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“Fear is the path to the dark side” - Yoda“Speed and sloth are (two of) the paths to bad pitches” – Kevin DuganWow, it’s (really) bad when we start ripping off quotes from Star Wars.
Would you prefer LOL Cats? Sorry, we’re dog people.
There’s been an up tick in the number of pitches being sent to me twice. Are over-caffeinated PR people making with the clicky? Perhaps, but I doubt that ‘s the issue here.
The Bad Pitch Blog and Strategic Public Relations earn me two separate entries in the online media databases (OMD). But the OMDs of the world aren’t to blame for the same pitch being sent to me twice.
The people in question are simply not reviewing their lists. Or their media lists are so long they don’t realize a name has been listed twice. This is a real danger in local markets where one editor might ride several community newspapers or one news director edits multiple radio news reports.
De-duping a media list is a very basic, standard practice. Skipping this is a lazy, stupid mistake and it instantly turns a pitch into spam. The more short cuts you take in media relations, the higher the likelihood you’ll make a mistake like this one.
tags | public relations | PR | media relations | good pitch | bad pitch | bad pitch blog
5 comments:
I don't always agree with you, but I see that you are objective in your
postings. Despite the differences I still enjoy reading your posts and I
often learn even when our viewpoints are different. :-)
Even for the laziest of folks, removing duplicate names from your media list is really, really easy. You don't even have to do all the hard work of actually being familiar with who you're pitching (note the tongue-in-cheek intent there). You can just sort the list by name and scan for doubled entries. I understand that mistakes happen, but of all the stupid problems to have, this is one of the best (or worst?).
Comment: (Insert, like, 10 gazillion STAR WARS quotes)
Thanks Kim - I appreciate the feedback.
Mike - Exactly! It's so easy, no excuses really.
Post-Google - I could, but that would be best suited for a different blog I suspect.
Our program doesn't allow for duplicate emails. But if someone has two emails, and forwards one account to another, he's going to get a duplicate. A simple 'unsub' to one will work with us.
We should be diligent about capturing first and last names and company's/media outlets, though, so they can be periodically de-duped on that basis.
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