PR spam negatively affects PR industry's reputation

Just recently, another journalist and blogger created a PR Spammers blacklist, listing the domains of (mostly) PR companies who used their personal email address to send unsolicited or irrelevant PR pitches.

Sheer enormity

Some public relations practitioners have argued that, as a journalist, it is your job to receive press releases and do the research to find the right stories. Some PR comments on Chris Anderson's blog suggested that if he didn't want to do that, then he should've become a plumber instead. Good argument, except for the fact that the people thinking this way do not realise the sheer enormity of the problem experienced by journalists.

As Kevin Dugan from The Bad Pitch Blog said, it is “JUST. THAT. BAD”. Unfortunately, in South Africa, the situation isn't any better. I've spoken to one South African journalist, who receives up to 800 emails a day, of which a great percentage is completely irrelevant, or addressed to the wrong person, the wrong target market or the wrong beat. With this constant flow of “PR spam”, you start to see why the love-hate relationship between media and PR can sometimes tip quite severely to the latter half of the balance.

But of course, journalists do rely on the PR content they receive to help fill their newspapers and magazines every month. There are many editors who are grateful for the excellent ideas and media releases they receive from really good PR professionals - of which there are many.

However, what we need to seriously consider is that if one journalist is receiving hundreds of irrelevant PR emails a day, there are certainly many more. (The ongoing media research that Encyclomedia does with journalists can confirm this.) And in order for journalists across SA and around the world to be experiencing this problem, it means that there must be many, many PR companies that have developed bad habits.

Listen to feedback

We can choose to become defensive and argue that journalists are rude, arrogant and lazy. Indeed, certain journalists undeniably are. But those sorts of arguments only serve to point out the errors in others, while ignoring our own. Let's listen to the feedback we're getting and think of how we can improve our own situation, so as to elevate our industry to the professional level we wish to see it at.

The real issue that we face is not so much about whether publicists are using spam tactics or not - that can be argued back and forth - but rather, the fact that this very negative perception exists.

Suggestions to fix the problem: (please comment to this and add your own)

• Build relationships, not lists

  With traditional media lists, much of the information is out of date by the time it is used. The junior staff assigned to update these lists often lack the practical experience of dealing with journalists, as well as the analytical ability to discern whether a particular column or radio programme is suitable for a particular campaign.

  Intelligent, detailed, up-to-date media information is the absolute prerequisite as the first step in building better relationships with journalists. If you're contacting the right reporters, with the right content matching their specific beats, according to their specific preferences, then the negative perception of PR spam is stopped at the source.

• Education and training

  PR students are taught how to write a press release, but they are not taught the practical tips on how to actually send a press release. Therefore, more on-the-job training is needed for the interns and junior PR staff. While useful courses do exist, plus a pitching tips email series, senior PR managers still need to make time to share their practical pitching skills to their younger colleagues - after all, the company's reputation is at stake.

• Stay on top of PR industry news

  I find it interesting and somewhat alarming that so few senior PR people have heard of a company such as Edelman, one of the largest PR firms in the US. It's a clear indication of a silo mind-set. If we don't take the time to look out and beyond our silo, we have little chance of learning best practices from others and keeping ahead of trends. PR and media blogs can be a great help here. Start with this list of PR-related blogs.

  Lastly, on Wednesday, 11 June 2008, For Immediate Release hosted a call-in discussion to discuss the PR spam issue. Click through to the site to listen to the podcast.