Remember when we were little and were playing and we’d somehow end up locked on the outside? The other kids would ask us: “What’s the password?” and they would not let us come in unless we guessed it? Sometimes it would go on and on cause we had no idea what the password was…Well, back then it was funny!

Protecting your media section with a password? Not funny anymore! I have ran across several websites lately that had such a marvelous strategy, but this post reminded me of it and of my needing to address the issue.

First off, why on earth would you need such a password? We’re usually talking logos, hotel photos, press releases, company overview, management and team profiles. How exactly would these be misused.

Secondly, any business needs the press, blog or social media coverage they get. And journalists, bloggers and social media users don’t have the time or urge to apply for yet another account that they might not use for more than once! Plus, if the deadline is today or tomorrow, no one will change an entire newspaper layout for you. No one will just wait in the high-seed online news world of today!

As their covering your story is something that helps you a great deal, why would you make them jump through hoops? Why would you make anyone who wants to know more about your company jump through said hoops?

As a PR specialist, I can’t find any way to explain this. If it’s to fish for email addresses, this is bad! Better create a special emailing list for the press and ask them to subscribe to it AFTER they get in the Media section of your site!

The purpose of pitching a story is to get coverage for it. That means that if someone offers to write about the topic you’ve proposed and asks for the product you mentioned or simply for more info, you need to reply to their emails. Not keeping track of who you’ve pitched to is a bad idea in such a case. Especially if instead of following up, you resend the same pitch and fail to reply to the second inquiry.

If you don’t know how to keep track, here’s a simple idea: get a list of names and emails of people to contact. As you send your message to them, mark them in a different color. If they reply and need more info, use a third color. It’s easy and a bit playful. And if you’re good at mixing colors, it looks good too.

Following up is a must. For both those who have shown interest and for those who’ve not replied. Those interested will actually publish after you give them what they need to do so and a friendly reminder with some interesting details might help others decide to publish your story in the end.

Why is this such an important matter? As it happens, lots of pitches are released in the wild – as a recent comment by Karen Swim also shows – and bloggers’ emails are never replied to. For example, yours truly received an email asking her to review a business book. The book seemed interesting enough, so I replied, asking for a copy. Of course I never got one. Judging by the semi-standard message, I wasn’t the only one who received that email. And  I can bet I wasn’t the only one not to get a proper reply. Which translates into missed opportunities.

Pitching is not always a single-action task. Sometimes you need to follow up, provide more information, be able to answer additional questions. In all honesty, most times it’s not as easy as just sending out an email. If you’re not going to seize all opportunities and focus on getting as much coverage as possible, don’t do it in the first place. You’re not only missing out on something really good, you’re also making sure you get yourself and your client one of those nasty, negative  images.

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Yes, common sense! What we should really take for granted is becoming as rare as miracles. People are so hasty in pushing their own agenda that there’s no time for courtesy, for being nice instead of completely selfish and oblivious of the fact you’re addressing a human being.

Never mind the poor texts sent through email, blog comments and all other channels. Never mind the “what’s in it for me part”! That’s a whole other level of refinement. I really mean the basics of social interaction. Like saying hello, using someone’s name, saying thank you and goodbye. Yes, I am talking about making that other person feel a bit more valuable than just a blog name and an email address you’ve just ticked on a long xls file.

This is becoming so rare, it scares me. OK, you have no time to look for my name, although you can see it on every post I publish. I get the pressure of long to-do lists. But use a ” Hello” or a “Hi” or just “Good morning”! Thank me for allotting 5 minutes of my time to your email or message, then drop a copy/paste line such as “Best regards” or “Have a great afternoon!”.

Either PR people lack all common courtesy skills, or they think bloggers are vane, sub-human creatures that don’t need hellos, but need their ego-boosting pat on the back. Something like saying you chose them because they rank well on some fairly popular site. By the way, try to use a site they actually show up as top dogs on!

I tend to believe it’s the first theory, because such thoughtless messages are also sent to journalists, business partners, customers and whoever else they might come in contact with, not just to bloggers! I understand the fast-paced, Internet-bound world we’re living in has turned us into creatures talking in text message and instant messaging slang. But even on Twitter and messenger we stop to say hello!

Let’s return to the basics! Let’s be nice and thoughtful, act like human beings and have a tidbit of common sense! It’s good PR

The pressure is killing us, I know. Our clients want something done yesterday and all at the same time. I know it’s hard completing everything on time and making it perfect. But like it or not, the devil is in the details! So stop focusing on the major ideas only and pay attention to details as well. The reason is simple: not doing it and making little mistakes slip in makes you look sloppy! No one will care that you were all tired and stressed and the phone was ringing non stop. They will only care that you had typos in every paragraph of the text you have delivered.

I’ve happened to come across quite a few invitations, press releases and announcements, all hurried and sloppy-looking. Typos, text format inconsistencies, important details not mentioned, overlooking negative meanings that could be linked to a whole event concept, poorly chosen locations, you name it, they’ve got it! And this makes the PR people behind it look really bad, although they are quite good at what they do.

But coming up with the plan is one thing, implementing and delivering it is another. And the great ones do all of these steps perfectly. Think of it this way: your press release, your advertorial, your event invite, your email might get to your future customer. They won’t care about anything but the fact that their name might be misspelled in your next press release. Or that their event name will be trashed online. And they won’t be there to listen to excuses.

We’ve all been there and overlooked something. Have we all learned from it? Are we all paying more attention to such aspects? Unfortunately, no… But we could start today!

Yes, it’s true, there are hundreds and hundreds of press releases sent out every day. Yes, some of them will be picked up, some won’t. Yes, some of them are boring and some aren’t. I am all for making things differently, try something new, but that does not mean you should change what’s already working.

There’s a reason why press releases are built they way the are. You know, most important information in the first part of the release? Or the inverted pyramid model? And it’s simple. Whoever you send it to, journalists, bloggers, customers or partners, you want them to know what’s new and cool fast. No one has the time and the patience to dig the information out of paragraphs and paragraphs of metaphors and pompous word twists.

I’ve recently come across a few releases where only the very patient managed, after a few tries, to find out 1. what the release was about and 2. what was important and what was just nonsense. If you’re message is hidden and readers have to go through time-wasting quests to discover it, you have failed!

I know all about the overused phrases, but if you want to write a press release that works, try making your message simple, clear and fun! Then send it to people who are actually interested in what you have to say. I think you have a better chance like that, as opposed to hiding it between long sentences that took you hours to come up with and that need a detailed commentary to be understood.

Photo credit.

A lot of PR agencies or corporate PR departments still believe spam is the way to go. They have built or bought quite a data base over the years, they keep expanding it and then shoot an email to everyone on the list. While they might have had some common ground when starting to develop the data base, over time names and emails just keep being added without any further checks. Who cares if you’re interested, we’ll email you anyway.

I am not talking about asking for permission, or allowing people to unsubscribe, I’m talking about at least making sure they are remotely interested in what they’ll receive. For example, why would I be interested in a debate held in Beverly Hills between a Rabbi and some woman I know nothing about on dating in a material world and if money can or cannot buy love?

If you’re gonna spam, at least be wiser than the average spammer! You should be able to at least do that if you’ve ever read anything, even a tiny article on PR and/or marketing. If you’re going to take your chance and spam, at least make sure people won’t delete your email because they simply don’t care!

I’d advise you to refrain from spam alltogether. Sure, contact someone to introduce yourself and ask for their permission to send press releases. But don’t start out with an attached PR and a one-liner asking them to call you for details!