It’s been a rough week for PR peeps. The blogos are right, tech PR is losing the fight. What do you say we kill off all our bad practices and start anew? By confessing all of our sins, maybe we can set them free and finally move on! (For a more conventional approach to blogger relations, check out our previous posts “Luke, I Am Your Blogger : How to Pitch From the Dark Side” or “ “How Media Relations Got Its Groove Back”)
I’m not being sarcastic. I’m ready to see tech PR die
Visualize with me:
- Let’s burn blast emails.
- Let’s hang (up) the phone to cold calling.
- Let’s poison fluffy, fake press releases.
- Let’s slash the idea that we can push the press into submission.
Good. Feel that weight going off your shoulders? That’s freedom.
Give yourself permission to start fresh start and do the following:
- Imagine interacting as equals.
- PR, clients, marketers and companies join the conversation.
- Don’t just read content, interact with the writers.
- Build relationships, both offline and on the Interwebs.
- Produce meaningful content, don’t just push it.
- Drop the fluff and get with the raw, insider view.
- Give the mic and the camera to your clients.
- Help them create and publish their own content.
- Then one day, a blogger or journo might find it and reach out to you!
Yes. I confess. I’m not perfect. As of today, however, I’m liberating myself from the wrong deeds of PR pros past. Join me?
What practices do you want to kill off? Confess them in the comments. Also, how do you see PR changing and what do you want to see change? Let us commune 
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[The above photo, "Paris - Île de la Cité: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris - Confessions Dialogue" by wallyg on Flickr, used under Creative Commons]
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I think the biggest problem with Tech PR is that there are a lot of agencies doing it, and with a lot of junior openings without asking much in terms of qualifications, preparation or skill. As a result, while there plenty of good, professional, PR people, you do get equally as many flacks, and people that don’t care about tech, and certainly don’t care about tech journalists working in the industry.
Just one man’s opinion.
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thanks for this light-hearted post. i already feel better. i was getting sick of being called names and hearing that my profession was dying a slow death. so, i’m with you. let’s ditch the things on your list and add…
- let’s not put lipstick on a pig (one of the only pr-isms that i will use because it’s funny to visualize).
… and
- let’s stop agreeing to do other meaningless things because we can’t get “convince a blogger to write about a terrible news release” let’s tell a better story instead.
Gretchen:
Thanks for understanding the light-hearted nature of the post. I’m glad it helped!
Nobody wants the lipstick and fluff! Let’s move past that and work on how we can provide valuable content for the public and reporters alike!
I think you have to take into account the push from technology clients. Often they ignore the advice of PR firms and make really dumb decisions. There are agencies and individuals that understand the errors of Tech PR. But its not just a one-sided blame game. Reporters need to participate in a two-way conversation and tear down the walls that keep them from a regular interaction with PR professionals and clients need to listen to their advisors and not just use PR professionals as workers, rather as advisors.
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