Despamming Publicity Campaigns

By Christina | Posted Mar 11, 2009 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Public Relations

Strong communications and relationships with the media are at the core of every successful publicity campaign. 

It’s not about the numbers — contacts in your media database, emails sent, pitches made — but rather it’s about the quality of the connections you create.

Today’s transparent social Web, combined with the evolution of email into a spam machine, makes it more important than ever for PR pros to tailor their campaigns and reach media contacts with information targeted to their beats, blogs and interests.

Bad PR Exposed

Forrester Research VP Josh Bernoff recently published a post on the Groundswell blog examining three examples of publicity spam, as well as an informative follow-up post on email titled, “Three quarters of the PR email I receive is irrelevant. Why?”

As the mass market catches up to technology and social media, the acceptable ways of distributing information are increasingly targeted and personalized. Unfortunately, this concept isn't always perceived as a sound strategy for generating publicity, even though it can lead to stronger opportunities.

Do This and Don't Do That

There are several simple concepts involved with starting to despam your campaigns. In homage to author David Zinkzenco’s "Eat This, Not That" healthy food choices section in Men’s Health magazine, below are "Do This, Don't Do That" recommendations to create effective and social Web-acceptable publicity campaigns.

• DO: Create a targeted media database, based on solid research, social networks and media relationships. Consider a news wire service if mass distribution is required.

• DON’T: Create a mass media database adding as many contacts as you can find; or adopt a “see-what-sticks” attitude.

• DO: Introduce yourself to key media contacts, ask them how they prefer updates, and give them the opportunity to opt-in and/or subscribe to your company’s blog or media room feeds. In short, run permission-based publicity campaigns.

• DON’T: Place your release on wires without checking out distribution policies, or post the same news to multiple wire services.

• DO: Compose a press release that is clear, concise and relevant.

• DON’T: Produce a solely promotional release using various gobbledygook words.

• DO: Provide links in the email body so recipients can voluntarily access supplemental documents, relevant Websites, photos, videos and further information. 

• DON’T: Attach documents, photos, videos or other large files to your email without request from the media.

• DO: Compose personalized emails containing the release information when appropriate.

• DON’T: Send form emails to individuals that appear as personalized greetings.

Integrating these recommendations into your publicity campaigns not only keeps your clients’ best interests in mind, but also gives you the chance to experience the benefits of permission-based marketing.

Christina Capadona-Schmitz is a PR 20/20 consultant, who has been with the Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm since March 2006.  She can be found on Twitter @christinacs.