Blocking PR People – At Long Last, Lazy Flacks Get Their Comeuppance
Say it ain’t so, Joe, but Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, fed up with PR flacks filling his e-mail box with 300+ “gunk” messages daily, recently experienced a “had enough” moment and banned some 100 “offenders” from his e-mail box, forever. He also published a list of their names, agencies and e-mail addresses for all, including clients, to see. Touching a sensitive spot, the resulting media coverage rippled through The New York Times, Advertising Age, Portfolio, ZDNet, etc., to the dismay of the accused.
Says Anderson, “Lazy flacks send press releases to the Editor in Chief of Wired because they can’t be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they’re pitching.” And, “I only want two kinds of e-mail: those from people I know, and those from people who have taken the time to find out what I’m interested in and composed a note meant to appeal to that (I love those e-mails; indeed, that’s why my e-mail address is public ([email protected]).”
Every PR practitioner who has ever attended a media relations seminar since the business began has been harangued by journalists to “do their homework” – determine a journalist’s beat– before flogging his story pitch. But today many in the media relations trenches prefer to rely on online media directory services like Cision or BurrellesLuce to “harvest” media lists by broad subject, without bothering to vet them for accuracy, or to personalize (customize) their story angle. Just feed the release in, hit the mass distribution button – then off to lunch.
So what’s a conscientious “flack” to do? First, PR firms need to understand that media relations are crucial to the success of every campaign. Publicity is the “deliverable,” the product, that keeps the fees rolling in, no matter how much cant is give to the importance of “strategic consulting.” Bottom line, PR is a play for pay business with good media relations specialists in short supply and too many newbies manning the front lines.
The first step in preparing for a new account or campaign is research. Take the time to dig deep to uncover the likely journalistic suspects for your story overtures. Google News offers a handy starting place to begin to research topics and gather names of appropriate journalists. Paid editorial search services, like Factiva and LexisNexis, whose databases cover thousands of media outlets (mostly print) go back decades, can provide a clear map of who covers your topic. Then a review of media directories will provide the personal contact data (e-mail addresses) needed to reach them, and can fill in the gaps, such as television contacts or columnists. Once the basic list is developed, it becomes a touchstone for the campaign and will largely determine its success or failure.
With a first cut of you media list collected (in excel or specialist mail list management software) then its time for the rubber hits the road. It’s time to take that new story idea out and sell it. That’s right, media relations is really a sales process. Effective PR professionals realize that they are salespeople and they know that to “sell” stories that will enhance the reputation of clients, sell their products, deliver sales leads, win over constituencies, etc. But before they can sell anything, their aim had better be true.
Len Stein is president of New Rochelle, NY-based Visibility Public Relations.
