Here’s an overview of the spam blasted at my Yahoo! account in just two month’s time. (emphasis added)
April 5: Dotster Connects the Dots Once Again Making .EU Domain Name Registration Easy and Affordable
"Dotster, Inc., one of the first accredited and most trusted providers of discounted domain registration, web hosting packages, and services announces its plan to offer the new .EU (European Union) domain name for $14.95 available on April 7, 2006 - substantially less than other registrars. In continuing with its tradition of providing its consumers with economical and easy-to-use web, domain and marketing packages, as well as best in class customer service, Dotster will offer this discounted rate until April 13, 2006 through its 1495eu coupon code."
April 27: INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES MAY BE AS UBIQUITOUS AS SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS ONE DAY SAYS DOTSTER
"Jim Croce's famous song "I got A Name" may one day need to be changed to "I got A Domain" if current Internet growth rates remain the same. Today there over 70 million registered Internet domain names across the globe, according to Dotster, Inc., a leading provider of Internet domain name and hosting services."
May 1: DOTSTER REVITALIZES WEB HOSTING WITH NEW PACKAGES OFFERING THE BEST VALUES ON THE INTERNET TODAY
(I replied to this email and asked Michael to kindly refrain from sending me news releases that were irrelevant to my coverage area. It didn't work.)
June 1: VOCEL JOINS FORCES WITH QUALCOMM TO MAKE “ONE TOUCH” PURCHASING ON MOBILE PHONES A REALITY
Groundbreaking Pilot Program Launched For Midwest Wireless Customers In Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota
June 5: SAMSUNG INCREASES STORAGE CAPACITY WITH HOT NEW 400GB PARALLEL AND SERIAL ATA HARD DISK DRIVES
Here are five reasons the five emails above garnered Michael and HWH Public Relations a Slick badge of dishonor.
1) Where’s the Pitch? In all five offenses, there was no salutation or pitch letter. All I received was a news release. A news release is background that supports a pitch. If that’s all you’re sending, you’re sending spam.
2) Where’s the News? Increased storage capacity, a sale on EU domains and vague, non-specific information on web hosting and domain names do not belong in a reporter’s email box. The one-touch payment might be of interest, but I’m not positive since I do NOT follow that space.
3) Jim Croce? Wow. I’ll admit to owning Freedom Rock just so I can advise you that’s a vague reference.
4) ALL CAPS READ LOUD: They also make messages harder to read.
5) Cut & Paste: Contact information at the top of a news release in an email is a sure sign it was cut and pasted into the email. Simply including a link to the release as background information to support a pitch is the best approach. But, at a minimum, put it beneath your signature file. This allows you to delete the release contact information.
When New Media is part of your agency’s name, you really need to walk the talk. In the agency’s defense, the CEO does have a blog and podcast. This is a start, even though the blog averages only one post a month. But if someone emails you and tells you to stop pitching them on irrelevant topics, I would hope you would stop. And if you do wind up pitching them again, make doubly sure that the pitch is relevant. The above performance makes me wonder if HWH can walk the talk.
Slick’s going to get a workout this week as we have another out-ed PR person waiting in the wings to be unveiled. So set those RSS readers to STUN and stay tuned for more Bad Pitch.tags | public relations | PR | media relations | good pitch | bad pitch | bad pitch blog | spam email
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