First, I’m not lying. When someone reaches me and asks me that question, I check.

Second, I also believe that you sent it. It’d be a dumb thing to fib about.

So where is it?

Deleted. And already forgotten. Sorry.

Journos get lots and lots of email pitches. We delete out of hand the ones that don’t look right for us, or anyone else we work with. When you call and I can’t find your email, it means that it was one of the messages to not make the first cut.

I don’t know how you should respond to this. You could try to pitch me on the phone. Most people do, and 99% of the time, I begin to vaguely remember the email. And why I deleted it. Awkward.

Or you could just save everyone a bunch of time and say, “I’ll re-send it,” and ring off. And not call back about it.

And if we were really sports nuts, we’d be writing for ESPN, wouldn’t we?

Hat Tip: Paul Sloan

But look! Here’s a new way to screw up: Burying the presumptive embargo way down in in the email signature. And not having a time on it, either.

[Four long paragraphs of pitch...]

I look forward to hearing from you — best,
[Some PR gal]
___________________________
[SOME PR COMPANY NAME]
1.408.[phone #] office
Twitter: [deleted] Skype: [deleted] AIM: [deleted]

Please note: all information contained in this email is embargoed until Wednesday, January 25th, 2012.

Well, at least you put the critical bits in red…

Seriously, this is a recipe for a busted NDA and bunch of unhappy clients and journalists. So I’ll just sit back and watch this one explode. Thanks anyway.

Go read these tips!
Pro PR Tip #38: The Presumptive NDA
Pro PR Tip #77: Time warp
Pro PR Tip #98: Make it snappy

I found out about a cool gadget that was going to be shown at one of this year’s CES ancillary events. I emailed the company asking if they would send the CEO to come on stage with me at the CNET Live video booth to demo the product and discuss the market it’s in.

Three days later, I get this reply:

I am the only person there who will be manning the booth. Everyone else is working around the clock to fill our pre-order list, which is extensive. Thus, I will not be doing demos. We will have a video at the booth showing the machine in operation. I would be glad to talk about [the product], if you would like.

Best,
[the CEO]

My advice is this: If you’re going to spend the time and money to go to CES, maybe take some of your people off the shipping desk for a day or two during the heart of the conference so you can go do your CEO duties of getting out and spreading your message.

Especially if, as is the case in this example, you’re running a small company that’s competing with larger, better-established competitors.

I sent the CEO of this company a followup. I asked, “Why are you going to CES?” He responded, “I don’t understand the question.”

This tip is for everyone who’s pitching me to cover their smartphone case or revolutionary screen cleaning product at CES next week. You’ve been warned.

Hat tip: Paul Sloan

It's something about somebody exhibiting at a CES press event, I think.

I know, you think your email pitches look better if you put big, fancy graphics in them. But they don’t look so hot if your recipient has images blocked by default, or worse, is reading their messages on a smartphone with a slow data link. Or even worse, on an airplane with no connectivity.

Do you want your message to be pretty, or do want it to be read?

At the very least, put the actual content of the message in text up at the top of the message. That way, your recipient can read it regardless. Also, it’s much easier to copy and paste information from an email into a calendar or to-do list if there’s actual text to select.

“Please read.”

As opposed to what?

Wait… there are answers! From Twitter:

• “Please Read …aloud, while standing on your head.” (@MattStubbs)
• “Please delete prior to opening” (@MrCippy)
• “Please perform a dramatic reenactment” (@snhuxc)
• And my favorite: “You mean I didn’t have to read all those other emails today?!” (@leebehrens)

This works especially well for iPhone apps. They’re actually readable from more than three inches away when run in 2x or “compatibility” mode on an iPad. If you really want your small app to shine on the bigger iPad screen, install RetinaPad (via Cydia). But it’s not completely necessary.

I heard from [[CEO]] that he is free any time after 12 noon on Friday. He probably will be driving from Boston to NYC, so if you will let me know a time, I’ll have him call you on his cell.

It’s bad enough trying to do an interview over a mobile phone, but doing one when the subject is trying to drive a car is

Sorry, I lost you there. Ha ha, AT&T, right? I should move to Verizon. Just a second… lost you again. Ok, I’m back. Where were we? Oh, right.

Hopeless.

And dangerous. No, thanks.