I am more than happy to mention new products and services if I think they’re interesting.
I’m human, so I can only read so many blogs, sites, newspapers, emails, RSS feeds etc., in a day, so telling me about something directly isn’t a bad idea.
However there are ways to pitch an idea and there are ways to pitch an idea.
Sending me an email with a word document attached and very little else in it is not a good way of attracting positive attention from me.
Yes I got it. Did I read it? Probably not.
Why not? I didn’t have any reason to and your “inspiring” email did not motivate me enough to take the time to read it.
The email I got yesterday afternoon was a wonderful example of how NOT to get my attention.
While the subject line was pretty catchy the content wasn’t:
Please find attached press conference
If you ignore the obvious mistake (I’d love to see someone send me a press conference in a Word document!) what are you left with?
Is there a call to action?
No.
Is there anything in there to catch my attention even on a really really slow day?
No. Maybe someone who only gets 3 or 4 emails a day will take the time to read this kind of email, but I certainly won’t. (On an average day I probably get between 600 and 1500 emails. I don’t read a lot of them (obviously) as they don’t require my attention immediately, but I still need to have them when something goes wrong and I need to reconstruct a chain of events.)
If I contrast that with the email I got from Lar Veale regarding IQContent they are worlds apart. Lar sent me a short succint email asking me politely if I wouldn’t mind mentioning their vacancies on here. The request was simple and to the point. I didn’t have to open extra attachments or work harder to access the information I needed, as it was all contained within a succint email.
Damien posted an article about contacting journalists a while back. There’s no reason why people shouldn’t treat bloggers any differently.
(On a sidenote the press release that they sent me in the attachment had spelling mistakes and was totally uninspired even though it was supposedly prepared by a professional!)
From Damien Mulley:
I think I might have gotten that one too. I laughed when I saw it was sent by a professional PR firm. Unreal.
From michele:
Damien
The one I got was also sent to TwentyMajor, who probably wouldn’t mention that kind of thing in a month of Sundays, unless it was to laugh at it. They also sent it to TCAL, which shows how “with it” they are!
Nuts!
Michele
From Ambrand.com:
Please find my comment below…
LOL
From Damien Mulley:
No! Good god. We talking the food one, mine at least used BCC fields. I think. * goes to check *
From Bernie Goldbach:
Damien should offer his tips for PR handlers during every Barcamp he attends because they are essential reading in the Public Relations module I teach at third level.
From michele:
Damien – the very same.
Bernie – he knows a lot more about sane usage of “social media” than a lot of the muppets out there
From Damien Mulley:
Here ya go: http://www.flickr.com/photos/plasticbag/1186789736/
From michele:
Damien
That is class
Michele