PR Spamming- what not to do.

PR Week’s article titled PR Spamming Doesn’t Create Results by Melisa LaBancz-Bleasdale, in the May 2008 issue, reminds readers about the importance of increasing media coverage through targeted pitching. The article demonstrates that sending a mass media message, known as “spam”, is an ineffective way to reach your audience. “Spamming” is often defined as an e-mail or press release that gets distributed to whole media lists which are outdated or lack the knowledge about fundamental interests.

Most importantly, spamming rarely results in coverage of any kind, decreasing the chance to showcase your clients’ news. PR professionals who spam do not produce results or uphold their integrity. LaBancz-Bleasdale asks the readers to put themselves in our client’s shoes and decide, ‘Would the CEO of a Fortune 100 company send 300 indiscriminate invites for taquitos and martinis?’

Melisa also included additional tips in order for successful pitching, including:

• Personalize your pitches.
• Understand the company/product/issues you are pitching, because you only get one chance to capture the writer’s attention.
• Always follow through.
  

For further guidance and insight on how to avoid spamming and produce more front page results, read the full article PR Spamming Doesn’t Create Results.

E-mail Productivity for Lawyers by Neen James

Neen James tells attorneys how to be more productive when using e-mail. First, she tells us to “avoid answering email first thing in the morning.” Ah – I need to follow her advice. She also says that if you apply these strategies, you will get back some of the time you are spending on e-mail each day.

Just some of the things Neen tells us to do are:

• Unsubscribe (I’m great at this one)
• Use the Out of Office Reply (Ah – this is a life saver)
• Filter SPAM (But please check your SPAM filter too)
• Be short and to the point (Yes, brevity is best)
• Use and e-mail signature (Not having one is my biggest pet peeve!)
• Be polite (Ever get one of those e-mails with all CAPS and !!!!!!!!!)
• Spell check (and re-read aloud)
• Remove distractions (and please turn off the backgrounds…)
• Delete (But as an attorney, I say, not always….)
• Avoid BCC (It’ll come back to haunt you)
• Avoid FYI (Okay – so I need to follow this one more too)

Save a Tree with Catalog Choice

I was sent a link today to a great resource: Catalog Choice https://www.catalogchoice.org/ The service allow you to eliminate unwanted catalogs that come in the mail. It's an excellent tool to clear the clutter and think green. I'll bet my favorite productivity expert, Neen James, and my favorite cleaning service, Harmony Clean, will love this tool - that's if they don't already know about it....

And to all those Aussie's out there, Happy Australia Day!!! I look forward to celebrating with our Aussie friends here in the U.S.A.....