Don't Be a Bad Pitcher!
July 5, 2005
Helllllo, PR Peoples.
Like a lot of bloggers, I get pitched from time to time by people who want me to talk about their products. It's been a few years since I've covered this topic, so clearly it's time for a review. It's especially helpful that I almost never link to stuff I'm pitched, so I'm safe to criticize bad PR tactics without cutting off the freebies. I don't get no freebies no how.
First, these points aren't aimed at clueful PR people. I've seen smart PR people in action, and even had the good fortune to work alongside some of the best in the tech business. They don't need any tips from me.
But, if you're new to pitching bloggers, or if you're just dumb, you'll want some pointers.
- Get my goddamn name right. My name is Anil Dash. And hey, that's the name of my blog! Whadaya know, two chances to get it right. I'm more than willing to grant that you might not be able to guess my gender offhand without clicking through to my about page, but that doesn't seem like too much effort to put forth, since you want my endorsement. Getting the greeting to be gender-appropriate is a nice show of respect, but the name thing isn't optional. Don't you like people to get your product's name right?
- Make sure it's at least in the realm of possibility that I'd want the product. Sure, you might not know I use Windows, so Mac software isn't an appropriate pitch, but then shoot me an email first and find out! Or if you want people to try things out, send 'em a freebie: Most bloggers are
cheap whoresvery open-minded about accepting samples or demonstrations of products.
- Don't be web-stupid. I got a software pitch from someone that sent me to a third-party download site instead of the product page from the company that publishes the application. Like every other person who gets the web, I base part of my judgement of your company on its web presence. If you can't even be bothered to send me there, it's unlikely you're clued in to what motivates me to link.
- Don't talk like a database. This one happens all the time. PR people are used to consulting their database of press contacts and skimming the profiles to see which ones should be targetted for a pitch. But the copy in those profiles is way wrong for bloggers, and results in emails that say stupid things like, "Dear
Anil Dash, I know you write forAnil Dash blogcovering therandom horseshitbeat, so this might be of interest to you..." Rewrite it in English before you send it, or just don't bother. It's only politeness that keeps me from publicly ridiculing the folks who send these.
- Lead with the link. I'm a blogger. I read links. It's what we do. I might skip the rest of your poorly-written email if there's a URL at the top with full info about your product or service, and then if it's interesting, I might even link to that page. If there's no URL, or worse, if it's buried in some attachment, I guarantee my readers won't hear about your client, because there's no way I can send them there.
- Don't deliberately antagonize me. This means: Word documents, PDFs, or pretty much any attachment at all. You'll be hard-pressed to find any blogger who'll read these things, let alone one who actually wants them. Don't flame me for not linking to or mentioning your product. (This has happened.) Don't throw in an offensive joke in your pitch email so that you'll seem "cool". (This has also happened.) And don't implicitly insult my readers or audience by suggesting that I write something that would mislead them. (Sadly, this has happened, too.)
So, there's a lot of advice there. I'm hoping it does some good. If you're in the industry, feel free to market yourself to your clients or potential clients by saying you're "blogger-friendly" if you follow all of these tips. If you're not doing all of these things now, but you want to represent your clients better in the blogosphere, try measuring your impact on something like PubSub or BlogPulse before and after you put these techniques into practice.
And, seriously. Stop attaching PDFs to the emails.
Update: Dave's gotten the pitch exactly right. He even emailed it to me with a PDF.
8:54 PM
18 TrackBacks
Anil Dash gives some tips to the clueless PR people pitching their products. Get my goddamn name right. Make sure it’s at least in the realm of possibility that I’d want the product. Don’t be web-stupid. Don’t talk like a ... Read More
Anil Dash has updated his advice to PR agencies that might consider pitching to bloggers. After reading... Read More
Here's another post PR people need to tape to their computers: Anil Dash posts great advice to flacks in Don't Be a Bad Pitcher!: First, he says, "these points aren't aimed at clueful PR people. ... They don't need any tips from me....But, if you're ne... Read More
I saw Scoble link to an entertaining post from Anil Dash regarding what bloggers want. I am still... Read More
I saw Scoble link to an entertaining post from Anil Dash regarding what bloggers want. I am still... Read More
A leading blogger gives has a go at Public Relations types who are increasingly pitching their wares to him. He has some tips on how to not to get his heckles up: Anil Dash: Don’t Be a Bad Pitcher!. Some major PR companies in the States ar... Read More
I get dozens of emails every week from companies trying to promote their products on my blog. Many other hip-hop bloggers get avalanched with the same pitches. I love getting free stuff and pointing my readers to the latest "hot... Read More
It's fair to say that the PR blog authors you see listed on the left hand column of this page, regularly defend our profession against claims that we are unethical, lazy, unprofessional and dim. This blog often takes a stand... Read More
Just a quick note to people who want me to publicize their web site on my web log: I will review your web site, however, please be warned that I may: Completely ignore your request, if it is poorly written. Actually use your service before reviewin... Read More
Anil Dash has a bug up his you-know-what about PR people who pitch their clients' goods and services to him, hoping for some link love. His list o' sins is a pretty good one (edited for length and content):... Read More
Anil Dash has a smart, funny post about the horrors of misguided PR people pitching bloggers. Classic Anil - dry, charming, well-written, and absolutely right on the money. All PR people with their sights set on the blogosphere should read,... Read More
Les agences PR et buzz marketing cherchent à développer des contacts avec les bloggeurs influenceurs pour bénéficier de leurs avis favorables et du trafic qu'ils génèrent par leurs blogs. Anil Dash, un collègue de Loic chez SixApart, a développ... Read More
It's fair to say that the PR blog authors you see listed on the left hand column of this page, regularly defend our profession against claims that we are unethical, lazy, unprofessional and dim. This blog often takes a stand... Read More
Bad PR pitches to bloggers. Fish. Shoot. Barrel. And yet, so fun. Every so often a well-read blogger will make like Roberto Duran and say 'No Mas!' to clueless PR pitches. They'll post up the offending email, chide the entire... Read More
Anil Dash, who regularly receives badly targeted PR pitches and who in fairness at least took the time to provide some advice to the proponents of these poor blog pitches (even though it's unlikely the perpetrators would have the common... Read More
Myself in addition to a number of other bloggers can certainly relate to this. It seems like every day I have an email offering to have me look at the latest 'whatever'. Most of it crap, but every once in... Read More
Myself in addition to a number of other bloggers out there, can certainly relate to this. It seems like every day I have an email offering to have me look at the latest 'whatever'. Most of it is crap, but... Read More
This week, I added a piece on the homepage of the Ogilvy Blogfeeds with tips on pitching bloggers. This has been a topic on many PR and marketing blogs recently - generating almost as much discussion as the now tired Read More
12 Comments
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- Earlier: Happy Belated Monday
- Next: London Heartbreak
A PR guy here... I'm not surprised by the general cluelessness. It goes with the turf.
I am surprised by the attachment thing - I thought we banned anyone who sends attachments from the profession years ago.
Some good advice for the clueless, although as Anil says some of us already do it. David don't be surprised about the attachment thing. I know of top 10 technology PR firms that send out news releases as Word documents (and yes they leave the edits in!). When I complained and said my client didn't want to party to such folly they said that their client had to do it this way because the releases had to follow their corporate ID guidelines!
Anil,
As a PR Person, thanks for the tips. As a blogger, I couldn't agree with you more. The pitches I've received in the past have been mostly off target for one of the reasons you list above.
On another note, being a blogger has been great for my PR practice. Being pitched myself has made me pay more attention to how I'm pitching others. Getting the name right is a good place to start!
So what do you think about the ads at the top of your page :)
Hi Anil,
If you exclude the "Lead with link" advice, this is sound advice for anyone in the media relations business.
Thanks.
MS
Do you have a particular mode of contact or venue you prefer? email, IM, Skype, blog comment, #irc, phone, fedex?
So much is context. At Skype Journal, we basically can't pay attention to much email, so we're watching RSS feeds, our blog comments, and we take Skype chats from the press requesting a call.
We're thinking about using MT to set up an open thread ("leave your press inquiry here"), watched but never approved.
We like to say we're inventors and programmers, not sales and marketing guys. That's true, but it doesn't help sell and market our inventions. :) Thanks for clueing me in twice - first that I can and should send links to relevant bloggers about our cool inventions, and second how to do it in a way that doesn't waste my time or theirs. You can say 'Duh!' if you want - I did. Oh, one of our inventions is an open source freeware RSS Blog Reader that runs inside Visual Studio.NET. 34 more at our site if you want to check em out. :)
you might not be able to guess my gender offhand
So you're saying people address you as Mrs. Dash?
Superb! Anil, please forgive me for my past transgressions. You slayed me (in a good way) in this post.
That was hilarious.
At Skype Journal, we basically can't pay attention to much email, so we're watching RSS feeds, our blog comments, and we take Skype chats from the press requesting a call.
Well said. I'll be posting a link to your blog article soon enough.
Thanks,
sMhyla
Funny to read, sure the experience was frustrating if anything. Hopefully, PR will take heed.
-Jay
If you have your own consulting engineers co.,and you need a public relation manager how you will choose him? what the job descrebtion you will give to him?