Why I Don’t “Do” PR.
Yes, I sometimes write press releases and work with media as part of larger client projects. However, I don’t “do” PR. I focus on personal not public relations. This means – gasp - treating media like people, doing my best to give them newsworthy items, and not wasting their time with generic email blasts. (Tip: A press release isn’t, by its very existence, automatically “news.”)
Here are two examples why I shy from the “PR” label (and why one should choose PR agencies very carefully):
Really stupid emailing. (Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired posted 300 flacks’ emails that are now blocked.)
Immature, shallow people in the industry (Boys, boys…just how old are you? 12? Where is your judgment? PR savvy?)
Unfortunately, all too often non-marketers fall for the PR game. “We’ll send your release to thousands!” (See above re those 300 emails). “We’ll make you a name!” (Um, no thanks. Not if that means coverage like the two juveniles have gotten.)
(Thanks to Susan Getgood for tipping me off to the above PR fracas.)
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Fiction doesn’t get better than this email exchange, does it? I agree, “PR” as a label is extremely misleading. Think, instant results! Think, name in lights. Frankly, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Most of the PR “geniuses” that I meet are best at singing their own praises.
Yep. And then there was the PR poobah (who does some good work, I admit) who made the statement, “My presentation is going to change your life!” It didn’t.
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