The Search for the Relevant PR Pitch

I found it ironic that the author of Groundswell, a book/movement/phenomenon that describes how ideas germinate from the ground up — without top-down influence — devoted space in his blog to the PR practice of pitching stories to influencers (e.g., “anyone with an audience”) from the top down. The book posits: “When consumers you’ve never…… Continue reading The Search for the Relevant PR Pitch

The PRfect Match

As one of the 74 percent of Americans who reads “a printed or online newspaper” at least once a week, I couldn’t help but notice the full-page ad that broke in the “Money and Investing” section of Friday’s Wall Street Journal, and again today.It was a “house-ad” from Dow Jones that amazingly targets…the PR professional.…… Continue reading The PRfect Match

The Bad Pitch Wiki

As the long-time, but recently retired editor of the Gawker-owned A-list blog Lifehacker, Gina Trapani has moved effortlessly in tech and social media’s rarefied circles. In her editorial gatekeeper role, she also received more than a fair share of inane or misguided story pitches from lazy or vendor-reliant PR people.Now that she’s out of her…… Continue reading The Bad Pitch Wiki

Micro-engaging

It was inevitable. Some enterprising person figured out — sort of — how to monetize (exploit) PR peeps’ burning desire to engage journalists via Twitter.Not only that, the means of engagement is a press release — reduced to a single line. The cost: $1 per character with a $50 minimum. Yikes! Here’s the tweeted announcement:…… Continue reading Micro-engaging

Hocus Vocus

I have nothing personal against Vocus. It’s all professional. First, I should say that I’m not a subscriber to this media database management, distribution and monitoring company. I have been known to disseminate a release or two via PR Web, which happens to be owned by Vocus.I should also disclose that I co-developed with a…… Continue reading Hocus Vocus

Maximize Your Gobbledygook

My friend and occasional collaborator Mark Fortier pinged me about his client David Meerman Scott’s newest initiative Gobbledygook Grader from HubSpot.It’s an online tool that hopes to solve the other issue around which Holtz and Scoble locked horns this week: poorly written pitches (as if misguided pitches were not bad enough).In his post, Meerman Scott…… Continue reading Maximize Your Gobbledygook

The End of PR Spam?

I’ve been in the PR game for a while, and as long as I can remember, clients have judged and compensated PR pros based on their ability to build a positive presence in the media. This client-agency paradigm hasn’t changed much over the years, though the means for building that presence, and the nature of…… Continue reading The End of PR Spam?