Today was PR pitch from hell day around here. I’ll just tell you about two of them. PR people: go stand in the corner!
“Carnival Cruise Lines is rebranding with two HUGE record breaking events coming up in the next 2 weeks.” One involves a big beach ball and other involves a pinata. I can sort of see the beach ball, even though I think it’s lame, but why the pinata.
The flack responded:
“The pinata is all about fun! No? :) Would you be into posting something about the stunts once I have some assets for you?
Assets? WTF? Ummm. No.
Then a flack who sounded about 12 called to ask me if I got her email about a new website about webisodes.
When i asked her who was deciding what the best “webisodes” (i hate that outdated word) are, she didn’t know.
When i asked her if the client’s site is a search engine, she didn’t know.
When i asked her where the videos come from – youtube, blip, ??? – she didn’t know.
She was clueless. totally clueless.
She told me that they just launched the website and were calling bloggers to get them to cover it. yes, she said that.
PR people: Don’t do this stupid stuff anymore. OK?
Dear Flacks: We’re in a recession, You need to play like every move counts. Don’t do stuff like this.
BL,
Yeah, there’s a major portion of the PR world that is still on the lower half of the adoption curve. And many PR folks aren’t even on the curve yet.
I recently participated in a panel discussion (representing online media) with traditional media at our local PRSA monthly chapter meeting. At the end, for Q&A, all the questions were for the traditional media participants.
Afterward, I posted the “15 steps to developing blogger relations (with a capital ‘R’)” for folks in case they became curious after the event.
http://diablogue.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/15-steps-to-developing-blogger-relations-with-a-capital-%e2%80%9cr%e2%80%9d
Ironically, the list has much in common with traditional PR pitching, which makes me wonder what sort of training/education/background your callers may or may not have. (Ok, now I feel this is going to lead to the next point about many companies today and how much/little they value and invest in the PR function, so I’ll stop here…)
“they just launched the website and were calling bloggers to get them to cover it”
PR professional’s need to wake up, they should know a little bit about social media, well at least if their client is a search engine (!) and whether the ‘assets’ are being hosted on YouTube/Vimeo.
(sigh)
I’m really sorry that anyone – blogger, print journo, TV reporter – must wade through pitches like that.
I don’t think this is about a blogger relations adoption curve though, I think it’s about commonsense. Something that ANY flack approaching ANY project that unprepared obviously lacks.
(sigh)
Granted, this also applies for “traditional” media. In the end, at least I knew what my client/company did BEFORE I started picking up the phone! Classic.
On the flip side, I just posted my “Top 5 Mistakes” when I started pitching bloggers: http://prmeetsmarketing.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/my-top-5-blogging-outreach-mistakes/. Thought you would find it amusing (and yes, I’ve learned my lesson =)
And this also applies to traditional media in regards to knowing the outlet. I can’t tell you how many publicists I know that never read the magazine they are pitching. So when i suggest pitching 3 different columns in 3 different sections they’re like “oh, wow, didn’t know they had that type of thing.” Huh?? I’ll never understand publicists who don’t know what they’re pitching and who they’re pitching and how to tailor their pitch so that it’s actually useful to the outlet they are asking for coverage! How do they get work??
Margie and Csalomonlee,
Yes, that was my point (at the end of my comment) as well: That these pitches don’t even meet the guidelines for Media Relations 101 – traditional or not.
At first I thought it had to do with the willing adoption of new media practices. But no, this has mostly to do with ignorance in general. There are people wearing PR hats today who were not formally trained or educated in their field. And many do not take part in professional development orgs like PRSA either. WHY?
If we take it a step further, it’s because the companies they work for often do not place a value on having skilled talent…because the companies themselves do not value the role. In many cases, even if the individual wearing the PR hat WANTS to participate in an org like PRSA, the company frowns upon “extracurricular” activities that take him/her out of the office (not to mention denying any financial support to cover annual dues). This is sad. But it’s true.
Then the vicious cycle of ignorance continues….
In terms of self-education? I’m all for it. But what makes a person choose to self educate versus stay in the dark? In this case, I’m thinking that maybe the blunt replies from BL will somehow inspire the former. ;-)
I appreciated your comments.
JP
Wow. I can’t imagine not knowing the client and the details before you pick up the phone.
You should know what’s been done, what people are asking you to do and who you are doing it for before you approach others about this great new “webisode”!
There are many people that are still behind the learning curve and many more that I just don’t think will make it. Take a deep breath Friday is finally here.
This is a sad commentary on the state of corporate PR. I hope those of us in higher ed PR aren’t quite so clueless.
What kind of company (or PR firm) hires such incompetent people or doesn’t at least train them to know what the heck they’re supposed to be following up on.
Jonathan – many kinds of companies and agencies don’t train their pitching staff. they also don’t pay them very well. this is not a new phenomenon – we in the media have complained about bad pitches forever. It seems to be even worse these days.
It’s akin to paying customer service people minimum wage. They are the company’s public face. They should be the best trained, most educated, highest paid employees. Ditto for jr flack pitchers – they should be replaced by management level people because they deal with customers – in this case, the media.
She should really be trained and understand SEO or other marketing stuff!