As a PR professional having a journalist as a girlfriend isn’t always an advantage. It has never helped me pitch a story one time to be honest. Whenever I talk about one my clients it seems my girlfriend is more critical towards the subject then any other journalist I talk to.
Some time ago we both had a day of, and R. received a phone call. Journalists should always be standby so she picks up her phone:
- “Hi this is R. speaking.”
- “Hi this is X from PR agency Y. I have send you a copy of our exciting press release about luxury cruises, you might have seen it?”
- “Well, I don’t remember seeing it but when did you send it over? I'm not working this week.”
- “Oh, I have send it over to you this morning!”
- “Ok, I haven’t been able to see it yet because ...
- “Maybe you could check your e-mail now and see if you have received it?”
- “That’s a bit difficult because I don’t have access to my e-mail now. When is your event planned exactly?”
- “In about one month.”
- “I see, usually we don’t decide what events we will cover until the …” (X interrupts her)
- “I understand but it’s really interesting!”
- “As I said before, I have a week of at the moment and don’t have acccess” (X interrupts her again)
- “Ok, please check it when you get back and don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any questions!”
- …
X has hanged up and R. turns to me:”God I hate you pushy PR people sometimes!”
Could you believe it?
10.9.08
Thanks X.
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1 comment:
Believe it? Absolutely. Familiar with the problem? Check. Fed up with PR people who want to know whether you've received a press release? Double check. Stop doing that, people. Most e-mail systems work fine. What do you expect? That we send an e-mail back and let you know whether we'll be writing about it or not? And if not, I suppose you expect us to explain why, I guess. As the title of this blog rightly states: it's about relations. You wouldn't push your friends, would you? So don't push journalists.
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