{"id":1277,"date":"2020-11-20T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T07:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1328165"},"modified":"2020-11-20T07:00:24","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T07:00:24","slug":"10-embarrassing-pr-fails-that-show-how-not-to-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=1277","title":{"rendered":"10 embarrassing PR fails that show how NOT to pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It\u2019s no secret it is hard for a startup to get coverage in top tier tech media. However, PRs learned to be creative and come up with tools and techniques which make even their colleagues\u2019 brows raise. The most wondrous pitches and moves get a moment of fame eventually. Usually, in a reporter\u2019s Twitter post. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m collecting those funny stories to have something to smile upon on a rainy day\u2026 and to remind you of what to avoid when trying to score coverage as a founder or PR professional. <\/span><\/p>\n

Make no mistake, I have done my part to contribute to the list below, but I\u2019m sure we can all learn from others to avoid the similar pitfalls. <\/span><\/p>\n

10. Press releasing every step your CEO takes<\/h2>\n
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Someone literally sent me a press release about how a CEO they represent had tweeted something at Elon Musk. I checked and 1) Elon didn\u2019t reply and 2) the tweet only got three favs<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jon Christian (@Jon_Christian) September 9, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jon Christian, a news editor at Futurism, was pitched a fact that a certain CEO had tweeted to Elon Musk. Clearly, the lack of first page-worthy news makes us think outside the box. There is a difference though between finding new angles or data and press releasing just for the sake of it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Like, hey \u2014 many of us use Twitter as a corporate HR tool tweeting to a celeb and trying to make a conversation (or get the most faved tweet\/ or a retweet by the celeb). The winner gets it all \u2014 an extra burrito, a SPA day, a Tesla car. In any case, this hardly qualifies as news, only a gimmick or a funny detail to add to a real story. <\/span><\/p>\n

9. Being a jerk<\/b><\/h2>\n
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So, I was told by a PR from a major tech corporation to check other security journalists\u2019 work when I asked for a statement. Is this a new thing?! #rant<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sophia Waterfield (@Pheecetious) March 5, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sophia Waterfield who writes for a bunch of outlets such as Newsweek, New Scientist, Forbes, and Metro UK, was (kindly?) asked to source a statement from other publications when requesting one for her own story. <\/span><\/p>\n

What was that? Lack of time? No option to reach a speaker to get one? Or PR\u2019s laziness to create even a generic one to have at hand? We will never know. And Sophia was too kind not to name the company. <\/span><\/p>\n

What it clearly shows is a lack of respect and professionalism. No matter how tired or strained for resources you might be, don\u2019t be like that \u2014 spend an hour to prepare a few quotes (let\u2019s make it four) before pitching. This small courtesy will take you far in building good relationships with any reporter. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n8. Being a real<\/em> jerk<\/b>
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This is actually very similar to the response I feel I\u2019m getting when I search for a film genre, so it\u2019s very on-brand.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Bird (@Birdyword) September 2, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Oscar Williams-Grut, Senior City Corr at Yahoo Finance, did name the company (and Mike Bird\u2019s reply was hilarious). I can\u2019t tell he was wrong doing so, but the PR was totally wrong. Be nice to people. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n7. Undervalue others\u2019 work <\/b>
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I don\u2019t think it works like this pic.twitter.com\/MtKCZRrLoF<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 James Cook (@JamesLiamCook) March 2, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

James Cook, a Special Corr at the Telegraph, was offered a job! Or wait, was he? For me, this is a total misunderstanding of how the media works. <\/span><\/p>\n

Young or unseasoned CEOs and founders think journalists are some kind of loungers. They arrive at 12pm with a croissant and coffee to their fancy macbook\u2019ed workplace, lazily check emails depart at 12.15 to meet with PRs in a cafe, and only leave this leisury task to hang out with other journalists in the early afternoon. To be fair, sometimes journalists think the same of the young and brand new CEOs. <\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, media is a complicated structured business where people have real duties, deadlines and KPIs. As well as corporate managers, journalists must know alot about things they write about, remember the names of relevant speakers, be present, alert, and sane. <\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, no, a Special Correspondent can\u2019t handle your PR and write about you in their newspaper. Journalists are busy doing their own work. Please hire someone with a title that contains PR. And thank James for not reporting this case as a bribe. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n6. <\/span>Making up things<\/b>
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Please don\u2019t send me a press release saying you are \u201chelping U.K. startups during #COVID2019<\/a>\u201d by basically doing what your company did anyway.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mike Butcher (@mikebutcher) April 14, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Mike Butcher, as we all know, can hardly be fooled by some marketing bullshit. He gets the essence and says it pretty straightforward. If you are trying to meet your KPIs by issuing press releases a second after some news arise and just doing PR for the sake of PR) \u2013 you are wasting time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about reporters who have real deadlines for covering something important and need \u201cmeat\u201d for a story to make it be useful and interesting to read \u2013 help them!. This is harder than sending a blurb with a title including a trendy topic, but boosts your chances to get rewarded with a mention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n5. Copying others\u2026 and doing it too late<\/b>
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DEAR PR & COMMS WORLD<\/p>\n

Are we agreed that \u201cmy client\u2019s software will now be free for humanitarian causes in light on COVID-19\u201d is a) wonderful but b) no longer something you need to send us a press release about?#journorequest<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/TGkT6zkkrs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Adr\u00edan Bridgwater (@ABridgwater) March 24, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Adr\u00edan Bridgwater, a tech reporter for Computer Weekly, Forbes and IDG Connect, is right saying that giving software for free tenth in line after others during a pandemic, or Black Friday, or whatever, is not good enough to get coverage. It is nice of you to give back something free of charge to a society, especially in challenging times or to underprivileged groups of people. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, reporters can\u2019t write about each startup discounting prices or providing incentives to increase loyalty of their core customers. Put your resources into doing something more relevant, like producing easy recyclable face masks, or merging forces with other companies to create something the community needs. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here is an idea \u2014 an easy to use app for elderly to request groceries and meds in isolation. Doing something real that actually helps people makes a really nice story with plenty of hooks to pitch. <\/span><\/p>\n

4. Making the journalist\u2019s job harder<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Note to PRs, please, please don\u2019t send press releases in PDFs. Nothing more annoying than realising at nearly 6pm that I have to write out that quote from your boss because it won\u2019t let me cut and paste it. Arrgh!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Andrew Ellson (@andrewellson) June 25, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

PR is a very old institution (although journalism is as well). But that doesn\u2019t change the fact that using some of its rules and traditions makes you look old and outdated in the eyes of journalists. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sending press releases attached as PDFs, providing a text without any visuals, sharing a quote two days after the request \u2014 nothing can make it clearer that you\u2019ve been around for a while in the business\u2026 without having learned to adjust.
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Andrew Ellson, Consumer Affairs Correspondent at The Times doesn\u2019t want to retype a whole paragraph from your press release due to poor file formatting \u2014 and he is in his right! The ways to annoy reporters do not stop with old school techniques. <\/span><\/p>\n

Try uploading your press release to Google Docs with no access to a reporter, or attach a lot of hi-rez pictures to your email \u2014 if frustration is your goal, you got it. Otherwise, stick to the etiquette and make all your pitch assets easy to read, copy, and download.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Being way too pushy<\/b><\/h2>\n
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I\u2019ve had a follow-up from a PR two hours after original email has been sent, three times today (From different agencies). What on earth is going on? pic.twitter.com\/1uRXlv30Ki<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sooraj Shah (@Sooraj_Shah) August 25, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Speaking about etiquette \u2014 you work <\/span>with<\/span><\/i> journalists, you do not own them. They don\u2019t have to either run your story, nor even reply to you. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sooraj Shah, a contributor at Forbes, found himself under a heavyweight PR attack, which is, unfortunately, not something rare in our industry. Sometimes being pesky helps, especially if you have a really urgent story to run or trying to negotiate an exclusive coverage.<\/span><\/p>\n

A reporter might miss your pitch in the email \u2014 some receive over 300 press releases a day. However, the more often you do so, the more likely you\u2019ll receive a nasty reply or even banned. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found there are a few easy steps to avoid this: when negotiating an exclusive story, discuss it over the phone first and set a deadline to respond to an offer. <\/span><\/p>\n

In all other cases, track if your email was opened (there are plenty of services for that, like Superhuman or Polymail) and only follow up once from the same email as the initial message was sent. Save yourself some time and embarrassment<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Manipulating with exclusives<\/span><\/h2>\n
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A PR just emailed to offer me an exclusive and to say I was on the top of their list. But to make it even better, they revealed the next two journalists in order to be pitched should I decline.<\/p>\n

I like and encourage this approach wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Steve O\u2019Hear (@sohear) September 3, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Exclusives and embargoes are two strong tools all PRs use to secure coverage from top tier media when the story is strong enough \u2014 like a new big funding round. The difference is that in case of exclusive, the story goes only to one reporter, and the rest have to re-publish them. <\/span><\/p>\n

In case of embargo, many outlets are provided with detailed information ahead of the official release on a condition the stories will be published after a certain time. Both are strong incentives for journalists to cover the story \u2014 exclusives bring the media the first positions in Google News and lots of links and traffic, while embargoes allow some extra time to prepare. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, both can go very wrong for PRs if overused or used for manipulation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve O\u2019Hear, a journalist at Techcrunch, was informed that if he passes on the news, the company will pitch others, and they even named the next two in line! Fair enough, if one media passes on the story, no one stops you from pitching another one. Trust me, an experienced reporter gets it without saying it in his face, threatening, or blackmailing them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my experience, here\u2019s the best way to approach this: pick your top three media to offer an exclusive story and prioritize them. Approach your contact at the first one a few days ahead, explain the benefits of the story for their media without giving away the key details and give them a day or two to decide, clearly setting a deadline. <\/span><\/p>\n

If they don\u2019t respond in time, send a follow up to double check \u2014 without mentioning your further plans. If they still don\u2019t answer, just go ahead and pitch the next in line \u2014 again, without mentioning competitors. If discussed in a good time and with respect, this approach will safeguard you from disappointment from all sides.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Not doing your homework<\/span><\/h2>\n
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A PR person has emailed me to offer me an interview with my own Mum and I am quite literally crying with laughter pic.twitter.com\/VzUBmww4Xp<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Charlotte Jee (@charlottejee) April 29, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The last, but not the least\u2026 or maybe it is? A journalist from <\/span>MIT Technology Review was offered an interview with\u2026 her mom! This is sweet but an awkward situation meaning PR didn\u2019t do their homework. <\/span><\/p>\n

It can be hard when strapped for time, but make an effort to know your client\u2019s story and more importantly \u2014 history. <\/span><\/p>\n

Does your client know any reporters personally? Have any of them been pitched on behalf of your client before? Are they related in any way? There is so much to find out before you start, but the more you do, the less chances you have to end up in a list like this one. Good luck! <\/span><\/p>\n

Published November 20, 2020 \u2014 07:00 UTC <\/p>\n

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