PR Solutions
Last week, we wrote about a tiff over PR practices between bloggers Russell Beattie and Steve Rubel, who represent different ends of the argument.
Russell takes the line "all PR people are morons" and wants to be left alone by the whole industry. Steve, a PR man himself and a Blog Relations expert to boot, welcomes all approaches apparently, as he likes to sift through everything to find the odd nugget.
With this range of opinion, some PR people are recommending that the whole blogging scene is avoided altogether, which seems a shame for both sides, potentially. If PR people can feed us stories our readers might find interesting, that would be a good thing for everyone, surely?
So we've come up with a solution, that we hope will be adopted by all our blogging friends and noted by the PR industry as a whole.
We've designed a choice of three simple logos for bloggers to display on their blogs, which spell out, at a glance, what they'd like PR people to do:
is for bloggers who, like Russell Beattie, want to be left alone by the
entire industry. Don't approach these people under any circumstances.
You'll only have yourself to blame if they flame you or arrange to
publicly sauté you or your client's products.
Do NOT approach!
is for bloggers to display if they don't care who approaches them with
what. But let's be a little reasonable, you PR people. Just because
they say they're happy to be approached, doesn't mean that you can't
try to be targeted in your pitches. Someone writing about technology,
for instance, isn't going to be interested in cat food or knitting. So
for the sake of your own credibility, try to play the game, OK?
is the middle ground, which will probably be most of us, to be honest.
This will allow PR people to click on the logo to see what the
blogger's policy towards PR pitches is, before approaching them.
MobHappy's policy, for instance is:
With some rather large caveats, we welcome pitches from PR people or anyone wanting to promote their website, product or service.
Our caveats are:
1. Please make sure that the information is about mobile technology, or at a stretch, technology generally. Read the blog - is there a good chance we might publish it?
2. If you keep sending us rubbish, we won't read your pitches any more.
3. Keep it brief please, in the first instance. We can always ask for more info.
4. Don't use the comments section on our blogs to blatantly promote your or your client's products. It REALLY pisses us off. You have been warned.
<Policy ends>
We hope you like this approach and if you're a blogger, please feel
free to download one of the logos for your own site.
We'd also love to hear what everyone thinks about the idea, so leave a comment or tell us if it makes any difference.
Carlo adds: I just want to reiterate the second part of Russell's fist caveat: read this blog before you pitch. It wouldn't hurt to try and build some sort of relationship with us, either via reading and commenting or privately. And also please keep in mind that if the only reason you can come up with why something is interesting is because you're promoting it, it's safe to say that almost without exception, we won't be interested.
Congratulations Russell on a very neat idea.
We're exceptionally cautious in our approach to bloggers having pissed off some on the highest profile bloggers in the business in the early days.
Some bloggers are, or are becoming powerful commentators and thought leaders in their own right, so it’s not surprising that PRs are targeting them as an audience.
I haven't yet come across a blogger that has subsequently been hired as a leader writer, but it'll happen soon or later.
Posted by: Stephen Waddington | July 19, 2005 at 07:52 PM
I would like to inform you that the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations in Iran will be held on 15-16 November 2005 in Tehran at the International Conference of Iran.
As far as we know, you are a top professional in public relations and since you are unable to participate at the conference, we will be grateful if you answer the following questions in the form of a recorded film on CD.
1. What is cyber PR?
2. What is the relationship between PR and information society?
3. Is there any mutual relationship between cyber PR and civil society?
4. What is the impact of cyber PR on the concept of freedom of expression?
5. How will be the future of PR web logs against cyber PR?
We hope that by your cooperation we could be able to hold a successful conference in Iran.
Thank you in advance and with best regards.
Sincerely yours,
Mehdi Bagherian
Secretary of the Conference
Add:P.O.Box:19395-6986,Tehran,Iran
Telefax:(+9821)8315270
Mobile:(+98912)1938919
Web Site:http://www.iranpr.org
Web Site:www.icpr.com
E_Mail:info@iranpr.org
Posted by: Mehdi Bagherian | August 02, 2005 at 11:18 PM
I've started using it. I'm an "amber" guy.
Posted by: Phil Gomes | August 21, 2005 at 12:22 AM
I think this is a great idea, since, IMHO, blogs are a legitimate source of news, opinion for the reader to stay informed and form their own opinion.
Regards,
Eric.
Posted by: Eric Chan | September 23, 2005 at 09:39 PM