More From The Fallout Shelter (and Other PR Blog Jots)

A note from the editor: there’s a lot out there on this, and anyone in PR would benefit from reading as many posts as possible—including the comments. While this is likely preaching to the choir on the topic, PR has a lot of collective mud on its face, and it will take a while to wash it off.

Lessons for Everyone

Brian Solis

In a thoughtful post that examines just about every angle of what might have lead to Chris Anderson’s proclamation of "Sorry PR People You're Blocked", Brian Solis outlines lessons for PR pros—his PR “lifehacks” are very useful. (And the two LOL Cat photos are funny.) But he also adds a section on how a lot of the releases that journalists and bloggers alike have been complaining about came to be: “For every reporter and blogger that's inundated with lame pitches and unsolicited press releases, I can show you two flacks that are equally spammed with requests for updates and the status of coverage from execs in order to prove their worth. The problem is so much deeper than PR spam. It goes back to the very reason why companies invest in PR in the first place, and in the process, they mostly miss the point of publicity all together. They all believe their news matters to everyone else and that you have nothing better to do than take our release and run with it.”

Reporters are people too

The Buzz Bin

Geoff Livingston has another take on the current “PR Pros Stink” meme, recalling a reporter who presented a challenge to work with due to his bad habits: “Instead, I’ll write about a bad reporter, something we PR bloggers rarely do. Why?  Because this week (or really, this decade) it’s too easy to bash on PR people. And also because reporters and bloggers are not infallible.  But they have the power. Thus, it’s always easier to bash a PR pro than it is to take a reporter to task.”

Embrace the "so what" test

Common Sense PR

While there is a long way to go before any kind of consensus is reached on what exactly it is that PR folks are sending that counts as spam versus what is a general news announcement, a few bloggers have some suggestions on what should (and should not) be sent. Eric Eggertson suggests: “Be professional. Keep your pitches short and to the point. Show how the information is newsworthy, and how it can be used. Indicate that you understand the areas the person regularly covers. Don’t send something if it doesn’t pass the "so what?" test.”