All Points North

Every now and again there’s a theme in the blogs that I read. It rears its head above the parapet and seemingly every journalist has a good old pot shot at it. It’s the rather wonderful world of PR. For some reason journalists seem to get their knickers in a twist more readily at PR people than anything else.

Here Here And about ten threads an hour in here

For the journalist it’s a win win situation. They can bitch, whine and moan about PRs, bemoan their bad practice and highlight failings that have caused the journalist pain and misery. Sadly, for the poor PR person at least, they can hardly have a go back. I’m against PR bashing. I’d go so far as to say I hate it. there’s just something so grimy and slimy about the whole thing. There’s been a series of interviews with journalists on the Getting Ink recently and there’s one question in the pile that really gets on my wick.

When did a PR person last annoy you?

The responses:

Today. ie Everyday

When they commissioned me to ghost write an article and I was paid late. Being paid late is the bane of any freelance’s life and I hate it.

Yesterday when, after promising me a senior interview for two weeks, they didn’t deliver and confirmed it wouldn’t be possible. I mean, if something’s impossible it’s impossible, but don’t over-promise, just tell me it’s a possibility rather than a certainty before I go pitching it!

I got a round robin email yesterday that I think I was supposed to believe was crafted just for me and it heralded the results of a latest survey – sadly, I couldn’t understand a word of it.

To be fair The Getting Ink people run a doing better at PR and journalism company so highlighting bad practice by way of learning is going to be part of their content but it’s the tone of the answers I can’t get on board with. First we have the snippy ‘everyday’ comment, just plain balls If a PR person annoys you everyday of your working life then you’re either a grumpy curmudgeon or aren’t very good at getting your needs across. It’s hardly a very constructive answer either is it? Her response to the next question ‘When did you last annoy a PR person?’ was the same so maybe she was being flippant. Second I think that’s the accounts department that’s annoying there. Third a legitimate and constructive criticism, lovely. Finally, why would you let yourself be annoyed by this? Just ignore it your blood pressure will be much lower if you let shit press releases pass you by. Who loses out? Not you. I think the thing to remember here is that a crap badly worded and spelt press release to someone might be a nice long feature for someone else. If a journalist can think of a piece worth writing from the information within a release I’ll wager they won’t give two shoves of a donkeys arse that the title is oddly capitalised and that the PR doesn’t know the difference between your and you’re.
So, inspired by recent goings on here’s my open letter to PR people:

Dear people of the PR industry,

From this day forward I promise never to ever call you PRs and lump you altogether in one hive mind collective. I’ll respect you as individuals and treat you as such at all times and never refer to you as if you were some mindless entity. If one PR person from one agency is crap I won’t use that as a barometer for your whole proffession. I’m still going to call you bunnies though.

When you send me a release that has nothing to do with any of the publications I work for I’ll simply ignore it I’ll not waste time posting it to my website to complain about how someone has wasted my time by sending me this stupid press release. If you call me and I don’t have the time to speak to you I will, in an adult manner, tell you. I’ll be so grown up that I’ll say ’sorry I’m too busy right now can you call back another time’ I will not then spend twenty minutes writing a blog entry about how annoying being interrupted on press day is.

If you don’t send me something I really want I’ll work harder to get it. I realise you’ve got clients that want coverage so I’ll understand that sometimes you have to be sure you have someone who’s really interested in the kit, who will put it in their publication, before you send it. If you don’t send it I promise not to hold it against you personally and refuse to take anything else. After all it’s you and your clients loss not mine. When you do send me some kit when I send it back I’ll make sure that everything that was in box you sent me makes it back to you. I’ll not swipe the memory card from the camera or keep hold of the USB cable for myself. I’ll even remember to put the instructions back in the box. I’ll even make sure it’s clearly labelled and packaged so that it’s less likely to get ‘lost’ on the way back to you.

When you take me on lovely trips to foreign countries I promise to go to all the press conferences and sessions you have planned. I can’t promise I’ll be taking as much notice as you’d like. Or for that matter even be listening (it’s all in the handouts anyway isn’t it?) but I’ll be there. In addition when we arrive, depart, land and transfer I will always be where you expect me to be. I’ll not go wondering off leaving everyone else inconvenienced as you have to scour the airport terminal worrying about where I might have gone. I’ll even try harder to like the ridiculous games you try and make me play.

When you do your job I’ll not make a song and dance about how good it is and when you don’t quite meet my expectations I’ll simply redouble my efforts or, if needs be, give up and move on to someone else’s product. Also, I’ll say thank you more often, and mean it, when you help me out. I realise you’re not my personal PA there to sort out my problems for me. All I expect of you in return is, well, nothing.

Ta

Chris