Fix the Message, Don’t Fire the Messenger
ADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — A couple of months ago, I wrote a column here imploring you to fire your PR agencies.
Well apparently Jason Calacanis reads Adotas (he isn’t following me in Twitter), because he launched a pretty scathing attack on PR agencies advocating firing them in his email newsletter which was featured in Silicon Alley Insider.
Truth be told, I agree with most of what Calacanis wrote. And I’d hire him to do PR for me. I can understand that he’s critical of hiring PR agencies because he doesn’t need to hire a PR agency – no one will do a better job of publicizing his projects than he will.
But I don’t have a single client CEO who is 1/100th as good at PR as he is. The CEOs of my technology clients are for the most part programmers at heart, and really do need someone with experience to work on PR.
The fact is that the PR industry has spent the last few weeks rebutting Jason as well as other anti-PR comments made by Michael Arrington, Robert Scoble and Steve Rubel (Sorry Steve, I know there were positive take-aways in your piece, but journos have always liked to discover new things…).
But rather than attack, why not try to improve the situation?
Below I am including my comments for how we can improve the PR industry. But I want your opinions and feedback, too. So I have opened the following Facebook group: “Let’s Stop Complaining about PR and Start Doing Something About It.”
Here’s how I think we can improve PR:
1. Journalists: Can’t you give us flacks some feedback?
I was thrilled a few months ago when a journalist wrote me that a particular story I pitched was slightly off-target for her publication. Unless journalists want to cover I story I pitched OR are looking to reach out to one of my clients, they rarely email me back. Now I don’t expect every journalist to respond to every email from every publicist, and some journalists are good with feedback, but with most journalists, email is a black hole.
Would it be so terrible to show us flacks a little love and email back occasionally? There is no more effective way to improve the relationship between us than for you to give us some feedback.
And brief reply emails will reduce those long voice mail messages.
2. Tech Bloggers: Help fix the message instead of attacking the messenger
It’s easy to take shots at PR people, but wouldn’t it be more constructive to help fix the message?
Instead of outing publicists and complaining about why they don’t read your blog, why don’t you help them. Here’s what I recently told a prospective client in a conversation about blog outreach:
A. Cut the number of blogs you email to 10 (instead of 50).
B. In your next 5 emails to these 10 bloggers, you’re going to give them things without asking for anything in return. These things could be relevant industry information or merely a compliment on a well-written blog post.
As a publicist, I can tell you that many clients don’t pay enough to do this. So Tech Bloggers, make sure you’re reaching out to marketers beyond telling them to fire their PR agencies. Otherwise, they’ll just hire another PR agency and you’ll be complaining about the same issues with the new agency all over again.
3. Marketers: Open up
Bloggers keep telling everyone who will listen that the PR game has changed and the client can no longer control the message. Do you really think PR agencies don’t get it? Believe me, we get it. But we’re usually not the ones afraid of being open.
Bloggers, if you want openness, you have to ask the client to be open. Rather than criticizing PR people for serving as gate keepers, work with us to make the clients more open.
These are my opinions. I’m sure you all have your own opinions and many will disagree with me. That’s OK. Please sign up for the Facebook group and join the conversation
“Let’s Stop Complaining about PR and Start Doing Something About It” so that we can really do something about the state of PR.
If we can make a change for the better, all of us will win.
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