{"id":33037,"date":"2013-05-24T12:52:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-24T11:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=33037"},"modified":"2013-05-24T12:52:38","modified_gmt":"2013-05-24T12:52:38","slug":"what-do-prs-do-thats-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/what-do-prs-do-thats-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"What do PRs do that\u2019s bad?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><b>We spend a lot of time talking to journalists, editors and bloggers about what PRs should and shouldn\u2019t do. Our interviews often produce the same sort of answers to the question: \u2018What do PRs do that\u2019s bad?\u2019<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Research<\/span><br \/> <\/b>A lack of research is probably the most common answer. Journalists don\u2019t want you to be word perfect on their last six articles but an idea of what they cover and whether a press release is relevant to them is a good start. <b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/media-spotlight-soglos\/\" title=\"Media Spotlight: SoGlos\" target=\"_blank\">SoGlos\u2019s publisher James Fyrne said<\/a><\/strong>: \u2018We\u2019re online, it only takes 30 seconds to have a quick look.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/journalist-spotlight-sarah-marshall\/\" title=\"Journalist Spotlight: Sarah Marshall\" target=\"_blank\">Sarah Marshall is the technology editor<\/a><\/strong> <strong>at Journalism.co.uk<\/strong> but that doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s interested in all tech: \u2018The ones [PRs] that don\u2019t do so well think: \u201cShe\u2019s a technology journalist she must be interested in writing about the new Galaxy tablet or whatever\u201d, but I\u2019m not because I\u2019m writing about a very niche area of technology that journalists can use\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Kate Webster, author of thelittleloaf<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/qa\/speedy-spotlight-thelittleloaf\/\" title=\"Speedy Spotlight: thelittleloaf\" target=\"_blank\">responded to the question, \u2018What do PRs do that\u2019s bad?\u2019 with the answer<\/a>: \u2018Making suggestions completely out of keeping with a blog\u2019s ethos\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Some research should be about the story the PR is providing; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/journalist-spotlight-anna-simpson\/\" title=\"Journalist Spotlight: Anna Simpson\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Green Futures magazine editor Anna Simpson<\/strong> said<\/a>: \u2018I get frustrated with PRs who don\u2019t understand their story and can\u2019t discuss the topic; that\u2019s the worst case scenario\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Take a couple of minutes to research the outlet, profiles of which are available in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/products-and-services\/cisionpoint\/\" title=\"CisionPoint\" target=\"_blank\">CisionPoint<\/a>, before deciding whether to include it on your distribution list. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Names<\/span><br \/> <\/b>This is a particular frustration for bloggers. Getting names wrong or addressing recipients, \u2018Dear blogger\/editor\u2019, seems to happen all too often. As a general rule people like the personal touch.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/speedy-spotlight-this-mummy-loves\/\" title=\"Speedy Spotlight: This Mummy Loves\" target=\"_blank\">This Mummy Loves author Sonia Thorpe<\/a><\/strong> mostly gets on well with PRs: \u2018On the whole PRs are a lovely bunch \u2013 except when they address me \u201cdear blogger\u201d\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The issue is something <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/speedy-spotlight-more-than-toast\/\" title=\"Speedy Spotlight: More Than Toast\" target=\"_blank\">More Than Toast blogger Alice Harold<\/a><\/strong> feels quite strongly about: \u2018\u201cDear Blogger\u2026\u201d or \u201cDear Kate\u2026\u201d (my name\u2019s not Kate). If you can\u2019t be arsed to learn my name, I can\u2019t be arsed to read about your client. Sorry!\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/journalist-spotlight-rosalind-jana\/\" title=\"Journalist Spotlight: Rosalind Jana\" target=\"_blank\">Rosalind Jana<\/a> blogs at Clothes, Cameras and Coffee<\/strong>: \u2018The worst interactions with PRs arise from emails starting \u201cdear blogger\u201d or \u201cdear sir\/madam\u201d\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finding out someone\u2019s name shouldn\u2019t take very long at all and getting it wrong is unforgiveable. I don\u2019t particularly like emails starting, \u2018Dear Jack\u2019, or \u2018Dear Joke\u2019 (more than you\u2019d think). If you can\u2019t find their name, or if they\u2019re anonymous, don\u2019t put a salutation at all.<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Follow-ups<\/span><br \/> <\/b>This should really be a given but it also seems worth repeating: don\u2019t give journalists follow-up phone calls. Journalists are inundated with PR contact and if they took the time to respond to each email and phone call they received then our magazines, newspapers and blogs would be empty.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/speedy-spotlight-julias-fitness-blog\/\" title=\"Journalist Spotlight Julia Buckley\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Freelance journalist and fitness professional Julia Buckley<\/strong><\/a> told Cision: \u2018Sometimes I think some people don\u2019t realise the huge volume of emails I get every day \u2013 I\u2019m not fond of being pestered \u2013 that said, I do understand it\u2019s their job to chase me for a reply\u2019.<b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/speedy-spotlight-i-am-fabulicious\/\" title=\"Speedy Spotlight: I Am Fabulicious\" target=\"_blank\">I Am Fabulicious blogger Sarah Berryman<\/a><\/strong> answered the question: \u2018Send you products that you have not requested, or do not fit in with your blog, and then chase you to find out if and when you have posted about them!\u2019<b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Putting it very clearly is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/journalist-spotlight-natasha-mcnamara\/\" title=\"Journalist Spotlight: Natasha McNamara\" target=\"_blank\">Glamour.com\u2019s editor and EasLiving.co.uk\u2019s executive editor Natasha McNamara<\/a><\/strong>: \u2018I think the PR phone calls are kind of annoying. If people send us a press release and we\u2019re interested we\u2019ll go back to them; we really don\u2019t need the follow up phone call.\u2019<b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The answer to, \u2018How do you feel about follow-up phone calls?\u2019 is nearly always not good. If you\u2019re desperate for a response or think the journalist may have missed your email then email again. If you still don\u2019t get a response take it as a sign that they are not interested.<\/p>\n<p>These examples are hopefully stand-out and rare; most PRs should know how not to annoy journalists and the best PRs work hard on building solid relationships that last. As the worlds of communication and media continue to overlap more PRs are aware of what they shouldn\u2019t do and more journalists appreciate the direction PRs are coming from. As freelance travel writer <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/journalist-spotlight-max-wooldridge\/\" title=\"Journalist Spotlight: Max Wooldridge\" target=\"_blank\">Max Wooldridge said<\/a><\/strong>: \u2018There\u2019s not a lot of difference between a good PR and a journalist\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">See also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/what-do-prs-do-thats-good\/\" title=\"What do PRs do that's good\" target=\"_blank\">What do PRs do that&#8217;s good?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">All the interviews are available on the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/\" title=\"Cision Blog\" target=\"_blank\">Cision Blog<\/a><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">, via the category search<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/category\/qa\/\" title=\"Category Search Q&#038;A\" target=\"_blank\">Q&amp;A<\/a><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">. All journalists and their respective outlets are available on<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/products-and-services\/cisionpoint\/\" title=\"CisionPoint\" target=\"_blank\">CisionPoint<\/a><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">\u2019s<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/products-and-services\/media-database\/\" title=\"Media Database\" target=\"_blank\">Media Database<\/a><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We spend a lot of time talking to journalists, editors and bloggers about what PRs should and shouldn\u2019t do. Our interviews often produce the same sort of answers to the question: \u2018What do PRs do &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[248,7272,82,5741],"tags":[4472,4473,104,124,152,203,204,954,3638,4141,4471],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}