you do. That’s like complaining that you’re a chef and everyone wants you to make food.”
John C. Dvorak: (’Real’ journalists are getting fewer news releases and bloggers are getting more.) “Because bloggers will do what they (companies) say.”
Patrick Norton: …read more

It’s been a busy week of accusations, gnashing of teeth, and protests of innocence.
The Middle East? No, I’m talking about the ongoing debate between bloggers and journalists on one side and public relations folks on the other.
Most bloggers (and many journalists) seem to assume that the only thing a PR does all day is dream up pitches and indiscriminately spam them to innocent victims.
If that we in fact what PR was all about then I’d have no problem writing off the entire profession as a blight on society.
Steve Yoder of the Wall Street Journal takes a good stab at explaining the …read more

They come from Malta. Pink envelopes laced with cheap perfume.
They’re pitching something you probably don’t need, but hopefully your readers will lap up their product.
In a clever ploy to get attention, Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo are sharing their blogger outreach techniques to publicize their e-book Getting to First Base: A Social Media Marketing Playbook.
The highly targeted pitches include hand-written notes in perfume-scented pink envelopes sent to some top bloggers. They have created a personal web page for each of their targeted bloggers, with a unique video clip addressed to that blogger.
When you’re selling something, it helps if you …read more

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

"MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–Habeas Inc., (www.habeas.com) the world leader in email reputation services, today announced the launch of ReputationWiki.org which will serve as a focal point to define and advance the growing field of reputation management."

That, straight from the horses’ mouth, is the lede for today’s news release about a wiki launched to help e-mail marketers get past corporate firewalls.
The subhead for the release aims for the stratosphere of hyperbole and bombast:
Thought Leaders to Address Topics Related to Reputation, Compliance, Deliverability and Policy through First-of-its-Kind Global Community
Apparently there has never, in the storied history of Usenets, discussion forums, Lotus Notes …read more

There’s a better way.
That’s what the social media early adopters keep telling their counterparts in public relations and marketing.
Obviously, the message isn’t getting through to the brainiacs who keep churning out key messages, the same old news releases and following them up with pitches for things that aren’t news, to the wrong people, in the wrong way.
I was speaking to a class of Regina public relations students last night with a talk called PR in the Million-channel Blogiverse (PDF) about engaging with the entity formerly known as the blogosphere.
When I got home, I read Brian Oberkirch’s latest post about how …read more