How to avoid media coverage
(Canscene) — Attention publicists!
These pointers come from a woman at one of Canada’s major television stations whose sad lot it is to deal with public relations people and others who want to get on the air.
• Be sure to send your release on the same day as your event or better still, a few minutes before or — even better — after it;
• If you’re new to this, here’s a handy hint: a release reporting what happened at your event, after it happened, will virtually guarantee that you and your organization will be ignored;
• Make vague and ambiguous statements about the purpose of your event and be especially careful not to reveal its date, time and location;
• Misspelling the name of the person to whom you are writing will work to your disfavour, as will being clueless about your target audience;
• Issuing numerous confusing reminders about your event will also help to create a negative impression;
• Confuse being newsworthy with blatantly commercial intent;
• Don’t bother with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation;
• Send huge memory -heavy graphic files so that what you have to say will freeze their computers and not only be deleted but also be flagged as spam for future e-mailings;
• Create ongoing annoyance by releasing strictly internal information that will interest no one outside of your circle;
• Utilize the fact that competing media are already committed to participating in your project.
January 1st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Ben, this list is hilarious. What makes it so funny for me is that it obviously reflects mistakes that people make frequently.
You’d think that common sense would steer folks (especially PR professionals) away from such bone-headed blunders, but no, apparently not.