INDUSTRY INSIGHTS YOUR PEERS ARE READING
Entries must be posted by Noon EST/ 3pm PST on Friday, July 13, 2007 June 29, 2007. Entries must be posted by Noon EST/ 3pm PST on Friday, June 29, July 13, 2007. The winner will be announced on Friday, July 6, 2007. If you haven’t seen Swingers, you don’t get the title. MORE
It happens all the time. You’ve finally established a relationship with THE reporter on your beat at one of THE top media outlets. And just as you’re about to pat yourself on the back, he changes jobs. Now what? Heads Up Determine why the reporter is moving on. MORE
MyRagan and the YoungPRPros have extended the "Best Pitch Ever" Contest to Friday, July 13, 2007. Be sure to enter and compete for a free Southwest Airlines ticket and a free, one-year-subscription to PRWeek (a $200 value). More details here. Blue Ribbon uploaded by edensgate MORE
We’ve been so busy beating up bad pitches, we forgot to warn you about the “so-called media.” Some call them pay-for-play media. They are trade magazines and cable television shows that really want to do a story on your company, the CEO and their story—for a price. MORE
It’s summer, I have that other blog, Richard has a new book. The end result is lighter posting than usual here. And that''s saying something! “We We never call, we never write,” but we still love The Bad Pitch Blog. So lets make lemonade out of this situation…it IS summer and all. MORE
Exploiting dead celebrities reaches to the heights. Just this morning a colleague at GMA showed us this pitch. Normally we wouldn’t OUT someone as quickly as this – but such an evil waste of paper and digits is beyond bad taste. Start the day off with a story about AN Smith. MORE
Slick’s been on vacation, but when he gets back from Tijuana, he’s gonna be pissed he’s missing all of the bad pitch action in the blogosphere right now. Some very patient, very professional people are nearing their wits end. MORE
There are a lot of (really) good PR podcasts out there. In fact, there are simply too many for one person to listen to collectively or to mention individually. These free resources are something PR people should be tapping into more. MORE
Here’s the first of several guest posts at The Bad Pitch Blog. An Internet marketer and self-confessed whore, Dean Hunt talks about doing whatever it takes to relate to your audience. There is one vital key to being able to give a great pitch: You have to be able to relate to your audience. MORE
1) Pitching (And Getting Coverage in) "The Wall Street Journal" Takes Time, Creativity and A Willingness for Patience Alan Weinkrantz For most privately-held companies, the adage “the bigger the hit, the longer the burn” holds true. Alan details this for one of his clients. MORE
This is Luke Armour -- PR Blogger, BlogTalkRadio PR guru and fellow Ohioan. Richard Laermer and I hung out with Luke on his BlogTalkRadio show, The Rundown, a few weeks ago. You can listen to the whole thing here. MORE
Get your tickets now for the PRSA’s "Theory, Tactics and Technology Conference" on June 19, 2007. In two short weeks, an impressive list of editors and social media gurus will converge at Reuters Time Square digs. MORE
That headline is too long. OK, maybe not, but PR people need to start pushing their writing skills to do more with less. This whine may appear to be a common vintage, but consider news release headlines. Google recently advised Business Wire to limit news release headlines to no more than 22 words. MORE
While I poke fun at social networks, Facebook has been a lot of fun and taught me a few things. The experience has inspired me to create a poorly-produced video series called Facebook Confessional. MORE
More accurately, The Bad Pitch Blog won an Award of Commendation in the Blog category for the 2007 PRSA Bronze Anvil Award competition. The awards will be publicly acknowledged during the Silver Anvil Evening on June 14th, 2007 in New York. MORE
Evidently every single project on your plate after Thanksgiving will self-destruct if you don''t complete it by year''s end. Don''t believe us? We don''t blame you. But we''ve been hella busy with year-end deadlines. No worries though. The Bad Pitch Blog is not resting on its laurels. Far from it. MORE
Here’s a great example of the need to qualify a media list before sending out the pitch. Matt Gray, Bryn Mawr News ADDRESS Dear Matt: The young company below epitomizes how Generation X is building entrepreneurial success; through social networking, moreover, through fraternity Greek life. MORE
As the year winds down, soft news stories fill the air. Some stories are in the news every year -- without fail -- having become more tradition than news. MORE
Whether or not you have tech clients, you’re spending the day hoping Steve Jobs’ magic dust settles so you can get back to it after the holiday. Let’s be honest. A story eclipsing pop culture like this comes along for a precious few in media relations. But we can still learn from the iPhonic din. MORE
DISCLAIMER: Media Map provides a valuable service. This is not an anti-Cision post. Prior to introducing our firm to prospects, we learn as much as we can about them for our CRM system. A business development manager told me he doesn’t use Hoover’s to build prospect profiles anymore. MORE
Change is upon us. As of this post, Ragan Communications is advertising on the Bad Pitch blog. What might seem like a small ad is a huge opportunity for the Bad Pitch Blog to go places we haven’t been before. In the coming year we’ll do even more to help stop bad PR before it starts. MORE
Subject: Briefing Request: NEW NAME (formerly OLD NAME) Event ProcessingDate: Jun 7, 2007 10:00 PM Saul, NEW NAME (formerly OLD NAME), a new venture-backed start-up based in Silicon Valley, will be launching an innovative event processing solution on June 25th. MORE
As the image suggests, we think annual predictions are, for the most part, a load of crap. But it’s a staple of the year-end, soft news cycle. So when Jason Chupick at PRNewser asked Profnet subscribers for “Industry Predictions and New Year''s Resolutions,” we sent one in for consideration. MORE
Depends on how you consume your news I suspect, but we’re interested in learning which story has gotten on your last nerve. Don''t be shy. Take the poll or leave a comment. MORE
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 9:41 AM To:Young, Lauren [Access, please remember to use spaces after the colons; love, Richard] Subject: DISNEY: Mickey Mouse Calls on Christmas Morning Hi Lauren- Did you enjoy your call from Goofy this morning? MORE
The master mind behind the pitch is Buz Buse, head of PR for the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and PR Week’s 2007 Professional of the Year. If you’re too young to care about remember a sitcom from the late 1970s, hit YouTube to see some clips from WKRP in Cincinnati. MORE
It’s happened to a lot of us. You’re told to start pitching a topic in earnest. Your pitch gets a reporter’s attention. After the usual exchange, you set a date for the media interview. The adrenaline begins pumping as you e-mail your client the details. MORE
If you haven’t seen the BusinessWeek redesign, head to your nearest news stand this afternoon and grab one. Homework from the Bad Pitch blog? On top of all the other reasons to buy this national business magazine, it’ll give you something new to discuss with your BusinessWeek reporter. MORE
Karen Russell is one of several teachers I’ve met online and off that have a passion for social media and bridging the gap between practitioners and students. Yeah, students are digital natives, but that doesn’t mean they’re born with a blog and Twitter account. MORE
The Bad Pitch Blog will be on the BlogTalkRadio program "The Rundown" with Luke Armour. Armour is one of a handful of Ohio-based PR bloggers, which is just one reason I’m looking forward to this internet radio show on Tuesday, November 13 at 1:30 PM ET. MORE
Author and Wired editor Chris Anderson caved under the weight of endless PR spam -- more than 300 emails a day. So he published 328 email addresses – the latest batch of offenders – hoping the spam bots will teach these folks a lesson. And you thought Slick was a pain in the arse. MORE
OK, the Chris Anderson post has been covered, hashed out, rehashed and gotten stupid , er, ugly. But Seth Godin brings us the bottom line on mass pitching. The processing of 100 press releases the old-fashioned way cost more than $100. Doing it to 5,000 people was out of the question. MORE
So without further rambling, enjoy Reasons Why PR People Are Bad Business People, Volume 1 Unabridged: On May 30, 2007, at 2:23 PM, Alison Garber wrote: I recently noticed some news on your company which caught my eye. This is not about service. MORE
The quick post below does not do the audience response justice. So we’re sprinkling some well-deserved link love on top. The Bad Pitch Blog received nearly 50 comments across this blog and Facebook about what NOT to say to the media. MORE
As this picture suggests, your story sometimes has unique elements that you simply MUST play into. My experience with this was promoting the Iams Company’s sponsorship of an Iditarod sled dog racer. The racer fed his team Eukanuba. My pitch used Iditarod, Iams and Eukanuba to create curiosity. MORE
“Fear is the path to the dark side” - Yoda “Speed and sloth are (two of) the paths to bad pitches” – Kevin Dugan Wow, it’s (really) bad when we start ripping off quotes from Star Wars. Would you prefer LOL Cats? Sorry, we’re dog people. MORE
In 2007 the familiar blue Valpak® envelope will deliver savings to nearly 46 million households each month throughout the United States , Canada and Puerto Rico. Susan Getgood fished this one out of the trash and sent it our way. MORE
PR professionals, educators and students should attend Connect on October 19 and 20 at The University of Georgia. Karen Russell from The Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication asked me to kick things off Friday evening. This is no small task considering who else is on the dais. MORE
Everyone wants to know the secret formula to pitching blogs. The secret is it takes more than pitching. You need to get immersed in the topic you’re pitching and be able to expand the conversation. MORE
Via Tech PR Gems IAA 2007 - Halle 2 uploaded by Jörg Dickmann tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | good pitch | bad pitch | bad pitch blog MORE
In a post at "that other blog," I stress the importance of surfing the web for your job. If I had one suggestion for Bad Pitch Blog readers, outside of media relations, it would be to play. We get so hung up making sure every question is answered that we never get started at all. MORE
I’ve been thinking a lot about b g. See, I just got off my eighth flight in nine days (don’t ask) and everywhere I went there were citizens relishing their bad times. It was as if this had become the national pastime. MORE
This may fly in the face of Richard’s Pepto-Bismolic plea, but before everyone gets all Shiny Happy People, I must vent. Someone sent us their second bad pitch. Both pitches start with the salutation: To Whom It May Concern. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN!? First of all, this isn’t a salutation. MORE
2007 Related Topics Bad Pitch Blog
SEPTEMBER 14, 2007
PR professionals, educators and students should attend Connect on October 19 and 20 at The University of Georgia. Karen Russell from The Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication asked me to kick things off Friday evening. This is no small task considering who else is on the dais.
Bad Pitch Blog
JULY 7, 2007
MyRagan and the YoungPRPros have extended the "Best Pitch Ever" Contest to Friday, July 13, 2007. Be sure to enter and compete for a free Southwest Airlines ticket and a free, one-year-subscription to PRWeek (a $200 value). More details here. Blue Ribbon uploaded by edensgate
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 27, 2007
Entries must be posted by Noon EST/ 3pm PST on Friday, July 13, 2007 June 29, 2007. Entries must be posted by Noon EST/ 3pm PST on Friday, June 29, July 13, 2007. The winner will be announced on Friday, July 6, 2007. If you haven’t seen Swingers, you don’t get the title.
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 6, 2007
More accurately, The Bad Pitch Blog won an Award of Commendation in the Blog category for the 2007 PRSA Bronze Anvil Award competition. The awards will be publicly acknowledged during the Silver Anvil Evening on June 14th, 2007 in New York.
Bad Pitch Blog
DECEMBER 30, 2007
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 9:41 AM To:Young, Lauren [Access, please remember to use spaces after the colons; love, Richard] Subject: DISNEY: Mickey Mouse Calls on Christmas Morning Hi Lauren- Did you enjoy your call from Goofy this morning?
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 4, 2007
Get your tickets now for the PRSA’s "Theory, Tactics and Technology Conference" on June 19, 2007. In two short weeks, an impressive list of editors and social media gurus will converge at Reuters Time Square digs.
Bad Pitch Blog
FEBRUARY 28, 2007
Exploiting dead celebrities reaches to the heights. Just this morning a colleague at GMA showed us this pitch. Normally we wouldn’t OUT someone as quickly as this – but such an evil waste of paper and digits is beyond bad taste. Start the day off with a story about AN Smith.
Bad Pitch Blog
OCTOBER 24, 2007
Karen Russell is one of several teachers I’ve met online and off that have a passion for social media and bridging the gap between practitioners and students. Yeah, students are digital natives, but that doesn’t mean they’re born with a blog and Twitter account.
Bad Pitch Blog
JULY 29, 2007
While I poke fun at social networks, Facebook has been a lot of fun and taught me a few things. The experience has inspired me to create a poorly-produced video series called Facebook Confessional.
Bad Pitch Blog
DECEMBER 18, 2007
As the year winds down, soft news stories fill the air. Some stories are in the news every year -- without fail -- having become more tradition than news.
Bad Pitch Blog
DECEMBER 27, 2007
As the image suggests, we think annual predictions are, for the most part, a load of crap. But it’s a staple of the year-end, soft news cycle. So when Jason Chupick at PRNewser asked Profnet subscribers for “Industry Predictions and New Year''s Resolutions,” we sent one in for consideration.
Bad Pitch Blog
SEPTEMBER 29, 2007
I’ve been thinking a lot about b g. See, I just got off my eighth flight in nine days (don’t ask) and everywhere I went there were citizens relishing their bad times. It was as if this had become the national pastime.
Bad Pitch Blog
APRIL 24, 2007
The master mind behind the pitch is Buz Buse, head of PR for the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber and PR Week’s 2007 Professional of the Year. If you’re too young to care about remember a sitcom from the late 1970s, hit YouTube to see some clips from WKRP in Cincinnati.
Bad Pitch Blog
DECEMBER 19, 2007
Change is upon us. As of this post, Ragan Communications is advertising on the Bad Pitch blog. What might seem like a small ad is a huge opportunity for the Bad Pitch Blog to go places we haven’t been before. In the coming year we’ll do even more to help stop bad PR before it starts.
Bad Pitch Blog
DECEMBER 11, 2007
Evidently every single project on your plate after Thanksgiving will self-destruct if you don''t complete it by year''s end. Don''t believe us? We don''t blame you. But we''ve been hella busy with year-end deadlines. No worries though. The Bad Pitch Blog is not resting on its laurels. Far from it.
Bad Pitch Blog
MAY 30, 2007
So without further rambling, enjoy Reasons Why PR People Are Bad Business People, Volume 1 Unabridged: On May 30, 2007, at 2:23 PM, Alison Garber wrote: I recently noticed some news on your company which caught my eye. This is not about service.
Bad Pitch Blog
SEPTEMBER 15, 2007
Everyone wants to know the secret formula to pitching blogs. The secret is it takes more than pitching. You need to get immersed in the topic you’re pitching and be able to expand the conversation.
Bad Pitch Blog
NOVEMBER 26, 2007
That headline is too long. OK, maybe not, but PR people need to start pushing their writing skills to do more with less. This whine may appear to be a common vintage, but consider news release headlines. Google recently advised Business Wire to limit news release headlines to no more than 22 words.
Bad Pitch Blog
NOVEMBER 26, 2007
This is Luke Armour -- PR Blogger, BlogTalkRadio PR guru and fellow Ohioan. Richard Laermer and I hung out with Luke on his BlogTalkRadio show, The Rundown, a few weeks ago. You can listen to the whole thing here.
Bad Pitch Blog
NOVEMBER 26, 2007
The quick post below does not do the audience response justice. So we’re sprinkling some well-deserved link love on top. The Bad Pitch Blog received nearly 50 comments across this blog and Facebook about what NOT to say to the media.
Bad Pitch Blog
FEBRUARY 20, 2007
We’ve been so busy beating up bad pitches, we forgot to warn you about the “so-called media.” Some call them pay-for-play media. They are trade magazines and cable television shows that really want to do a story on your company, the CEO and their story—for a price.
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 25, 2007
Subject: Briefing Request: NEW NAME (formerly OLD NAME) Event ProcessingDate: Jun 7, 2007 10:00 PM Saul, NEW NAME (formerly OLD NAME), a new venture-backed start-up based in Silicon Valley, will be launching an innovative event processing solution on June 25th.
Bad Pitch Blog
NOVEMBER 2, 2007
OK, the Chris Anderson post has been covered, hashed out, rehashed and gotten stupid , er, ugly. But Seth Godin brings us the bottom line on mass pitching. The processing of 100 press releases the old-fashioned way cost more than $100. Doing it to 5,000 people was out of the question.
Bad Pitch Blog
OCTOBER 30, 2007
Author and Wired editor Chris Anderson caved under the weight of endless PR spam -- more than 300 emails a day. So he published 328 email addresses – the latest batch of offenders – hoping the spam bots will teach these folks a lesson. And you thought Slick was a pain in the arse.
Bad Pitch Blog
OCTOBER 29, 2007
Bad Pitch Blog
OCTOBER 25, 2007
The Bad Pitch Blog will be on the BlogTalkRadio program "The Rundown" with Luke Armour. Armour is one of a handful of Ohio-based PR bloggers, which is just one reason I’m looking forward to this internet radio show on Tuesday, November 13 at 1:30 PM ET.
Bad Pitch Blog
OCTOBER 17, 2007
If you haven’t seen the BusinessWeek redesign, head to your nearest news stand this afternoon and grab one. Homework from the Bad Pitch blog? On top of all the other reasons to buy this national business magazine, it’ll give you something new to discuss with your BusinessWeek reporter.
Bad Pitch Blog
OCTOBER 10, 2007
It’s happened to a lot of us. You’re told to start pitching a topic in earnest. Your pitch gets a reporter’s attention. After the usual exchange, you set a date for the media interview. The adrenaline begins pumping as you e-mail your client the details.
Bad Pitch Blog
OCTOBER 5, 2007
This may fly in the face of Richard’s Pepto-Bismolic plea, but before everyone gets all Shiny Happy People, I must vent. Someone sent us their second bad pitch. Both pitches start with the salutation: To Whom It May Concern. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN!? First of all, this isn’t a salutation.
Bad Pitch Blog
SEPTEMBER 24, 2007
In a post at "that other blog," I stress the importance of surfing the web for your job. If I had one suggestion for Bad Pitch Blog readers, outside of media relations, it would be to play. We get so hung up making sure every question is answered that we never get started at all.
Bad Pitch Blog
SEPTEMBER 8, 2007
“Fear is the path to the dark side” - Yoda “Speed and sloth are (two of) the paths to bad pitches” – Kevin Dugan Wow, it’s (really) bad when we start ripping off quotes from Star Wars. Would you prefer LOL Cats? Sorry, we’re dog people.
Bad Pitch Blog
APRIL 2, 2007
In 2007 the familiar blue Valpak® envelope will deliver savings to nearly 46 million households each month throughout the United States , Canada and Puerto Rico. Susan Getgood fished this one out of the trash and sent it our way.
Bad Pitch Blog
AUGUST 11, 2007
As this picture suggests, your story sometimes has unique elements that you simply MUST play into. My experience with this was promoting the Iams Company’s sponsorship of an Iditarod sled dog racer. The racer fed his team Eukanuba. My pitch used Iditarod, Iams and Eukanuba to create curiosity.
Bad Pitch Blog
AUGUST 11, 2007
1) Pitching (And Getting Coverage in) "The Wall Street Journal" Takes Time, Creativity and A Willingness for Patience Alan Weinkrantz For most privately-held companies, the adage “the bigger the hit, the longer the burn” holds true. Alan details this for one of his clients.
Bad Pitch Blog
AUGUST 10, 2007
Here’s the first of several guest posts at The Bad Pitch Blog. An Internet marketer and self-confessed whore, Dean Hunt talks about doing whatever it takes to relate to your audience. There is one vital key to being able to give a great pitch: You have to be able to relate to your audience.
Bad Pitch Blog
AUGUST 2, 2007
There are a lot of (really) good PR podcasts out there. In fact, there are simply too many for one person to listen to collectively or to mention individually. These free resources are something PR people should be tapping into more.
Bad Pitch Blog
AUGUST 2, 2007
Slick’s been on vacation, but when he gets back from Tijuana, he’s gonna be pissed he’s missing all of the bad pitch action in the blogosphere right now. Some very patient, very professional people are nearing their wits end.
Bad Pitch Blog
JULY 24, 2007
It’s summer, I have that other blog, Richard has a new book. The end result is lighter posting than usual here. And that''s saying something! “We We never call, we never write,” but we still love The Bad Pitch Blog. So lets make lemonade out of this situation…it IS summer and all.
Bad Pitch Blog
JULY 7, 2007
It happens all the time. You’ve finally established a relationship with THE reporter on your beat at one of THE top media outlets. And just as you’re about to pat yourself on the back, he changes jobs. Now what? Heads Up Determine why the reporter is moving on.
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 28, 2007
Whether or not you have tech clients, you’re spending the day hoping Steve Jobs’ magic dust settles so you can get back to it after the holiday. Let’s be honest. A story eclipsing pop culture like this comes along for a precious few in media relations. But we can still learn from the iPhonic din.
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 27, 2007
Depends on how you consume your news I suspect, but we’re interested in learning which story has gotten on your last nerve. Don''t be shy. Take the poll or leave a comment.
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 16, 2007
DISCLAIMER: Media Map provides a valuable service. This is not an anti-Cision post. Prior to introducing our firm to prospects, we learn as much as we can about them for our CRM system. A business development manager told me he doesn’t use Hoover’s to build prospect profiles anymore.
Bad Pitch Blog
JUNE 10, 2007
Here’s a great example of the need to qualify a media list before sending out the pitch. Matt Gray, Bryn Mawr News ADDRESS Dear Matt: The young company below epitomizes how Generation X is building entrepreneurial success; through social networking, moreover, through fraternity Greek life.
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