Wednesday, October 18, 2006

How bloggers can get to PR people - and be loved

By Mike Manuel, Voce Communications and SNCR Research Fellow & Chair, Best Practices Committee has a problem with PR people.



He says:
an emerging crop of "citizen journalists" that have developed an unrealistic sense of entitlement and have ceased asking and are now demanding, at least in some cases, the same level of access and information from companies that has long been the exclusive privilege of mainstream journalists.


So, how should Bloggers approach a company?

He has some tips:

Who are you?

Introducing yourself never hurts.

What's your schtick?

What's your blog called? What's the link? Some basic info about what your blog is about.

Whaddaya want?

Well - pretty self explanatory.

Also, why?

Just a basic explanation will suffice.

When can I get back to you?

A practical time-frame for getting back to you.

How do I reach you?

Email's great but ... a phone number as well.

Don't be a dick.

PR people in general have pretty thick skins and I think most will make a concerted effort to address an incoming request, but man, I've heard some horror stories lately of bloggers with just zero tact or respect, trying to use strong arm tactics to bully and manipulate (and blackmail) companies for info and access, and that's just ridiculous — and totally unnecessary.

More at New Communications Review.

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