IN THIS ISSUE: September 17, 2003 To Archive Index PR Lessons of a Clueless Blog Pitch New Report: Reality PR Strategy Guest Article: Want Publicity? Think Visuals 2004 Campaign Watch

THE PR LESSONS OF A CLUELESS BLOG PITCH

By B.L. Ochman

The majority of the PR industry continues to log behind in the blogosphere, seemingly unconvinced that the influential new medium is worth learning about. Those who are looking at blogs are also pitching them and, from what I've seen, their approach is disastrous. But not surprising. Sigh.

Here's a sample e-mail PR agency pitch, with names changed to protect the guilty, that a blogger associate of mine got the other day. It began:

Time to kick off with online advergame specialist [JoeBlow's] latest game for [phone company.] See if you can connect up and down field for a few TDs with QB [John Doe.]

It pointed to a URL where the game could be played and went on to give the usual formulaic PR detritus about the company. To its credit, it was short and it had no attachments.

However, this is exactly the kind of pitch traditional journalists complain about, so why, oh why, would bloggers, who tend to be snarky and often downright rude about PR, want to see this pitch?

Certainly, some bloggers fall for press releases and even gush about new products described in them. But influential bloggers are more likely to ridicule PR people than run their pitch. Mike Massick in TechDirt recently ran a headline that railed: Sneaky PR People Discover Blogs." You think he likes PR people?

Bloggers are ripe for pitching
Lest publicists think blogs are a mere blip in the PR landscape, consider this: There are a growing number of influential blogs that have a huge number of readers (Boing Boing, for example, has in excess of 350,000 unique readers per month) and offer many opportunities for promoting clients.

Like any other journalists, bloggers need to attract readers. Because writing about anything on a daily basis is actually a lot of work, many blogs have faded away. But some writers bloomed and eventually turned their blogs into a lively form of journalism that continues to evolve.

Bloggers delight in scooping traditional media outlets with news, rumors and opinions. PR people have the opportunity to become sources, but not by spewing out the same kind of tired pitches they have been sending to traditional media for years. Examples of bloggers making fun of PR pitches abound, so beware of your clueless pitch backfiring.

While original blog content is still fairly rare, many bloggers are experts in their disciplines and bring perspective from the trenches of business, law, education, programming, design and other fields that traditional journalists observe rather than practice. They don't want to be blasted with press releases. Show me a blogger (or a traditional journalist) who swears

 

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he/she never reads press releases or PR pitches and I'll show you one who's lying. So it's worth your while to learn to pitch bloggers who are often closely followed by traditional journalists and opinion leaders alike.

The much-blogged-about case of the Dr. Pepper "Raging Cow" campaign (What's Next Online Issue 83), another example of a PR firm that blew its pitch to bloggers by being overly commercial, is one of many that has bloggers tittering about the cluelessness of PR people.

Tips for effective PR pitching
Pitching to bloggers (or any journalist!) requires a short, smart, striking e-mail. Nobody wants to get a pitch that everyone and his dog has also received. And no journalist wants to be sold.

Keys to a great pitch include:

• Address the blogger by his/her name, or just say "hi." Never say "dear editor" or "dear sir/madam" (honest, I get pitches addressed that way.)
• Don't tell anyone they "must" or "should" write a story or book a guest. Instead, explain why the topic is of interest and why this person an expert worth knowing. Don't be cute.
• Reporters and bloggers all follow headlines. Explain how the idea or person you are pitching ties into a current news item or a trend.
• Let the blogger know you've at least looked at the publication and see if you can find something to praise. For God's sake though, don't say "Loved your great post the other day" unless you read it and you mean it. People who look at dozens of releases and pitches a day can pick up on baloney faster than a hungry hound.
• Don't whine if you don't get coverage by saying you "can't believe" the blogger didn’t include, won't write about, hasn't heard of XYZ company.
• Bloggers aim to provide a personal view of the news. They write in conversational style as an antidote to the canned news of traditional media. Why would you send a canned PR-speak pitch?
• Run your content through Bullfighter or similar software to be sure it is jargon-free before you send it out.

Guest Article

WANT FREE PUBLICITY? THINK VISUAL

By Jeff Crilley

It's called "television," but many of the stories people try to pitch us are more "tell" than "vision." What I'm trying to say is great TV stories are stories for the eyes. So, as you formulate the story you'd to see covered on TV news, you should be asking yourself the same question we reporters ask, "What are the visuals?"

Krandel Lee Newton is an excellent example of someone who does it right. He’s a street artist who is always "behind" in his work. But that’s his job. He’s a "Butt Sketch Artist." My jaw dropped when I saw his press release. He makes his living setting up on a street corner and getting people to "turn the other cheek," so to speak.

Now you’d expect an artist to have a good eye. But what impresses me most about Krandel is his vision for free publicity. Go to any major city and you can find a street artist on every block. But Krandel usually has a reporter and camera crew on his. That’s because he’s doing something different and, visually, it’s a reporter’s dream.

Become a media darling
Krandel explains it happened by accident two decades ago. He was asked to sketch a woman in tight-fitting jeans from behind. Well, Krandel took some liberties with the chalk and a few pounds off her backside and the woman’s boyfriend raved about it. Soon a crowd had gathered to have Krandel capture their best side. Krandel was a hit and soon became a media darling.

He sent out press releases announcing that he would gladly demonstrate his unusual art on camera using the reporter as his subject. And since most good feature reporters are always

 

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looking for an opportunity to get involved in the story, posing for Krandel became a picture-perfect way.

Reporters have been "turning their back" on Krandel for 20 years and it’s gotten him on just about nationally syndicated news program in the country. The "bottom" line---if you want the media to "cover your butt" do something visual.

And I’m not talking about just TV coverage. Newspapers need visuals too. As your eye scans the paper, which stories do you notice first? Usually the ones with a great photo, right? The old adage about a "picture being worth a thousand words" is truer now than ever. And if you plan your visuals right, that picture will end up in the paper along with a thousand-word article next to it.

Remember, reporters tell stories with pictures. If the pictures aren’t there, chances are the reporters won’t be either.

Jeff Crilley is an Emmy Award winning reporter and author of Free Publicity: A TV Reporter Shares the Secrets For Getting Covered on the News. It's available at bookstores or through www.jeffcrilley.com

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2004 CAMPAIGN WATCH

Blog or Blow It
Michael Falcome, writing about the blogs of political candidates said "Since Howard Dean's Democratic presidential effort created one in March, the blog, with its spontaneous feel and wide reach, has quickly gained acceptance as a tool of technology-savvy political campaigns, along with online fund-raising and grass-roots organizing sites like MeetUp.com and MoveOn.org.

Many of the 2004 presidential candidates, have teams of online writers churning out material, he said. "With such a large field of candidates, it is for many the best shot at being noticed."

The End of the Advance Man?
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Lee Gomes explained how the Dean for President staff keeps the candidate's blog on the cutting edge and said "In fact, at this point in the campaign, the Dean online operation is doing to political campaigns what Amazon.com did to retailing. For example, in the old-fashioned world of bricks and mortar politics, campaigns would send in a crew of advance people before a big event to drum up crowds. Dean staffers just send out e-mails and thousands of supporters materialize."

Gomes also noted that the Dean site is directed by Nicco Mele, the campaign's 25 year-old Web master.

The 2004 election is a watershed event for online activists. PR people need to get with the program.

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