PR Taking it in the Teeth

The wide, wide world of social media is great. It’s a great way to build relationships, to have a conversation and to make new connections. However, it’s also uncharted territory for public relations and, well, some of us aren’t doing such a great job.

There has been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere lately about the crap that PR people send to bloggers. You can read about it here, here and here (in the posts and in the comments). In fact, Kevin Dugan and Richard Laermer have a whole blog dedicated to PR crap.

In most cases, the heavy lamenting about PR is well-deserved, although not well-targeted.

The problem is, that there are a lot of good PR people and they are doing really good work. But it’s the crap that seems to be dominating the conversation and creating and overall shift in attitude. You can find lots of great media relations tips all over the blog-universe.

At a recent conference, SES: San Jose, speakers Rebecca Lieb and Brad Berens, with the incoming Global Content Director of SES, Kevin Ryan moderating provided these tips. It’s a nice summary, (thanks RB Digital Rodeo), and encapsulates what I’m reading elsewhere.

I’ve taken my favorites and rephrased in the form of advice, but go to RB’s post for the full list.

1. Don’t PR Spam. No one appreciates when releases are sent without any real understanding of the aims of the firm that they’re pitching to.
2. Don’t take the “Bazooka approach to his masthead” – This is when multiple people from the same PR firm contact multiple people in the organization to which they’re pitching, and having the same meetings with these different people.
3. Set Up a Briefing – PR firms tend not to do this, but it would allow them to understand the audience.
4. Make sure that your CEO can engage in a real conversation and drop the sales pitch.
5. Pick up the phone, don’t just assume that an email will get the story read.
6. Your CEO sneezing is not a news story. A real news story is something that actually makes a change within your organization.
7. Know your customers, and who they read. If you don’t know, ask them. That’s who you should be pitching your stories to.
8. Make executives and PR people available for comment, don’t expect a story to be published if the release is the only source material.
9. Subject lines such as “Please post this to your site”, don’t get a story written.
10. Don’t always focus all efforts on one editor, people aren’t always at work, you may lose a story if the one person you have a good relationship with is out.
11. Look for the right person to pitch to, don’t just pitch to the top person treating them as a receptionist / traffic cop.
12. If you pass on stories about other firms rather than just pitch about your company, you’re going to be viewed as more of a trusted resource.
13. Don’t hide from the news people. Understand that journalists will look at both sides of a story.
14. A rumor is not a news item.
15. Understand who the industry experts are.

What would you add?