I don’t expect a PR person to personally re-write every email, but a unique opening sentence or two that shows they have an inkling as to who I am/what I do helps.

I do agree with other commenters that I’d rather have all the information available to me in the first email so it doesn’t devolve into a long process of emailing back and forth. I can always ignore the links in Email #1 if I’m not interested.

I was sent a long, annoying email awhile back from someone asking me to pimp a Twitter Guide on their blog. They weren’t following me (not to mention their experience with Twitter was extremely limited). Fail.

Now that I’m a community evangelist, I find myself on the “other side” sometimes, and it’s a bit strange. I’m connecting filmmakers with paying projects, not asking them to buy anything, and while I like to think this means my emails are more well-received, I still make sure each email is personal and I only message people whose blogs/tweets/etc. make it clear that they’d likely be interested. It’s also my goal to stay connected with people after hooking them up with video gigs — I still read their blogs, follow them on Twitter, etc. and that’s the kind of relationship I would want on the flipside of that situation, too.

This post inspired me to blog about someone else who I feel is doing a great job at communicating: http://typeas.com/blog/ryan-lee-does-it-right/