The Bad Pitch Blog

Help a Reporter Out, Become a Media Source

2008-07-16T23:41:00.003-04:00

Peter Shankman created HARO on Facebook and this media relations tool has grown into a free media source matchmaking service with more than 14,000 members. Peter has a really big tool, but he wants your help in making it bigger.

What?

Here’s the deal. The more reporters that use HARO, the more valuable it is for you. So tell your media contacts about HARO.

If you frequent social networks today, you’re sure to see a lot of member statuses that say “Get Sourced. Get Quoted. Get Famous: http://www.helpareporter.com – Putting Journalists and Sources together, one quote at a time.” One of HARO members came up with this smart, simple idea to leverage the 14,000 members in promoting the service. So what are you waiting for? Stop by, sign up and pass it on. All the cool kids (getting media coverage) are doing it.

What Does The Bad Pitch Blog Look Like?

2008-07-16T16:34:00.002-04:00

"Does it look like a pitch, Brad?"

Um, yeah, I guess it does. Watch this space to see what the Bad Pitch Blog looks like.

Join Ebay and Ragan Communications August 13 through 15

2008-07-14T00:39:00.000-04:00

If you’re getting this post via e-mail or RSS, you might want to click through for the context of this post.

We’re happy to welcome back Ragan Communications to our site. Ragan’s latest event is Corporate Communications and the Social Media Revolution. It is also sponsored by ebay and is being held in San Jose California.

Readers of the Bad Pitch blog get a $300 discount. So if you’re interested in learning more about the event, click here or click on that big honking ad riding the top of our site like nobody’s business.

Fast Five Q&A with Adweek’s Digital Editor, Brian Morrissey

2008-07-08T13:48:00.004-04:00

Anyone following Brian Morrissey on Twitter may assume he hates PR people. I’m here to tell you he doesn’t. He does hate PR spam. As digital editor at Adweek, he gets a ton of it.

After seeing him out a bad pitch this morning, I sent him a note asking for his help in reducing PR spam. He was kind enough to oblige by doing this Q&A.

Morrissey is also a multitasker. While answering our questions he notes he was “on a conference call while writing a story and updating Twitter on the awful cliches (he’s) hearing.”

BPB: Your Twitter feed is brutally honest about your bad PR experiences. What approach pisses you off the most?
BM: I try to be honest about my daily experiences. It turns out that, as a reporter, I often have to deal with a deluge of PR.

I break down my problems in two buckets. The first is “spray and pray.” The PR industry seems overwhelmingly about hits, the more the better. This, along with the ease of hitting the send button and staffing a junior person to repeatedly follow up, means I’m overwhelmed with emails, follow-up emails and phone calls to follow up on the follow-up emails.

It’s not my obligation to reply to every email I get from PR people. My job is reporting, not to interact with PR people. What’s more, since PR is about hits, this means a bias toward a very broad definition of relevance. I get over a dozen emails a day from people that have clearly never read one thing I’ve written.

The second bucket is “gatekeeper.” I don’t like PR people trying to insert themselves between me and interviewees. It wastes my time and annoys me.

BPB: What in your opinion is the difference between a pitch and PR spam?
BM: It’s a fine line, I guess. Spam is unsolicited and unwanted, but there’s no set definition because I get a lot unsolicited emails and calls that are very useful. It’s like pornography you know it when you see it. My advice: do your homework, be relevant, and be mindful that reporters are busy.

BPB: What single piece of advice do you have for PR people that want to improve their media relations skills overall?
BM: Recognize that media organizations are shrinking while PR is growing. The ratio of PR people to reporters is probably like 75:1. This is profoundly bizarre to me. (We could have another debate whether this is a positive thing for society.)

What it means for PR people is your job is harder. The best PR people I know simply connect me with people that can help me. They know what I cover, what I don’t and how their clients do and do not fit. That means a lot more work before the email and the call. It also means knowing when to get out of the way.

BPB: Do you believe that PR people help, hurt or are they just a necessary evil?
BM: As a reporter, PR is a necessary evil. Right or wrong, companies are convinced they need layers of middlemen to a produce and protect a bland “message.”

On top of that, smaller companies feel they don’t need advertising; they need PR for “earned” (free) media. This is why I guess there’s the imbalance of shrinking newsrooms and a growing PR industry. It also means a never ending flood of companies that expect me to market their new optimization tools. No thanks.

BPB: As digital editor at a print magazine, we have to ask, what's your opinion on the future of print media?
BM: Well, I’m digital editor of a news organization that used to be a print magazine. We publish much more content online than in print format. That said print has been an important part of Adweek.

Print is very valuable to the credibility a news brand, but it needs to be supplemented so media companies make more money online and through events. Any media company still relying on print revenue for the overwhelming majority of its business is probably doomed.

Pennies can’t replace dollars, but gather together enough nickels, dimes and quarters, and you’ll get close to those offline dollars. Cost cuts have to make up the rest.

The challenge for us is the same for lots of what was formerly only print media: how do you find a financial model that works when you’re not going to make as much money from online ads as offline. Jeff Zucker has a point about trading offline dollars for digital pennies. I’m not on the business side, but my personal view is this will mean media needs to have a lower cost base and at the same time produce new kinds of content. We’re starting to do that.

As an example, yesterday I wrote two Web news stories, worked on a print feature, shot a video interview and updated Twitter several times. I didn’t get to a blog post I meant to do. That’s just the way it is nowadays. I think it’s cool to have the opportunity to tell stories and share information in so many ways. I hope to do more of it.

Twitter. Again with the Twitter?!
We’ve droned on before that you can learn something on Twitter. Oddly enough this entire transaction, less the actual posting of Brian’s answers, took place in less than three hours. And to sum up this post the Bad Pitch Blog will note that with things moving this fast, if you're not making a reporter’s life easier you're just making it harder.

The Good Pitch Mantra

2008-06-30T10:24:00.001-04:00

A good pitch disappears and turns into a story.

A bad pitch becomes the story.

tags public relations PR media relations media good pitch bad pitch bad pitch blog

Without Blinking: Sharing the Vision is a PR Metier

2008-06-22T13:51:00.009-04:00

We all know the saying a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, in the world of Google, YouTube and all that Web 2.0 mishegos, it's like millions of dollars. The incessance of the Net is forcing PR pros to move beyond the press release and provide a real multimedia experience. So for those of you that only employ a pitch or release, pay attention to some basic rules of extending what you (we) do.

(Sorry, including a catchy image or two won't cut it either. I mean, come on, the EPK is so 1996.)

A written pitch is spam while a multimedia one is engaging and kind of easy to pour over. Tools at our disposal are limitless and evolving every second. We now have embedded video, widgets and portable content that not only provide our editor and reporter and producer and writer colleagues with knowledge but can actually but immerse them in an (wait for it) experience. It's video and it's interactive, and its impact far outreaches the written word.

Realistically, we're not just targeting editors and reporters anymore -- we're targeting every single person who will eventually “buy.” And I do mean the people. Multimedia content has turned consumers into evangelists for the PR cause. The interactive component engages the consumer, while giving them a stake in the brand.

The thing: brand awareness equals coolness. People are eager to become ambassadors of your brand and it’s easy to get them to do so. . And it’s easy – all they have to do is embed content from a site or an email, click the share "button" and, viola, they are sharing the content and displaying the brand on their own social sites or blogs. While they display their interests with their pals, they are actually helping to promote what you got! It's a viral approach reaching audiences in a way that a release never could. So yeah, thanks MySpace Tom and Facebook Mark.

The real challenge is you need to give people a reason to embed or post. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as a promotion or a pitch. You need to know who your audience is - and not half-assedly. (So does "Project Runway". What were they thinking leaving Bravo—those ladies who Lifetime are not going to get this! And Bravoites aren't turning the channel to the big L.) Ask yourself: What is your audience interested in? Why are they reading the release you put out there or is it what are they looking for?

Target your audience as you would their keeper, a/k/a the big wide media. Give them a specific reason to become evangelistic. Remember, if Scientology could do it to Tom Cruise, you can do it too. A simple blast might work when peddling medical supplies, but if you want to get more than tongue depressors out there then take a deep breath and seek out your audience. They’re out there.

Apple understands this better than anyone. Execution of their marketing, advertising and PR are cultish . Apple is mostly cool. (Dell may be functional, but it’s more pedestrian than exciting. Oh, and HP, I refuse to go there…) From commercials to emblems, consumers are eager to embed content from Apple on their personal pages (or their desktops), because it somehow represents more than the technology. (It also doesn’t hurt that they offer free songs on iTunes and special offers if you become a fan of their app! Free is better than anything in a $4.50 gas world.)

The point of this is to think like Jack Handey (“Deep Thoughts”) who said: “The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.” Just like Caw, consumers want the brand to speak to them – adroitly and without blinking.

In the world of “me,” it’s up to you to get me.

For a book on subjects like this --- hey, go get mine.

Can Cookies & Sundresses Soften An Image?

2008-06-19T16:48:00.004-04:00

PR people tend to zip it when it comes to politics and blogging. Heavens forbid we express our political beliefs and lose a reader.

But regardless of whether you lean left or right, PR people should be political junkies…during the campaign season at a minimum. As I’ve said before, media relations campaigns should be run like political campaigns.

Take Michelle Obama and the media ubiquity of what I’ll call “project soft warm fuzzy.”

As Barack claimed the throne of a presidential nominee, it became clear that Michelle needed to have a side softer than even Sears.

BAM! She’s baring shoulder on The View in a sun dress, she’s baking cookies with the PR geniuses at Family Circle and she’s on the cover of US Weekly with the headline “Why Barack Loves Her.”

And now everyone is reporting on said reporting…including Bad Pitch Impresario Richard Laermer. The above Fox News vid is of Richard dissecting, er, discussing Michelle’s View visit. Note to self: tell Richard to start wearing his BPB ascot when he’s on national TV. We had them made for a reason!

The New York Times also weighs in on how the entire Obama campaign is on image control patrol (via PRNewser). So pay attention – there’s a lot to learn from the democratic process.

Twitter (Again) and Media Relations

2008-06-18T01:01:00.002-04:00

Twitter is like the lottery. It can pay off big, but you have to play to win.

Todd Van Hoosear mentioned on Twitter that he was on a conference call with Wall Street Journal tech reporter Kara Swisher, Sam Whitmore and his Media Survey subscribers.

Van Hoosear wasn’t bragging, he was offering to field questions from fellow PR people on Twitter during the Q&A portion of the call.

We took him up on his gracious offer and asked “what’s the one thing PR people can do to improve their relationship with her and ultimately the WSJ and other media."

Here is a transcript of her answer in 140 character bursts via Van Hoosear.

@karaswisher says (about PR people): "Be clear. Be honest. Sure, be loyal to your company, but don't be stupid."

@karaswisher says "I'll talk to just about anybody. I have great respect for PR people. They can be incredibly useful."

@karaswisher "Understand what each of us does. I don't cover every single thing. We're more analytical than most other blogs."

Twitter won’t clean your oven or cure diseases, but it is a handy communication utility that can have an impact on what we do. The above is a great example. Everyone wins in that conversation, Swisher, Van Hoosear and now you.

One word of caution: speed breeds stupidity. It takes time to ramp up on Twitter, understand it and, as a result, see the value. Anyone out there trying to apply old rules to new tools will be disappointed at best.

make the lotto balls go crazy please!! uploaded by wendenglow
tags public relations PR media relations media good pitch bad pitch bad pitch blog Twitter Kara Swisher

Some Spin Zone: A Riff On The PR Politics of Oil

2008-06-10T22:11:00.015-04:00

No Blood For Oil made for a good anti-war slogan when gas was going for the same price as Two Buck Chuck. But with gasoline now regularly priced at $4 and in Canada, where I’m sitting at Starbucks, what calculates to SIX BUCKS -- and that’s for the cheap stuff! -- I’m not so sure the saying holds. As Wanda Sykes recently said on Conan: “If anybody drives a Hummer, you should be able to shoot at them.” Arnold Schwarzenegger…excuse me, Governor Schwarzenegger (still sounds weird), better watch out the next time he drives to lunch at the Ivy, Leo DiCaprio might just do a drive-by out the window of his Prius.

(BTW, you can check out Wanda’s spiel here, it’s hilarious. You need something to do between your coffee break and lunch, right??

Okay so here’s what really gets me: What are we doing about this? People complain, and complain, then whine a little, and then go back to complaining. Politicians pander with meaningless filler the Gas Tax Holiday (sorry, Hill, a dud that died on impact) or more ethanol subsidies. Wow, genius move. Gas prices continue to soar, and now we have food shortages! There are honest-to-blog food riots from Haiti to Bangladesh to Egypt! Take one a part rising fertilizer costs (fertilizer is often made with petroleum products), mix in farmers selling their crops for ethanol instead of food, and don’t forget politicians who can’t think further ahead then tomorrow’s paper (or if they’re wired, the next Huffington Post blog entry) and you have a recipe for one flaktastic disaster.

Well, thank our lucky stars for the timing, cause it’s not as if we’re also mired in a financial fubar of a subprime mortgage crisis. Oh right, we are. All right, this is a bad time. Reminds me of the softly-spoken line that started Showtime’s Huff: “It just never stops.”

In this BPB that you read somewhat regularly, Kevin and I try to break down the ultimate in spin (i.e., BS) to get to PR fundamentals (like always-thoughtful communication). Gas Tax Holidays are spin. Ethanol is spinning us mad. George Bush running ads in the 2000 GOP primaries claiming he’s a responsible environmental steward while John McCain can’t be trusted is a big ole spinning top… Scratch that, it was a giant, mind blowing, nuclear bomb–tagged lie.

I mention the last example because regardless of your "poleanings," in this upcoming election we all have to band together and see past the spinners to get the truth-tellers. I am beseeching us all, not just you coastal rats, to listen up, put your ears to the fire, and make politicians stop the garble and make sense. There’s no better time! This time our wallets are at stake!

We’ll hear politicians and interest groups giving us simplistic solutions dressed up as policy (Drill in Alaska! Tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve! Invade Iran! Invade British Columbia!). But maybe, maybe-maybe, we’ll hear some pols make an honest effort to communicate complicated choices to the people of our pissed-off, pissed-on nation. And then we’ll get carefully-crafted PR efforts that golly gee have a couple of solutions tossed in, which clearly contrasts to solutions that pandering sloganeers toss at us now.

When it comes to $4-plus gas, a real PR effort devoid of spin would sure be something. Hey, Beav, let’s call it leadership!

To end on a sweet (and I mean sweet!) note I'd like to initiate you to Two Buck Chuck, in case you've neglected it: Charles Shaw Wine will set you back a buck ninety-nine at Trader Joe’s. Try it… Go right now, I’ll wait. Take a sip? It’s not bad. Funny world, this one.

Bad Pitch, Good Dog

2008-06-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

This is Sam, our unofficial mascot. Before going to that big kennel in the sky, he was considered the world’s ugliest dog. We're not questioning this honor.

A more informative, and attractive, breed would be the Bulldog (Reporter). We're excited to note that The Bulldog Reporter just added our feed to their Daily Dog web site. We are also relieved they did not ask us to swap out Sam as mascot for a Bulldog to help reinforce their brand.

If you’re not familiar with the Daily Dog, you should make with the clicky.

Celeste Dufault is Outed in 10 Words or Less

2008-06-03T23:12:00.003-04:00

Celeste’s pitch is so bad, she managed to get outed using only 10 words. It was forwarded to our attention from an anonymous member of the media.

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SUBJECT: Mailing Services are a hot trend for printers

BODY Hello!
Could you run this in your publication.

Thank,
Celeste
----

We are happy to award Celeste our badge of dishonor, Slick. It’s been awhile since Slick’s visited the Bad Pitch blog – making this pitch all the more notable.

So to fully define why this pitch sucks, let’s start with the obvious.

Instructions are not a pitch: “Could you run this in your publication” whether it’s a question or a request, it comes off presumptive at best. And let’s be honest, it comes off a whole new brand of bad….so bad it was previously only available with a prescription. You get the idea. Call it what you will, but it is most certainly not a pitch.

CC Says It’s (NOT) Hot News: Celeste copied, I crap you negative, nearly 90 media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and 15 contacts at the Providence Journal. She did not blind copy them, she let every. single, recipient. know they were being mass pitched. What better way to signal to a media outlet that this news was customized especially for them and their readers.

Attachments. wtf?! The news release was attached to the email as a .pdf file.

>rant< I could take a picture of my three-year-old’s latest Crayola-soaked homage to Thomas the Train, turn it into a .pdf file and easily pose as the agent for MoMa’s next creative genius.>/rant<

Foisting an unrequested attachment on 90 people is a bad move – no matter what size it is. And why a .pdf? The only thing a .pdf attachment seems to add to a news release is electronic stationery. If you have the option, link to the news release instead of attaching or pasting it into the body of the email.

Brevity Breeds Typos? OK, maybe not. But a closing of "Thank" instead of Thanks is all the more glaring based on the length of this email. I will not even get into the typos in the news release (below)

Bait and Switch Headline: "Mailing services are a hot trend for printers" lead me to believe Celeste is pitching a story idea in the wrong format. Then I read the news release below and realized the headline has nothing to do with the body.

When we see pitches like this, being spammed to the top three dailies in the nation, we get mad.

And if the most time-consuming portion of your next email to the media is filling out the address field, you’re mass pitch is getting ready to suck on a mass scale. Stop the send. Stop the spam. Learn from Celeste’s mistakes. Please.

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Mailing Services are a hot trend for printers

LOCATION - DATE – CLIENT, known for traditional offset printing continues to grow their business through diversification strategies. Today the company announced the opening of their new mailing and fulfillment division. The new division is fully staffed and operating with state of the art equipment in a dedicated 12,000 sq. ft area.

The complexity of the continually changing U.S. Postal Service (USPS) regulations can make any printer think twice about getting involved in offering mailing services. However, adding mailing services is a hot trend for printers right now as a value-add for customers.

“In the past, providing a one stop resource for our clients was a goal. Today it’s an achievement” says NAME, president of CLIENT. The company is now able to deliver every aspect of projects, saving their clients the hassle of coordinating multiple vendors while improving quality, turnaround times and reducing costly delays.

CLIENT is a privately owned and operated full-service FSC Certified print communications company located in CITY STATE. The companies comprehensive communication services include offset, digital and variable data printing, Personalized web sites (pURL’s), prepress, finishing, inventory, fulfillment programs and mailing services. CLIENT prides itself with a reputation of continually providing their clients with creative solutions, cutting-edge technology and a committed support staff.
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A Simple Media Relations Equation

2008-05-28T10:59:00.002-04:00

A wise Canadian noted recently that you must break something down to simple/common terms to describe it most effectively. He gets even more points by referencing Ghostbusters and Twinkie snack cakes to prove his point.

So here’s a pretty simple logic equation you can use to remember an important tip for media relations and career relations.

Pitch Letter is to News Release as Cover Letter is to Resume

A press release is not a pitch. Would you send a resume with no cover letter to a prospective employer?

In both instances, the letter provides context. You should pull out the value your release or resume offers that specific media outlet/editor and company/HR contact, respectively.

No one has the time to digest an entire news release or an entire resume to see why/how it applies to them. And the more I see just press releases being sent to me, without even so much as a salutation, the more I realize this is probably the reason so many hold such (deep) hatred for the news release format.

Help save the news release. Take the logical approach.

Bonus Link: Funniest Resume Mistakes via Matt Staggs

Bad Pitch Blog Looks at a Singular Movie Phenomenon Currently Redefining "Hype"

2008-05-27T09:44:00.007-04:00

Arthur Harris of the Royal Air Force is often credited as the innovator of carpet bombing during World War Two, which was a tactic used to achieve the complete destruction of a target region and demoralization of its residents. When the head of marketing at New Line Cinema sends out his next batch of thank you cards, he may wish to extend special consideration to the Harris family.

The most wonderful part about "Sex and the City" opening this Friday is that it won't be able to open in two weeks. Or three. This ensures that the period between the movie's premiere and the world's end is as long as possible, giving us slightly more time to make new friends and begin new hobbies that have absolutely nothing to do with catty puns and Jimmy Choos.

It may be oh so hard to imagine, but there will be a moment next Sunday evening when the weekend's box office report comes out and brief discussion regarding how well "Sex" performed . . . and it'll be the last significant press mention of this thing called "Sex and the City: The Movie." Forever. At some point the DVD will come out and we'll see a whole wad of be TV spots.

Next winter some hipster doofus comedian will suggest that it deserves Oscar buzz. Down the road Cynthia Nixon will star in a play or do another turn as Eleanor Roosevelt, and an interviewer will ask whether there's been any talk of the "SATC" sequel (unless, of course, the new film ends with the four leads drowned in the Hudson, which, while unlikely, would certainly prolong the publicity agony), and she'll parry in a calculated way that possibility has been left open but who knows right.

But the nightmarish blitzkrieg we've withstood will be over. It has to be right…

The attention paid to the movie version of a premium cable sitcom whose audience amounted to a flattened speck on "Two and a Half Men"'s windshield is staggering.
It's gotten to the point where there are now magazine covers devoted not to the movie itself but to the BACKLASH it's generated. Plenty of flicks arrive with 90% of the public expecting them to suck. "Speed Racer" and the forthcoming second original "Hulk" movie spring to mind. So does virtually every other dusty television program revived by desperate Hollywood producers, from "The Dukes of Hazzard" to --well, I guess "Speed Racer" is still on my mind. Yet those usually flop due to indifference. "Sex and the City," for whatever reason, does not engender apathy. It polarizes. Its arrival is anticipated either with unfettered joy or unvarnished disgust. It's like "Fahrenheit 9/11" with a different variety of bush jokes.

It's unbearably tough to understand how it reached this plateau. Chick flicks are, of course, somewhat divisive and enjoyed by I'd say about half of Americans. But not really in a way so different from horror flicks or action movies or teen comedies or any other genre designed specifically for a demographic. And even hugely hyped chick flicks with well-established source material ("The Devil Wears Pravda?," "The Sisterhood of the Stained Pants?") tend to be loved by many while ignored by the rest. Alas, something about "Sex/ City," so it appears, is making people freak out on a scale I've never seen before.

Yes, the series was a big hit. It was frank about coitus and had a lot of dick lines and toys and ball-pulling and those men the gals dated were hilarious caricatures. It embodied a certain fantasy version of Manhattan that appealed both to New Yorkers' narcissism and those widened Kansan eyes. But it was only around a few years—and poof was gone (not meant to be a gay joke). And it's been gone for a while—except on TBS and horribly edited syndicated blocks. This movie storyline feels better suited or a two-hour block on HB0 on July 4th weekend.

Yet here we are, watching as it gets attention (the good and the bad) that expected big summer blockbuster sequels are handed. It's spoken about in sentences with Mr. Indiana Jones, who left fans decades ago and wouldn't deign to work except on the big screen! Credit the film marketers and the celeb publicists and the fabulous stylists who fomented all the negative and positive energy surrounding "Sex and the City" into a promotional campaign that far outpaces its original appeal and subtler sensibility. Then after we give them all this credit let's agree to stop covering it in our blogs, our articles, our conversations, our minds. It is beginning to feel like the season's other unrealistic escapist romp with another female lead.

And yep, Hillary is wearing sensible shoes.

Get Smart. Share with Your Friend (Feed)

2008-05-22T21:22:00.007-04:00

Wall of International Peace - Moscow uploaded by Jeff Bauche._.•´¯)

We created a room on Friend Feed to kick the conversation up a notch around here. Two people posting and many (wonderful) people commenting is great. But there's a metric ton of relevant media relations content online.

We need your help.

Some of you already have a FriendFeed account. So we thought, "What Would Scoble Do?" >pun intended. we love Robert, but we don't worship false gods<

We got a room. Stop by. Tell a buddy, bring a friend. It's open to everyone that wants to help solve the problem of bad pitches.

Share a link you think applies to the media relations melee we jump into on a near daily basis (for a living no less).

update: You can grab the RSS Feed here.

UPDATE: PR Week did an article on FriendFeed and quoted me.

Wall of International Peace - Moscow uploaded by Jeff Bauche._.•´¯)

Getting Ahead of the Story, Volume 1000

2008-05-19T19:45:00.005-04:00

As the CEO of a PR agency, I can’t even tell you how many potential clients ask “Do I really need PR?” Usually I just answer with a simple and slightly aggravated “Why Yes!” Today, however, I will answer with an example of what a smart, finely crafted and well-timed PR campaign (with strategy) can do.

The past few months we have seen historically vilified Microsoft attempt to take the current underdog, Yahoo, over with a slow hand. During the war Microsoft was seen as a Goliath, a heartless corporation out to bully Yahoo, a company determined to stand on its own.

Here’s the thing, PR frames reality. When the deal fell apart, Microsoft was smart and engaged the press early. Their PR team reached out and massaged reporters, putting the blame squarely on Yahoo.

The press painted a picture that made Microsoft seem reasonable and open to negotiations. Microsoft’s flexibility was met by an unwillingness on the part of Yahoo to negotiate or cooperate. The reason the deal fell apart had nothing to do with the suddenly valiant Microsoft; it fell apart because Yahoo was unreasonable.

While talking to the press Microsoft might have mentioned –naturally, off the record –that when you’re dealing with the takeover of a publicly traded company there are certain rules that each company must follow.

PR is more than spin. In case I forgot to mention this (wink plus wink), when done right, PR frames reality. The reality here is that the Yahoo board put the best interest of their shareholders aside.

And there are some real legal implications here. Right or wrong, the perception exists that the Yahoo board failed in their responsibility to their shareholders. When shareholders lose faith, stock price goes down. When stock price goes down, Yahoo will not be able to stand against Google. When that happens…well…there won’t be anyone left to go Yahoo! (one place where Yahoo!’s exclamation point works!)

People still may not like Microsoft (clip of Bill Gates taking a bullet to the dome in the South Park movie is here: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/392488/south_park_bill_gates/), but MS has framed reality to their benefit with some smart PR. Unlike Yahoo, Microsoft was out there–immediately. Yahoo’s CEO did not make statements or address the press until days after Microsoft’s well-timed and brilliant PR-strophe hit. By the time Yahoo hit the streets, people weren’t buying their story – the minds of the public were already made up.

Yes, Yahoo stressed their willingness to negotiate. They also said they were fulfilling their obligations to their shareholders. But alas, it was too late. The reality was already framed and the story already set.

Yahoo’s delay invited enormous share holder Carl Icahn in there panting and aiming to launch a proxy fight to remove the current Yahoo board. His argument? Same as Microsoft’s. There’s a good shot Yahoo will win over Icahn, but the battle to keep him away will cost Yahoo time and money, and time and money, and maybe even a little more time and money.

So you have to ask yourself, even if Yahoo did spurn Microsoft, had they controlled the story would Icahn have this window of opportunity? I don’t THINK so. All he is doing is taking advantage of the perception that Yahoo’s board is irresponsible – the perception Microsoft’s very own PR team put out there.

Lesson is, you need PR and you better be deft. The effect PR has goes way beyond people liking you, your product or your company. Always be the first person/company/whatever talking to the press. If it’s not you it’s your competition. Beat them to the punch; put your brand, your spin and your ideas out there.

And be smart about too, will ya?
*****
For more like this - including it - see the 'other site,' the monstrously effective Laermer.com.

Worried About Getting Spam in Your Wiki? Just Be Like Tolu O.

2008-05-16T13:19:00.002-04:00

We’re so over the whole he said, she said around “lists that are the absence of all colors.” We’re moving on. This comment from Tolu O. is one reason why.

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Dear Kevin and other knowledgeable people in social media/PR,

I want you all to know that you have put the fear of God in me. I am officially wary of pitching anybody now. Traditional media folks, new media folks-- it does not matter. I agonize over how I will pitch. I proofread continuously to make sure I am using proper AP style. I double check, triple check sometimes, to make sure I am pitching in the journalist/blogger’s preferred way. I pore over your blog, Kevin D., and try to follow the mandates that you set forth in your old post “Ready to pitch a blog? Take this quiz first.”

As excited as I am to become a full-fledged PR professional, it can be disheartening when I read some posts which basically put people on blast. It is like walking into the gym in 8th grade and having the wrong sneakers on-- everyone stares. I can either rock my sneaks and make the best of the situation or I can hide from the it.

I am a PR student at UGA. I think I am pretty knowledgeable in social media. My teachers have done an excellent job of informing me about social media and how to approach it (props to you Dr. Sweetser). I Twitter occasionally, I win every argument because of Wikipedia. My Secondlife avatar is pretty hot. Everything considered, I am no expert but I do know the basics. Plus, and this is a very big plus, I am well versed in the basics of public (now becoming personalized) relations.

My whole point being, there are many PR students like me coming into the workforce. I am going to try my hardest to be successful and pitch the media with the delicacy and respect they deserve. However, I am learning and will continue to learn for the rest of my life. I do not plan on making mistakes but if I do I will certainly learn from them.

So yes, I will follow your advice on what to do before I pitch. Yes, I will stay up to date and keep myself relevant. Yes, I will heed the advice of those that have made mistakes and those who continue to educate people like me. With all your help, I don’t have to be scared to pitch, because when you think about it, it is a basic courtesy (not to mention necessity) to know who you are pitching.

So thank you Kevin and other knowledgeable PR people. I will be careful how I pitch. I’m no expert now, but I will be (and I’ll be rocking some old school sneaks).

---

The Bad Pitch blog owes Tolu O. a pair of Chuck Taylors for a rally cry rivaling King Henry V. But please have no fear. Well maybe a little is healthy. Tolu O proves that out above. She's being taught by some of the best in the business at UGA. And she's applying what she learns to do her best work. She understands what could happen if she's not focused on her media relations efforts.

And, while no one will admit it at the time, the mistakes are the best part. If it weren’t for my own mistakes I wouldn't have created the Bad Pitch blog.

The feedback the Bad Pitch blog has received, and the conversation it’s created, is the reason why it's still here. So what else do YOU want to read/talk about? Let us know. In the meantime we’re heading out early to get this note from Tolu O. laminated.

Bad Pitch Pissing Match

2008-05-12T00:26:00.002-04:00

When Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani started getting unsolicited pitches sent to her personal email address, she took action, Chris Anderson style, and created the PR Spammers Wiki.

And you thought we were harsh.

This inspired a handful of posts weighing in on the topic --- some note black lists won’t work (they won’t), others suggest a response mirroring Anderson’s and Trapani’s tactics (not worth it).

Do I agree with Trapani’s approach to this problem? No. Am I surprised by the wiki? No. Will it be the last of its kind? No.

The Bigger Picture
Trapani is not a villain. Someone serving up tasty snack ideas clearly is OK. She makes her plight clear on the wiki:

NOTE: This wiki was put together by Gina Trapani, editor of Lifehacker.com, who welcomes blog pitches to the tips at lifehacker.com email address, which exists for that purpose. She has also always respectfully requested that no press releases get sent to her personal email address in the one place where it is published online. The press releases, however, keep arriving. At her personal email address. Which is why she filters these companies.

Over time bad pitches hurt the entire industry. This fact inspired this blog and the PR Spammers Wiki reinforces this further. Right or wrong the wiki is a powerful conversation starter. And while others are simply updating their email databases, the smart folks on Trapani’s list are already discussing the wiki with her and building a relationship instead of a grudge.

Twitter Cures Disease and…and Cleans Ovens Too!!!

2008-05-07T01:33:00.002-04:00

Admit it. At some point, in some form or another…Twitter pisses you off. I’ve been there and back.

The above headline openly mocks the effusive glee that drips from the metric ton of online chatter around this topic.

But you need to get over it. Learn to ~~love~~ not hate Twitter. Here’s how...

”What are you doing?” is just a prompt.
Many say they don't get on Twitter because they don’t care what people are doing. It tells me they haven’t parsed through Twitter posts. Even at 140 characters, that’s what they are -- tiny little blog posts.

Some of these posts are minutiae. Just consider Twitter a party. You’ll have several conversations at a social gathering. Some will be amazing. Some will make you realize why people cut themselves. But you’ll leave the party with some valuable information. And I’m not talking digits.

It’s the utility stupid.
Twitter will not cure disease or clean your oven. It does not posses medicinal qualities. But it is a handy utility. Allan Jenkins offers up some more Twitter pragmatism here.

Twitter takes time.
Social media does not offer instant results. Twitter gains value over time…if you participate.

Twitter is niche.
Not everyone is on Twitter. But more folks jump on daily. Your odds continue to increase that people of like mind and interest are on it.

Just consider the media, a few reporters and outlets are using Twitter in new and interesting ways.

Event coverage.
Twitter’s utility is clear during events. Twitter serves as a back channel for communication, regardless of where you’re at -- in the room or across the continent. Add Twitpic to the mix and you can even augment your posts by sending photos to your Twitter feed.

Charlotte's WCNC-TV is taking event coverage a step further. Its election coverage includes Twitter updates from each member of the news team. The TV station rolls them into one big feed on their site. With this in place, WCNC offers another level of coverage to viewers and, gasp, talk directly with them.

140 character pitches?
Andy Aldridge knows the art of the elevator speech. He was already following Jeff Elder on Twitter. So when Jeff asked for leads for his weekly column on Twitter, Andy replied on Twitter. Nearly all of the communication took place using Twitter, even fact checking of the final story that ran.

These are just a few examples of how Twitter can improve your media relations efforts. At a minimum you can learn more about reporters likes and dislikes. You could even build a stronger pitch by using Twitter to identify complementary sources for your story idea.

To be honest, it doesn’t matter to me if you use Twitter or not. I don’t get a toaster for every person I help sign up. But sooner or later, someone more important than me will wonder aloud if your key media/clients/target audiences are on Twitter. Wouldn’t you like to answer that question authoritatively? Even better, wouldn’t you like to be the first one to bring up the topic?

The Stupid or Crazy Pitch

2008-05-02T00:58:00.002-04:00

PR people can’t afford to be wall flowers (passive aggressive perhaps, but not shy). But some PR people go to the extreme. Actually they get to extreme and take a running leap off extreme.

An anonymous trade editor sends us "Idiot Exhibit One" which is less a pitch and more of a demand. The subject line says it all (loudly in caps lock)
BOOK THIS FATHER'S DAY INTERVIEW OR EXPLAIN WHY YOU DIDN'T...

Catchy title, eh? Makes you want to yell STOP THE PRESSES (the handful that still run these days). Worst of all? This trade would never in a million years cover the topic this ham-fisted shill was ~~shoving~~ pushing, er, “selling.”

Or take this “Put Out Pitch” from another anonymous editor that merely said:

Pretty tight deadline, you should give more notice next time. As my attached bio details, I could certainly speak to the issues. I'm free from 1:30 PM to 2 PM, PST, if that works.

Thanks for that window Mr. Busy. God complex. Table of one! Might we touch your robe so that we might be healed?

What’s the moral of the story? Don’t be a jerk.

robbers uploaded by Jakob Lodwick

Open for Business

2008-05-01T22:02:00.004-04:00

A fellow PR blogger sent us a bad pitch and wondered aloud if we still collect them.

We do.

He noted that bad pitches are such a common occurrence; they've gone from extraordinary to plain old ordinary.

He's right.

Bad pitches are old news. This adds fuel to our (bon)fire. The fact that they're blending into the white noise of spam, bacon and other slices of info on the interruption samich we choke down every. single. day. makes them all the more worthy of our scrutiny.

>cue music<
So with apologies to Ms. Liberty: Give us your pitches, your good and your bad emails yearning for free space.

untitled uploaded by girl from long beach

Visit the Newseum, Read Alltop, Tell Stories, Vet News and Huff the Po(st) | Fast Five | 04.27.08

2008-04-28T01:00:00.003-04:00

1) Newseum
Slate disagrees, but The Newseum looks to be an interesting destination the next time you’re in our nation’s capital.

2) Alltop Journalism
Alltop’s Journalism page aggregates nearly 100 sites focused on the Fourth Estate. Check it out, along with other Alltop sites, for an easy way to get a read on industry news.

3) Story Corps
Story Corps wants you to tell your story. The program is travelling the nation and every story gets archived in the Library of Congress. Cool.

4) Newsvetter
We always remind people we like good pitches too. Andrew Fowler has a site that helps you create and send them. Newsvetter asks you media-designed questions that help you shape an informative pitch. We interviewed Andrew and are preparing another post exploring the service further. Until then, check out the Newsvetter blog.

5) Laermer on HuffPo
The Bad Pitch’s own Richard Laermer is now blogging at The Huffington Post. Ariana Huffington did not call us for a reference, but we don’t mind sharing brainpower.

"Comm 201": What to do after email has died

2008-04-20T14:17:00.004-04:00

It seems like a million years ago, but it's been just a month since Eliot Spitzer fell from grace. The man who is fodder for everyone (deservedly so) once said: “Never talk when you can nod and never nod when you can wink and never write an email because it's death.”

The nod/wink/talk stuff turned out to be bullshit, but email he was so-o right about – he kind of stole my line – but for less deadly reasons than the ones Eliot might have been on about.

I just finished a year of writing a book, “2011: Trendspotting” (see www.Laermer.com for more), in which I discuss email slowly becoming death for communicators.

Calling it “email is death” syndrome, or EID, I see the majority realizing that our email is just useless blabber and we’d rather talk with people we know and like and avoid the spammers who won’t leave us alone (we’re Twittering as we read this, right?). It will be replaced gradually in the next few years by new types of devices that will give us control over who bugs us.

Take a deep breath, it’ll be fine.

According to a Pew Internet Study of 05, almost half of Web-using teens (“the future of our world,” yikes) prefer to use IM instead of emailing.

How ridiculous was the moment that I, a long-known-about email addict, realized that the person I emailed the most, my second in command at RLM, left me a note and I wasn’t sure who “me” was. Unrecognizable handwriting is unacceptable — and dastardly weird.

Question: Do you write people or do you communicate with them? Probably the former. So what's that mean?

Every single email –no exaggeration—is junk, even the ones you want – junk. I am shocked at how much people send us that we don’t want. Do they think we could possibly like them even less?

In 2007 Slate mused: “It's not hard to imagine a future communications command center where, on a single screen, you'll be able to choose between sending an e-mail, instant message, status note, or blog post—or sending all of them at once—and then have all those bits of text neatly and securely archived.”

I think differently. Pretty soon you’ll be using devices carrying pre-approved mail; anything and everything will be felt less crucial. These will be here in the next five years, because as soon as the New Toy Feeling of near-instant messages from strangers becomes as annoying as an unheard message on a voice mailbox, handy portable machines that will assign particular people the “right” to send you a note to you. They won’t just do it. You won’t let them.

On the second, more complicated hand will be inbox creations so that companies can alert you to news or commentary (or even good deals) that will arrive on your desktop for you to see – when you want to, or if. For instance, CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, hosts billions of products, hangers-on, publicity seekers and their competitors in Vegas every January and so iut offered a “communication tool,” a CES Alert Icon appearing in your system tray on a desktop and notify the password-protected recipient of deadlines and important announcements directly from CES. It looked cool but like everything else I had to negotiate access. Even though I was sent an invitation, after installing the mega-app I got “CES Alert is unable to identify you. Please right-click on the CES Alert icon at the bottom of your screen (in the system tray) and select Login Setup. Enter the requested information.” I’d entered it as the freakazoid installed. Hours later, I’m wondering if anything works as advertised

All of this is going to happen whether we like it or not. We won’t get as much buzz about ourselves but like any junkie will tell you eventually the cravings to read about “you” will cease. Many of our worst habits have been formed via email.

For instance, we have learned to be an insanely passive aggressive citizenry –I’m the worst– and the pre-okayed carrier (name is TBD but maybe The Generator?) will only be for friends or those we truly want to talk to…so it’s going to be a device for good and not evil. So the new little machines will not one of those “write me and I’ll make sure you are not stopped by my Spaminator” type devices. The tiny little machine will compute only those we tell it is okay.

Also it will be encrypted in every way man knows , so no one will be able to usurp it, even at work. Ha! Those bosses like me who want to know everything will not be able to kill the cat who wants to know everything.

Finally, when only those you enjoy talking to are talking to you you’ll be more caring. Once again you’ll begin to use language with verve and some sense of responsibility--like when you first learned it in grade school. You’ll treat your native tongue with some style—like the bitch it wants to be.

Comments? More on this? Anyone disagree? Let's fight it out!

O2 XDA Mini S uploaded by James Cridland

Chief Among Bad Pitches? Pitching the Editor in Chief

2008-04-13T14:55:00.002-04:00

Mass pitching fails at many levels. Some PR pros think sending their pitch to a relevant publication is enough targeting. But successful pitching requires targeting a specific reporter at a publication.

When Wired’s Chris Anderson published the email addresses of hundreds of folks he asserted were mass pitching, he noted in frustration: "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."

More recently a friend who also happens to be an Editor in Chief (EIC) at a trade magazine echoed Anderson.

Unless what I receive is specifically, and only meant for me, then that tells me the person who sent it is a lazy little fu(k#r that can't take the time to work out who covers what. It's not hard.

Stop the Top Down Approach
The EIC is a busy person with many jobs, when they get your pitch they assume you want them to do your job. Odds are good they’re too busy and won’t. Don’t be lazy.

If you’re searching an online database for media outlets covering a specific topic, remember to take a couple of passes at honing the list.

In addition to eliminating irrelevant media outlets and duplicates (some reporters cover online and print and are listed twice), be sure you have the right person at each outlet. Odds are (really) good it’s not the EIC.