Great PR Manners Go a Long Way

hey chris,

it’s refreshing to read things like this form folks that actually take the time to glance at your blog and find out a bit more about you before they begin spamming you. i get a bit irritated when i received an email like:

“Hi jacob thought you would like this

(pasted press release)”

kudos to Scott!

I agree, that it is a nice way to approach a top blogger. The problem might come when 50 PR managers begin approaching you exactly the same way, or if words gets out that you’re a ‘sucker for PR’ (PR agencies do do this sadly).

That’s a great move from Scott and highlights again that PR suck when it’s about connecting and engaging with bloggers. Scott did fine saying “Hello, can I talk to you” before any press release sending, and we’ll all out saying “wow, he did great”. It should just always be like that.
What bloggers need to do is learn from bad PRs they need to get along with them and explain what they want, what they need to write great posts and reviews (interesting companies, opportunities to have a chat or an interview with the CEO/ CMO, send information about real life experience, provide with screencasts of applications when useful, …). Bloggers make the PR world move, so just help them define their new abilities and the way to engage with people working in the Internet field.

That’s indeed a great email to start a relationship with! Let’s hope the number of such emails sent to bloggers will be greater and surpass the other type we’re all a little tired of.

Great letter he wrote indeed.

Great intro email. I’d be curious to know his policy on non-responses.

Chris,

What a great example. Scott must certainly aware of the time he’s saving (to be selfish, the PR person’s time, I mean) by reaching out like this prior to pitching. He is building up a targeted outreach list by doing something too many are afraid to do: asking the people who might go on the list. Targeted list= higher hit rate, less time wasted pitching, and fewer pissed off journalists/bloggers/whateverers.

Thanks again; I am certainly sharing this with the folks on my team.

Great to see such great manners in any form of business. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice post giving insight into what it is like to be a top blogger that is hounded by the masses for play. Thanks for this insight. It is helpful to those of us that are passionate about getting our message out, but cognizant of the fact that being polite and real about things is critical. I will definitely file this one away for reference!

It is like the old saying goes.. You will catch a lot more flys with honey… A well written, polite email / letter (be it an introductory, offering or follow up) is a great way to establish a long term relationship.

I give Scott a huge amount of credit here, but what fascinates me (okay, saddens me, really) is that this is considered an avant-garde approach. As a pr person, I see bloggers and journalists as opps for building a mutually beneficial relationship, often developing into friendships even! There’s an unspoken rule that all pr practitioners should follow: know your audience. Don’t waste their time any more than you would want yours wasted. Many of these folks suffer through upwards of 1k emails a day–mostly from pr people who use the ‘spray and pray’ method, reducing their roles to that of a spammer. (And what doubly amazes me is that their boss accepts the, “I reached out to 40 people! No one responded,” excuse.)

If you want to rise above the clutter, be respectful, be personal, earn their trust, and think of ways you can help make their lives easier–even if it doesn’t always get you the placement you were hoping for. In the end, it always pays off.

Great example of viewing a situation from the other person’s point of view, and not pushing your product mindlessly.

Good stuff! Fine line between manners and directness that is tough for most to master.

Many PR-people don’t seem to understand that pushing releases onto bloggers, without bothering to be either polite or useful, can do more harm than good. Bad pitches get black listed, so that you loose your chance to be ever endorsed by that particular blogger. Even worse, some bloggers actually take time to write something negative about the company which annoyed them.

I think the problem is that blogger relations get often treated just like media relations, which is a huge misconception. My conviction is that companies should only engage in blogger outreach if they have some experience in using social media strategy, and also blogging themselves. More on blogger relations in my last post: http://helenanm.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/blogger-relations-whys-and-hows/

What this shows is that Scott isn’t just generating a list in Cision or Vocus and firing his press release to every person on the list. Unfortunately, spray-and-pray is the current path of least resistance for a lot of PR people.

Opt in marketing campaigns are almost necessary to making friends in today’s world of social media. People are quick to count an unwelcome press releases as spam just as quickly as a promotion for Viagra.

In PR, we hear so much about what NOT to do, it’s nice to have a positive example to share every now and again. I’m passing it along… Thank you!

Please do not take offense to my next comment Chris, it is not intended to come out that way, I’ve been known to accidentally offend through being blunt and “honest” in (a more speaking style form of) writing approach.

Whew! That said, I can get on with it. Firstly Chris I would agree that a polite, respectful and empathetic writing manners is (still) a highly effective way of showing respect and dignity when soliciting people. What can I say, it’s a classy and great way to pitch.

I however, am thicker skinned and don’t communicate that way in “real life”. I’m not saying I like to be rude, but sometimes I am somewhat torn about how much indication is reasonable if something really irks me. To me, being polite is like “spinning” or “selling” (I know, tragic isn’t it?). And although I am capable of PR etiquette, it’s still not really who I am. I’m sure there are other jerks like me out there.

So moving on to my point. You talk about transparency, being “human”, does that mean “real”? Or does it mean what would work well with people? Because “real” might be easy for you to say, you seem like a very polite, and may I add “careful” man to begin with. You are thoughtful to not pushing opinions (other than maybe “good ethics”) at people. You take a very professional journalistic stance toward blogging and when you appear “around” in social media circles. I however, am a cynical smart-ass that sometimes has the whole world figured out. My question is, what is human?

In the “real world” I have been accused of being on top of my game, interesting, humorous, at times intense to work with, and charming in social settings. However, sarcasm, cynicism and daringly witty remarks (that may contain the odd pop-culture reference and political stab) don’t seem to bode well with an aspiring 2.0 career. Is “safe” the new me in the social media world? How real is that really?

I’m guessing Scott gets a lot more business this way, being polite and personal, than the PR companies who shove boiler plate releases down throats and spam everyone.

Keep up the good work Scott!

Love it, Chris! Thanks for sharing the great example. We always encourage our reps, especially new hires, to treat bloggers and journalists as humans. Our clients come to us for results, and the old adage holds true: you’ll catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. Spamming you with pointless releases will get us nowhere — with you, or with our clients.

Hi Chris and everyone. This e-mail looks great, but I have a question: what kind of title should go with an e-mail like this? As a community manager at a start up, I find myself in the position of sending out e-mails to people I’ve never talked to about a company they’ve never heard of. I feel like the text of my e-mail is along these lines (I hope!), but I get stuck on the title. If I put “Needish” they have no idea what that is. Something like “New company, more clients” looks like spam. “Hey X, what’s up?” is unprofessional. I’d love to hear your opinions, thanks in advance for any help!

This is permission marketing 101. Scott has used a very personal email to ask your permission to send you content. You, and most people, would feel touched by such a personal gesture in todays noisy impersonal web world. He now has your permission, your commitment and your attention. Next time he can go a little further. Super stuff.

Keep up the great work Chris.

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Chris,
I met Scott at the Evo'10 Conference in Park City this past June. Scott is every bit the person he is in that e-mail. I spent a long time hanging out with him, racing him on the Alpine slide and getting to know him. I hope that you were able to work with him because he is one of the good guys.