eriksr on June 4th, 2007
Have you gotten any spam email lately? Is that a dumb question? Hah! So you’ve noticed a few things about your messages. The HTML-laden messages you receive – messages that look like Web-pages – don’t display anymore unless you click a specific button allowing images to be downloaded and shown. As usual, bloggers ended up ruining things for the rest of us because, if someone were to send a legitmate message with embedded pictures, the recipient wouldn’t see them unless they made a conscious effort to do so. Bottom line: Spammers have ruined a perfectly legitamite and persuasive way of getting your point across. But don’t despair, HTML emails are still a valid way of getting your recipients attention — here’s some tips to help you get it done right…
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eriksr on April 6th, 2007
I recently learned about a new service that ought to be of interest to you, dear readers. It’s called PitchWire, and at its heart is a system for PR pros to reach influencers without getting under their skin. It does this by reducing the amount of irrelevant crap that shows up in their inboxes — genius! And, heads up, basic membership is free, but you can get access to the premium features free until May 1, 2007.
Nuts and Bolts: About the Service 
I like PitchWire’s philosophy behind building and sending out pitches on this service a lot. When you create a new pitch, you start out with the basics – you specify your target, then you move on to filling in important details like contact information for your spokesperson, customers, analyst/experts, the pitch category (partnerships, new products, contributed articles, etc.). I like that PitchWire starts you off here because these details can sometimes be overlooked until the last minute, causing a frantic rush of activity resulting in major headaches. Not that I know what that’s like!
THEN you move on to your pitch headline and body copy. The body copy text box limits you to 10,000 words. This is very generous, but I hope you all know enough that your pitch really shouldn’t get anywhere remotely that high. In fact, the only justification for a pitch that long would be to get the word out about the Second Coming.
After that you can add a link to a Web site, and even upload attachments up to 5MB in size. Rather than an attachment feature, I’d love to see something akin to file sharing services such as Fabrik, where you can upload your files and share them via a link.
The Best Part — For Influencers
I love, love, love the message the recipient gets. At the start of it is a very well written message explaining what PitchWire is, what the recipient is looking at, and what they can do next. PitchWire has also taken the step to automatically create an account for the recipient so they can join PitchWire. This time and effort saving idea is brilliant for those reporters, bloggers, and analysts who want to hook up.
After the message comes your pitch. Influencers can of course create their own accounts and fill in details about what beats they cover and, ultimately, what pitches they’d like to see. That ought to make life easier for everyone.
Are you still reading? Click on over to PitchWire’s site to learn more, and tell all your friends and influencers. This is an easy to use, stable service that will only improve as more people join up!
eriksr on April 5th, 2007
Note: Today’s image comes from Flickr user Jeremy K. Please support your local Humane Society or the SPCA
Quick one today. I was on the verge of writing a lengthy, detailed entry on Flickr (really!) but Josh Lowensohn over at Webware did a perfectly good job not too long ago. If you want to find out everything there is to know about Flickr, click here.
There are plenty of reasons why you should consider using Flickr as part of an overall PR campaign, or just for your firm. Now, I could rattle off a list for you…or I could point you to a couple of Kevin Dugan’s entries on “Flickr Hacks” that sum things up beautifully:
- “10 Flickr Hacks”: Highlights include using Flickr as a means of getting high-resolution images to influencers — as opposed to using Email — and posting shots of life in the firm to serve as a recruitment tool. Hey HR people — take note!
- “10 More Flickr hacks”: Fewer ideas here strictly for the PR professional here, but an excellent and enlightening read nonetheless.
eriksr on March 30th, 2007
I started to read “grownup” books — the kind that stretch out to 800 pages or more — back when I was, oh, 10 or 12 years old. It was 
painfully slow going as I started by reading out loud. I then read to myself. And eventually I simply stopped reading the words — I just saw them and they went straight into my head. The amount of pages I could polish off every day was staggering to my local librarian. Over the years I’ve slowed down a bit and, my guess is, so have you.
Well, have no fear, Scott H. Young is here! Scott recently wrote an entry on how you can double your reading rate.
Scott’s suggestions made a lot of damn sense. For example, you should use a pointer, such as your index finger, to lead the way for your eyes as you read. In time you can just run your finger over a line of text and you’ll have absorbed it. Of course, you’ll have to stop sub-vocalizing first — that’s where you actually read words out loud in your own mind.
Let’s face it, we can all use a boost to help us get through our hundreds of daily Emails a little faster. Give Scott fifteen minutes of time to show you how to save hours by the end of your week.
eriksr on March 9th, 2007
So you want to pitch a blogger. Good for you! Blogging is growing explosively as publications are shrinking, so it is certainly wise to include them in your hemisphere.
There is only one rule when pitching bloggers, but it is a cardinal one. However, I do 
also have ten key tips to help.
The one cardinal rule every PR person must remember when pitching bloggers
They are not journalists.
This is so critically important, I need to say it again: Bloggers are NOT journalists.
They do not have journalistic ethics. They do not follow journalistic conventions. And they do not understand journalistic terminology.
For example, we all advise our clients that nothing is ever off the record, although we know some reporters will honor such things. However, tell a blogger that something is off-the-record one day and you may very well find it splashed across their blog the next. As did Edelman’s Michael Krempasky when he spoke to the popular blog Consumerist on behalf of Wal-Mart and they leaked the off-the-record information.
That journalistic shorthand you have with journalists? The one where everyone understands the rules of the game? Forget it. Spell everything out. Clearly.
Eight tips for pitching bloggers
1. Feel free to send pitches to bloggers, but remember to keep them short, keep them simple, keep them straightforward.
2. Send pitches via personal email messages – not impersonal email blasts.
3. That doesn’t mean you can’t also send a release. You can. And, at least with major bloggers who are familiar with PR, probably should. But do refer to the first tip regarding length and clarity before you do so. Remember, many bloggers have never seen a release before.
4. Feel free to add comments to a blog but, if you really want to get noticed, send the blogger your comments in an email. With luck, the blogger will use that email as a springboard for a new post. Which, in turn, will get you a lot more attention than simply being one of ten or 100 or even 1000+ comments.
5. If you do wish to post a comment, make it just that: A comment. In other words, something you say to participate in the discussion at hand. Don’t make it a pitch or self-serving diatribe or you will be flamed. Badly.
6. Know the key bloggers in your industry. Subscribe to their RSS feeds. Read their posts. And keep an eye on their comments (you can use a service such as CoComment to do just that). All of this will give you good insight into key issues and how you can best pitch them.
7. Develop relationships with the key bloggers in your industry. Your pitches will get more attention because they know you.
8. Be transparent. Good heavens, BE TRANSPARENT. Woe to any PR person who is not. Sooner or later, you will be found out and the fallout can be catastrophic.
Three more tips you already know from dealing with journalists
1. Be relevant. Don’t pitch a video game blogger food news. Don’t pitch a consumer technology blogger on a B2B application. And don’t pitch an automotive blogger about bicycles. It is a waste of their time and yours. And, worse, can open the doors for them to poke fun at you in their next post.
2. Don’t give the blogger unnecessary grief, unless they truly deserve it. Did they get it wrong? Help them by showing them how. Are they being obnoxious? Let it go: Starting a flame war never helps anyone. Are they being libelous? Call your lawyer.
3. Remember that everything you write in an email can be posted. Everything. And, in turn, can be read. By your client. Their customers. Journalists. Your mother. And so on. So don’t write anything you don’t want to be seen everywhere, by everyone. Or you’ll be sorry.
eriksr on February 22nd, 2007
An alternative title I was about to use today was, “What direct marketers can teach 
us”. These people have, after all, elevated Email marketing (some of us consider this to be spam) to an art form.
Today’s topic came about when a former colleague of mine, Cece Salomon-Lee, Marketing Communications Manager with ON24 Inc., told me that a recent project her company participated in — an Email blast from the CMO Council — received a mind blowing 99% open rate. How the heck did they pull it off? And how can we take advantage of it ourselves? I did a teensy bit of research on the matter and would like to share some of my findings. Hopefully some of this will help you to write a better, more effective Email/pitch to your target reporters or influencers.
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