Just wrong on every level.

Sometimes you get a voicemail message that's SO amazing - in a bad way - that you have to listen to it three times.

Then you have to put it on speakerphone and ring a friend so they can listen to it too. Then you listen to it again, just to make sure you heard it properly. Wow.

With certain identifying details removed, here's the message a PR exec left on my mobile today:

"Hi Sally, it's --- from ----. I'm just calling about an article you wrote for --- magazine where you quoted ----. It was in the context of talking about a ----- that they had purchased from ----. Now I noticed that the vendor name -----, which is based in -----, is missing. I can see where it should be inserted, but it isn't there.

I'm a bit - well, I'm very unhappy actually because the whole point of us responding to the Response Source request was to promote ----- and they're not even mentioned in the article. And it's not going to be enough for you to just insert -----'s name into the article online, because it's over a month old now, so they wouldn't even get the leverage or the views.

As I said, we're pretty unhappy about it. So I was thinking we could do something else with --- magazine so that ----- can get some coverage. What I'll do is drop you an email and perhaps you could call me as soon as possible..." 

Seriously? I mean, seriously?

For those who aren't sure why this is a hugely inappropriate email to send to a journalist, here are some handy tips:

Providing a customer quote is a great way to increase the odds of your client getting coverage, but if you want a guarantee? Buy an ad.

Sometimes copy gets cut by people other than the writer and for many different reasons. Maybe they need to free up space on the page. Maybe a competitor to your client just bought a big ad next to this feature. Maybe the editor just didn't like the sentence where your client got named. Maybe the customer didn't say anything interesting about you. Blaming the writer won't get you anywhere apart from on their 'don't bother talking to that one next time' list. 

If you don't like something, I suggest calling the editor and asking them to compensate you with another feature that DOES include your client's name. Also, please tape the call and post it online. Cause I'd really love to hear how that works out for you. Or you could just say, "Disappointed we didn't rate a mention there, is there anything else you're working on we could help with? Or perhaps you'd be interested in an exclusive interview with another customer?"

Unbelievable.

Comments

[Liz]

I had this exact same situation about two weeks ago - in my case it was because an ad had been sold next to the feature which resulted in the reference to the company that had supplied the case history being taken out. However, the PR involved approached it completely differently - she dropped me a very polite email, and was very sweet, and as it turned out the magazine readily agreed to fix it in the next available issue.

[Sia]

Geez, there is so many people trying to give us (OK I hope) PR's a bad name at the moment.
You simply have to take the rough with the smooth. Of course words get axed and space gets cut but at the end of the day her call to you has achieved only two things.
1. You wont deal with her again (unless she has a client that wants to send you on a round world trip with full childcare).
2. You won't be receptive to her clients brand in the future.

In all honesty. You should send them an email to outline how unprofessional your experience with their PR has been.

[Matthew Stibbe]

Good grief. Some people have no idea. I had a few of these in my career as a freelancer. The best was the guy who gave me a thirty minute interview but ended by asking me to 'keep this all off the record.' So I did. When the article came out I got a very snotty phone call complaining that I hadn't quoted him. "Do you know what 'off the record' actually means?"

[Charlie]

Matthew, that's very funny.

Unfortunately in the B2B world these things happen too - I take snotty calls fairly regularly. It doesn't help that there's been very little marketing budget available (it's getting better but as soon I started work the floor slipped from under us and plunged us into recession and the world of no budget), and PR companies are hried and fired by companies at the drop of a hat - or a line, in this case.
My favourite was one who demanded I feature her client, because they were the 'second largest ____ provider in the world'.

[Matt Karlsson]

Sally - you dont actually mention whether your original copy included a mention of the client....

Also, could you post a recording of the call on your site, with names blanked, so we could hear it?

[claire]

Hilarious. What planet are these people on? When I was starting out in a job years ago, and was a bit green, I once had PRs bully me into meeting a company for lunch on what was a very busy day at my magazine for a 'important briefing'. I felt I ought to go because I hadn't met them before and they were on my beat as a financial journo. Plus I figured they must have something important to tell me. So I spent over two hours out of the office for what I was then told at the end of the meeting was all 'off the record'. It was a total waste of my time on a busy day because I couldn't write about any of it - not that the CEO had said anything remotely interesting anyway. A week later they announced a profit warning. Let's just say I wasn't particularly soft on them when I wrote it up...How to lose friends and alienate journalists...

[John Brown]

Right. I am going to have a bit of a rant here.

I am sick and tired of the growing number of idiots entering and working within the PR profession.

I am proud of the industry I work in. I take pride in the fact that I build up good relationships with journalists and other people I work with. However, each week I encounter morons who are pissing over my industry from a great height.

I have many unfortuante opportunities to speak to these people and inevitably during conversation I get the following, "I don't like dealing with journalists", "I treat journos like they are doing a job for me, you know treat em mean....", "I dont think you have to have relationships with journos, its all gone online now so it dosnt matter."

Im sorry but please get the hell out of my profession! This voicemail is a prime example of the idiocy that is making my job harder every day. Sure, any PR would want to know why their client's name was not mentioned, but for god sakes have some professional courtesy. A rude voicemail...I mean really!!!

Basically I think there needs to be a good old fashioned cull of incompetent idiots that are plagueing the PR profession.

I'm only 25 so am not part of the 'old skool' pr network but I value all the journalist relationships I have taken time to build and get a little shitty when the actions of tits jeopordise me expanding my network.

[Grant]

This PR was clearly misguided but sometimes we have to do things / make calls / sell in worthless stories because of extreme pressure from clients. These jobs usually get passed down the line and left with an inexperienced PR to get it done. I understand there are better ways to go about things, but clients pay us to get their brand/company coverage, and sometimes we need to try everything to do it – unfortunately sometimes it means picking up the phone for calls such as above.

[Yeti PR Agency Andy]

I imagine the downhill sh*tstorm went:
- Client Rages @ Agency MD/Acc Dir for no mention.
- Acc Dir Rages @ Junior PR and told to "be firm" with journo in question (erm, you)
- Junior PR did what she thought was best and accidentally got on here as a result.

Smile, nod and keep in mind that this happens far too often - when I started out this was almost a weekly occurrence as company directors felt they should have been in every flipping article written and shouted in our general direction accordingly :-)

[sally]

Grant, this is someone with several years experience who has now called three times demanding i fix what she calls our cock up. Sorry, I just dont see any excuse for it.

[John Brown]

Grant, I am afraid I disaggree. We are PR consultants and we should do exactly that, consult. If a client hands us a shockingly poor news story, then we must tell them that it won't get any traction and that by all means we will 'distribute' it via email however a sell in would jeopordise their position with journalists.

Also, is it not our job to educate and inform the client of the editorial process? Sorry boys and girls, sometimes things get bumped it is the way of the media world, by all means we will have a CONVERSATION with the journalist to get any feedback, but that is as far as we can go. As the post says, wanna control the media....buy it.

I know it is hugely difficult, but I think that a little bit more of a balls out approach with the client rather than the journalsits is sometimes a much wiser move.

[Jon Clements]

It's a particularly pronounced example of bad practice, and one I hope is an exception rather than the rule.

I think a lot of the problems begin early in the process, at the point where the PR person hasn't had a frank and open discussion with the client about what to expect, and not expect, from dealing with the media.

If unqualified promises have been made to the client - and not every client has a depth of understanding of the difference between PR and advertising - then you can end up with panicked PR people behaving like this.

[Kath]

If I can just play devil's advocate for a second. The client will have likely screamed down the phone at this girl - who will I'm sure have attempted to calm them down, convince them that it's a good piece of coverage etc.

The client will have invested time in the comment/interview (you'd be surprised how much we have to convince them to give up any of their 'precious' time to speak to journalists - despite the fact that that same client will make that girl cry if she doesn't hit the 'media interviews per month target') and to not be referenced will have pissed them off royaly.

I understand completely how annoying it must be to get voicemails like that but I'm not sure posting the audio is really 'best practice' either. The PR will now be screamed at by her boss, who likely forced her to make the calls in the first place. As for any PR claiming never to have annoyed a journalists with a call... rubbish!

Leaving you three voicemails is ridiculous and I'm sorry the industry has annoyed you. But spare a thought for the PR who didn't want to make the calls but felt her job was on the line if she didn't.

Thanks

[Sally]

Kath

Yes and no.

This particular PR exec has been in the industry for a few years – she runs her own agency, so there’s no boss forcing her to make these decisions.

When I spoke to her on the phone I explained I understood her frustration and I was sorry the client was disappointed (incidentally, I interviewed the customer, not the client) but that there wasn’t anything I could do short of passing on her request to add in the vendor’s name, which I’d already done. I explained again that the copy may have been cut, but that the editor would be pretty unlikely to offer a whole other article as compensation, and to ask her that would put her back up.

The PR exec then proceeded to actually shout at me. she told me that I’d asked for case studies and said I’d include a client plug, and she wouldn’t have bothered responding to me otherwise. She told me I had broken a promise and what was I going to do about it? She then demanded the editor’s mobile number because the editor hadn’t returned any of her phone calls or replied to any of her emails.

I replied by asking how long she’d been dealing with journalists, and did she understand I couldn’t guarantee anything in copy – and was told that she worked alongside another PR EXPERT who agreed that I was behaving incredibly badly and in all her years of PR she had never been so mistreated by a journalist.

When I then pointed out that being rude would only burn the relationship with the journalist and the magazine, she cried. And really? Despite a reputation for fierceness, that’s not something I felt good about. I apologised, I said I understood but it’s not worth getting upset about, let’s try and work out a better way to get your client into the magazine than this. And I really hope it works out for her, I do.

The truth is this is why I don’t out people on the blog. The PR exec is trying to earn a living in a tough climate and she’s made a very poor judgement call. It sounds as though she’s been hassling the editor as well as me, and is panicking because she is paid by results and no client mention means she doesn’t get paid. So she’s pissed off.

But what I do hope this post shows is that, while I understand the frustration, there are good and bad ways to respond.

GOOD WAY: The PR could have called and said: “Disappointed we didn’t stay in the copy, but is there anything you’re doing where we might be able to help?”

BAD WAY: Three voicemails, two emails, culminating in shouting down the phone at a journalist.

[Dan Leach]

In my comment below I'm presuming you used the information provided but didn't include the vendor name that provided it. If I'm wrong then ignore this...

---------

I don't want this to spark a flood of angry journalists calling for my head on a plate but Sally, why do you use Response Source?

Response Source is resource for journalists to connect with PRs and brands to gather information, stats, commentary for articles they are writing. The resource works because both parties get something out of it - you, as a journalist get the info you need to support your story and the PR/client gets some brand or product awareness as a result of being included.

If you remove the incentive from either party then the relationship breaks down and the resource becomes redundant.

The PR in question shouldn't have been rude, granted, but she was well within her rights to ask why it wasn't included.

I have no doubt there is a reasonable answer to why you didn't include the vendor but unfortunately this will be of little comfort to a no doubt unhappy client who demands results (not your problem I appreciate).

I'm not saying the PR was right in her approach but I don't think we should lose sight that the PR/journalist relationship works because both get something out of the other - as soon as the benefit is cut from either side there will be a breakdown of said relationship.

I would also like to add how fed up I am of reading PR and journalist bashing. Show me an industry where mistakes aren't made - we should all stop being so precious and just get on with it.

[Sally]

Hi Dan

It’s a fair-ish question but your argument is flawed. If Response Source becomes only suitable for hacks who are prepared to GUARANTEE publicity in return for articles, then it’s unworkable. As a writer or editor, I cannot possibly guarantee that sort of thing.

You might provide an interview but the guy doesn’t say anything of interest. He might say the same thing as the other guy – and the other guy just bought an add. His quote might go in a section of the article that gets chopped to fit in the space available.

My point is this: while I understand the unspoken contract that exists between PRs and journalists, it is not and cannot be a guarantee. I’m simply not in a position to offer that. Shouting at me down the phone because your client didn’t get a mention is unprofessional, counter-productive and embarrassing for everyone involved.

As to why I post these things? Not to berate someone – I don’t name names, after all. I’m interested in posing the question, suggesting how I think it might have been handled better and – perhaps – educating some younger PRs in pitfalls they might like to avoid in their own careers.

Simples.

[Sally]

Oh, also Dan, for the record:

I have no issue whatsoever with a PR saying: "Why weren't we included in the copy?" As I said in the original post, I think.

I have an issue with being shouted at, repeatedly phoned and emailed, told I'm unprofessional, that I've broken promises and that this is my "cock-up" and it's my responsibility to get the magazine to WRITE A WHOLE NEW ARTICLE ABOUT YOUR CLIENT AS COMPENSATION for aforementioned cock-up.

However you look at the PR-hack contract, that's just dumb.

[Dan Leach]

Ask a sensible question get a sensible answer. Fair enough Sally and I completely understand your position.

I guess I am less riled by your post (as you say you don't name names) and more by comments such as "I am sick and tired of the growing number of idiots entering and working within the PR profession" - stand up Mr John Brown.

Making a mistake does not make you an idiot. Nor does being rude - I'll be the first to admit that I have had days when I have found myself speaking out of turn to colleagues and journalists (a swift apology was due and given afterwards of course).

John, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on what constitutes an "idiot in PR", what sort of mistakes are allowed, which ones aren't? Or is it all mistakes? Did you arrive fresh from university with a complete understanding of how the PR industry works?

My point is - whatever industry you look at there are those that are great at what they do, those that are good and those that are no good. Those that are no good will either be found out or realise themselves and try something else. However, John - you will never work with people that are completely faultless, everyone makes mistakes, even you.

As long as you learn from those mistakes, repair any damage done as I am sure this PR will then what's the issue?

He or she is not an idiot, they’re just another PR that's had a bad day, made a mistake and found themselves in the middle of a(nother) journalists vs PRs debate - or is it PRs vs. PRs now?

[Dan Leach]

Sally - to your "for the record" comment.

Completely agree - irrespective of what happened no one deserves to be shouted at less be told they are unprofessional.

[Kath]

Sally,

Thanks for the response. From the sounds of her behaviour, I had assumed she was very junior.

It's shocking that an experienced PR who owns her own company would work this way! Not only the voicemails, but to actually cry when you're the owner of a company? I can understand your bewilderment.

I completely agree with your final 'Good way' and, from my experiences in this industry (on both the PR and journo side of the fence), that is the normal way a PR would work.

Thanks again for your response.

K

[John Brown]

Dan, I am not saying that I nor anyone else is faultless in their work. I totally agree with you that PRs should learn from their mistakes and god knows I have made mine. Yes this is a profession that needs a lot of on the job learning and that will bring with it the hairdryer treatment when it goes wrong, however I defend my position.

My rant was primarily a result of the frustration I feel after dealing with (and this interaction appears to be increasing) some of the people I quoted as saying - "I dont like journalists, cant stand pitching in, I treat them like they owe me etc." Im sorry these people are not making a mistake, they are being ignorant of a (their) profession that demands interaction and relationship building with the press.

I am also sick of constantly hearing the age old excuse of 'Oh well the client told us to so we have to. Its not our fault we are told to do something and we have to do it."

No, I am sorry you don't have to leave seemingly rude messages on an answerphone and repeatedly call the journalist. I doubt the client would have demanded that either. And yes, I do think that is stupid, especially from someone who it seems like should know better.

Totally agree this PR person could be fantastic 364 days of the year and in hindsight it was probably poor timing for me to enter the PR vs Journo (or as you said PR vs PR) debate and use this as my platform.

But I stick to my guns, I am seeing more and more shoddy PR work being given the hairdryer treatment by the journos and then followed up with the excuse that its the clients who make us do this.

It makes our profession seem like we are a bunch of yes people that will bend over a table for the sake of a buck and a pat on the back. I think we are a little more proactive and intelligent and bring much more to said table.

[Rob Da Costa]

God I am glad I am no longer in PR. Cynical moody hacks and desperate PRs!

[Dan Leach]

John - I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we said we have never disagreed with a client but bittten the bullet anyway and done something we wouldn't normally do because ultimately they pay the bills.

Whether that's selling in a shoddy story or followinh up with a journalist to "check they received the release". We've all done it!

Rather than journos attacking PRs and PRs attacking PRs shouldn't we all just gang up and attack the clients that make us do all of this awful stuff...what's that, how much do they pay us...oh never mind.

This has been a lively debate and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed but perhaps we need to move one. Client's will always be unrealistic with their demands, PRs will always be money grabbing yes-men and journalists will screw the lot of us ;)

I need a drink (oh that is soooo PR, dahlings)

[John Brown]

Great debate! And the weekend has landed.

Have a good one all!

JB

[Kath]

"Rather than journos attacking PRs and PRs attacking PRs shouldn't we all just gang up and attack the clients that make us do all of this awful stuff...what's that, how much do they pay us...oh never mind." Love it!

JB - you can't really be in PR if you're weekend has started already. Mine will start at about 8pm this evening once I've proofed these 30 reports ;-)

Have great weekends!

K