Tip #147: Who are you doing PR for, exactly?

Your job, when sending an e-mail pitch to a journalist, is to promote your client. So if you must put silly award logos in your e-mail sig, they should be your client’s, not yours.

You don't need no stinking badges.

See also tips #32 and #103

4 Comments

Filed under Email

4 responses to “Tip #147: Who are you doing PR for, exactly?

  1. Joshua Weinberg

    Why bother to blur out the name of the agency when a quick search can reveal it? (Journalist Pro Tip #1: Anonymized data on the Web is easily de-anonymized.)

    Just search on this:
    “hermes creative award” 2009 “best product launch”

    You can double check the agency by searching on:
    “american business awards” 2009 “best pr campaign”

    • Fair question. I don’t write these items to sling mud at individuals, but without examples they don’t ring true.

      If you want to go find out who was behind this item, it’s easy enough to find, as you note. Go ahead. It won’t make the story any more or less pertinent.

      It’s not my intention to crucify people for their mistakes (except when the people themselves are awful; that’s not the case here). It is my intention to put the mistakes themselves into this blog so we all learn from them. And maybe have a little laugh, too.

      • Joshua Weinberg

        I totally understand that and thus did not put the agency in. Clearly mentioning or not mentioning the agency in this case is not a big deal.

        I really wrote my response as a reminder and cautionary tale to other that its really hard to truly anonymize identities (and other information).

        Re: “Laugh a little” Yes thanks. As a PR person (who may have made some of these mistakes himself) I love your blog as entertainment, a reminder, a teacher and sometimes just some good old Schadenfreude.

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