We’ve all been told since our first day in PR to make sure to do your research before pitching.
But how often is it overlooked for the sake of getting a pitch out before [insert deadline from supervisor]?
Case in point: The Bloggess vs. Brandlink Communications.
Jenny Lawson, aka “The Bloggess” posted about her receipt of an irrelevant pitch more than once, and replied with her standard response for pitches sent from people who clearly did not do their research. Continue reading
Losing touch with your audience can spell disaster for those of us in the PR. It’s likely we’ve all spent some time in a rut caused by becoming isolated from our target market, but hopefully, we refocused, recharged and then most importantly, moved beyond the point where we became distracted in the first place. But how do you know you’ve lost your way long before your effectiveness drops off? A surprising analogy may offer the architects of public perception some valuable lessons.
The ashbin of history is heaped with examples of how familiarity truly bred contempt between once dominating industry giants and their once happy customers. To review one current example with notable implications for the public relations industry, we need go no further than our children’s gaming products. Continue reading
I don’t watch much TV, and when I do it’s usually programs I have recorded so I can skip the commercials, but the other day I saw a commercial that caught my eye and got me thinking about PR.
The commercial depicted a couple approaching their local bank in an attempt to walk in and talk to a live person only to be stopped at the front door by a bank employee to let them know that if they were looking to perform a transaction, the ATM machine was just down the block. Pressing on, they reiterate their intention is simply to speak with a live person when another bank employee comes out and states, “Is there a problem here?”
Frustrated, the couple walks away as the voiceover reminds the viewer that in a world of impersonal banking largely done online, their bank is always open and live people are available to talk to you at any time. Continue reading
It’s no secret PR professionals have an unhealthy relationship with Twitter. Despite the existence of countless other social networking platforms, including Facebook (which actually has much higher numbers than Twitter), people working in PR seem to naturally gravitate towards the micro-blogging service more than anything else. We give out our Twitter handles at networking events and print them on our business cards, which is especially interesting considering LinkedIn is probably the most professional social media platform out there. However, professionalism doesn’t have everything to do with it- Twitter is as much for creating friendships as it is for forming business relationships. So why are all of us flacks such hopeless (and I mean hopeless) Twitter fiends? Continue reading