Dear PR person. You were curious as to whether I had received your press release. I probably did. I probably didn’t read it either. Here’s why:
1. It’s not addressed to me
If you’ve sent it to everyone on your mailing list in the hope that it fits something that someone, somewhere is writing about, then it probably doesn’t fit something I’m writing about.
2. You spelt my name wrong
One of my editors managed to spell my surname three different ways in the same issue of the magazine. I hated it, but she paid me. If you do it, I’m unlikely to be quite as sympathetic.
3. It appears as though you don’t even know me
The way of getting round the above problem is not to put “Hi David, I thought you might be interested in this”. Well, not if what follows is exactly the same as what is on every other press release. PR companies who do know me have a rough idea who I write for and what about, and will suggest specific things that may be a decent fit.
4. It’s about cruising/ skiing/family breaks in Orlando
Not my cup of tea. Sorry.
5. It starts with “Hotel X has…”
Nothing says “non-story” more than the headline beginning with the name of the hotel/ travel company claiming it is a story.
6. It’s clearly an internal report
This is a personal favourite from last week: “Hawaii Tourism Authority Reports On Travel To Hawaii.” Brilliant, just brilliant. Hold the front page. The same applies to any ‘stories’ that just happen to be a set of dry stats on the latest visitor numbers.
7. It’s written entirely in marketing-ese
So 50% of staycationing voluntourists prefer to go glamping on their babymoons, do they? Delete.
8. You’ve already sent me three press releases about this client in a month
None of them were of any interest, so the fourth is hardly likely to be either.
9. You’ve messed me around in the past
You know when I came to you asking for help with a certain article and you gave me short shrift? Well, your other clients have gone to the bottom of the list of ones I am looking to mention in articles.
10. You’re an airline and have launched a new lounge/ business class peanuts
It might be important to you, but it’s not a story. Oh yes, and remember that time when I asked you for assistance on flights to a destination you fly to and I was writing about? Remember how you offered a ‘media rate’ that was actually more expensive than the one I could get on your own website? Well you’ve got no right to go round expecting favours from someone who could make your new bit of pathetic fluffy trivia into a story.
11. Your client is totally irrelevant to the story
So a new museum has opened in Paris, has it? Great – but the fact that you have a hotel that is also in Paris doesn’t make your hotel part of the story. Sorry.
12. You’ve attached pictures, just in case I need them.
I don’t, and they’ve ensured that your e-mail is about 10MB. Poor form, old chap.
Tags: media, PR, press release, travel media, Travel Writing
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by James Ellis. James Ellis said: RT @mrdavidwhitley: 12 reasons why I deleted your press release http://bit.ly/4EFfgM <I sense another travel PR/scribe bunfight today) [...]
Ah, we’re thinking alike today! I just posted a round-up of that Twitter chaos from a couple of weeks ago on my blog.
Re: your list. Number 13: I get a about 50 press releases a day, and as I typically work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, the chance I’ll have time to read any of them is slim.
Here’s something that I’d love to be able to just delete, but alas, I can’t. If you are working in travel PR, is it unreasonable of me to expect you to know that Ireland is not in the United Kingdom? Not in any sense, whatsoever? Not least when it comes to posting things to me? If you did know that, and, working in travel PR I really think you should have an inkling at least, I might be able to stop going to the sorting office (an hour round trip) to pay the postage difference on what turns out to be a completely useless pile of brochures or a catalogue from, say, Dorset Coastal Cottages.
I wouldn’t mind so much (actually, yes I would, but you know what I mean) if I had ever written anything remotely connected to, say, Dorset Coastal Cottages. I don’t write destination pieces. I don’t write pieces about accommodation. I write books where I go to odd places and make a fool of myself. That’s not going to change; I am not going to suddenly have a damascene conversion that a week in a two up, two down in Piddletrenthide is the direction I want to take. Having paid for the privilege of seeing the brochure.
Grr, eh? Grr!
All of the above. The way these are tossed out without any thought of relevance to the individual writer astounds me sometimes.
The one I loved invited me to test drive a pet-friendly hotel with a pooch. I get allergic to animal hair. Dog = asthma.
Err, delete.
Reason 13: you included one or more of the following adjectives in your lead paragraph: “lush”, “innovative”, “ground-breaking”, “one-of-a-kind”.
Love it! I’m with Hal – ‘the UK’s best’ etc etc.
Good one. Further to the fight against “marketing-ese”, here’s David Meerman Scott’s Gobbledygood Manifesto. It’s a must-read in the war on lingo.
http://www.davidmeermanscott.c.....dygook.pdf
I especially agree with the first one “It’s not addressed to me” – even if it’s not an email sent out to multiple persons. If they haven’t bothered looking up my name, I won’t bother reding their press release. Simple as that!