Oi, enough with the spam, already!

I posted on Twitter this morning, one of my semi-regular rants about the ills that the world of public relations inflicts on us poor, innocent journalists.

My Tweet (I know, get me with my 2.0 lingo!) said that sending identical emails to 150 hacks isn't pitching - it's spam.

Of course, most people immediately agreed with me, but some inconvenient types thought I was insisting on personalised press releases, and said it wasn’t practical to tailor pitches to journalists if you’ve got limited time and resources.

Hmm. Not so, friends, not so. Next, time, try the Sally Whittle recipe for pitching (tequila chaser optional):

As a PR, you’ve got limited time to invest in getting a client's story out to the press. 9 times out of 10, you're not working with the market leader and the news isn’t exactly “Hold the front page” stuff.

In this scenario, a blanket press release broadcast to everyone in your Cision database is never going to be the most effective tool at your disposal. What is? Your knowledge of a) the client and b) the media.

Using this knowledge, you can identify perhaps 10 media outlets that you know SHOULD cover your client because their audience will want to know this information.

Again, using your skills and knowledge, you identify the relevant contacts at those outlets and the best way to contact them - perhaps email, phone or even Twitter DM.

Next, think for each outlet: what’s the story? (clue: your client is almost never the story). Consumer publications will be interested in how the news affects real people in the street, while trade publications might be more interested in how it drives business improvement or changes a competitive landscape.

On that basis, you can create 10 pitches that are personalised to different media. You’re not writing a novel for each person – just a brief intro and a few bullet points outlining the assets you’ve got that will help them put together that story – perhaps pictures, case studies, review kit, interview opps etc.

Sending these pitches will almost always generate better results than a generic press release sent to all and sundry, and has the added advantage of helping you to build real working relationships with key media contacts – at the very least, you’ll be showing that you’re someone who takes the time to understand who their audience is, and what they’re interested in.

Besides, you can always spam out the release the next week, if you really feel the urge, can’t you? 

Comments

[Jon Silk]

'Build relationships with journalists' and 'know their publications'. Amazing that these are still the most valuable pieces of advice, even now. You'd think things would've moved on.

That said, I don't agree that it's spam. By accepting the privileged position of being a conduit and gatekeeper of public opinion, you've given up the right to control the information people want to send you.

[Sally]

It is amazing this is still news, isn't it?

I think we perhaps differ on the definition of spam - I'm not saying sending it should be punishable by death, or that it shouldn't ever be sent, just that these blanket sales messages are ineffective compared to other approaches.

PS - do you think I can get a t-shirt that says: "I am a privileged conduit and gatekeeper of public opinion"?

[Anne]

A privileged who-what?

The fact that I write features in certain subject areas does not mean that I have to be delighted about being bombarded with crap 24/7. No, I can't control the information want to send me but I can control the information I encourage them to send.