The number one Press Pet Peeve is:
 

THEY DON'T KNOW MY PUBLICATION....MY AUDIENCE...MY WORK.

 

"How can they pitch me on a story idea when they don't have a clue about what I do?"

 
Sending press release information electronically is the most efficient and economic vehicle for PR. As journalists, we can expect more.....lots more of it in the future. As a member of the media, you can help turn the tide of this information title wave by directing public relation firms to this web site.
 
In developing these pages, several public relation firms and news wire services were contacted (Waggener Edstrom, Shadwick USA, Gina, PRNews Wire, Fleishman Hillard) to find a set of written guidelines they use on contacting the media electronically. None of them had a thing.
 
  • It is time to take the matter of press release standards and formats into our own hands.
  • It is time to tell our fellow PR dance partners exactly what we want.
  • It is time to start working something up.
     
    Irritation...
    The high tech journalist irritation level really goes up around major trade shows when show producers send the pre-registered press list to exhibitors, who turn it over to public relations firms, who give it to enthusiastic interns to call, send or fax.
     
    The reactive approach journalists currently use to combat the avalanche of product announcements and interview requests is voice mail, the delete key and the trash.
     
    The proactive approach is to work with show producers, public relation firms and media members to develop a standard press data base format.
     
    MHA Event Management just started accepting on-line press registration for their big show in June.
     
    Required information for event registration:
        1. Name
        2. Title
        3. Publication
        4. Address
        6. Phone
        7. E-mail

    Adding just a couple of fields to the data base, can help public relation agents target client audiences. Below are suggested fields that can be easily added to the above data base.
        8.   Company URL (See what we do!)
        9.   Journalist URL (A bio page with links to archive articles.)
        10. Audience (Consumer, Developer, Main Stream, Trade, Male Teen-30, etc.)
        11. Focus of Interest @ Show (New Software products, New hardware, multi-
            player on-line games, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sega)
        12. Appointments (Yes/No)
        13. Press Conferences (Yes/No)

    • Guidelines For PR E-mail
     
    1. The primary purpose of PR e-mail should be to promote a URL.
    2. Put the URL on a separate line at the top of the page beneath the headline or slug line
          (less than ten words.)
    3. URL should be created especially for the press release message.
    4. On a separate line, below the URL, identify the target audience.
    5. Keep entire e-mail message less than 150 words.
    6. At the end of the release include: contact name, company name, product name, phone number, e-mail address and web address.

    From: Thoughts On

    Developing a Media Data Base for the Public Relations Community