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The 10 Worst PR E-mail Tactics You Can Employ

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I get a lot of emails from PR agencies. No, I mean I get a LOT of them. Cali gets even more. After a while, they start to piss you off. So I made a list of ten things you should always keep in mind if you are a PR agent and you are trying to get my (or any media person’s) attention.

  1. Never send press releases as pdfs attached to emails. What? Is your text so special that it must be packaged in a pdf? Its text! Put it in the email so I can read it without launching an app!
  2. 85% of the time I check email on my phone. If your news is exclusively in a pdf or an image, I delete it.
  3. … if you attach images over 300kb, I delete it
  4. … if I can’t quickly figure out what this thing is, I delete it
  5. Don’t tell people to contact you for review units, then tell them you don’t have any.
  6. Don’t send me insignificant press releases. the frivolous crap you’re pitching tells me you don’t value my time. You really think I have nothing better to report then the new color of your ipad case? I have a 3 strikes rule, so if you waste my time I’ll put you in my email kill filter.
  7. If you send me an email from an address that you won’t respond to, I’ll kill filter you.
  8. If you add me to your PR email list without asking me first, I’ll kill filter you AND report you to Google as a spammer to stop spam emails.
  9. Don’t “offer” me interviews with your amazing CEO. 99% of CEOs are boring as hell. Most VPs are even worse, they only have one mode – pitch! Plus, we both know that you just want your executive on my video, in front of my audience, and on my dime. So who’s doing who a favor here?
  10. If I’m registered to attend an event as press, that is not a license to spam me with notifications about what you intend to exhibit there and beg me to stop by your booth. How desperate would I have to be to make appointments to see a booth at an event where you’ll be manning the booth every minute the event is open? Maybe if you’re Apple. But anyone else, forget it.

If you’d rather focus on the positive, why don’t you:

  • Custom tailor your message to me.
  • Know who the hell I am when you approach me, and be familiar with some of the things I’ve done and what you liked most.
  • Open up a dialog BEFORE you want something from me, and try and build a real relationship.
  • Only pitch stories my way that you really believe will be of interest to my readers/viewers/etc.

That is all.

About John P.

John P. is CEO of Livid Lobster and co-host of Geek Beat TV. You can also find him on Twitter and Google+.

Comments

  1. Eric says

    I understand several of your very valid points here, but I think you could have presented them in a different manner.

    Why not come up with proactive ways to pitch yourself or other reporters, rather than attacking everyday activities that are part of someone’s occupation? #s 6, 9 and 10 strike me as falling into that category.

    This blog post likely came from something or someone that triggered you this morning, but it’s just not helpful. Your four “positive” tips really aren’t all that positive.

    If I had a dollar for every reporter I’ve seen lose his cool and write a blog post like this…I’d probably have around $100.

    Less anger, more tips.

    Keep it coming!

  2. Bruce R. (BPR639geek) says

    John, somehow I think these 10 items were tailored just for me. I get 100+ PR e-mails a day, many overnight, (robo-mail I think). When individuals or firms send their PR material, they seem to forget they’re selling themselves, and not just the companies, products, or services they represent. And if I’m not sold in the first sentence, like you say, “kill-Filter”… “B”

  3. Pascal Kuilboer says

    Spot on John!
    It’s sickening how some people begging for attention in email and let’s not forget all the pathetic attempts for a retweet on twitter.
    If your tweet is special enough it will be retweeted,
    but to ask for it… Arrrgggh Barf!

  4. Marc Newman says

    Problem is… it’s spam. It’s a numbers game. It costs them nothing to try, and you’re not the only one they’re spamming. I know you’re venting… but they’re not listening.

    However, I do agree on all counts. Maybe we need a pre-formulated return-mail that we all send as an auto-reply anytime anyone breaks a rule. If marketing people started seeing a trend of responses, all with similar assertions – then they’d get it.