I'm not talking about having the phone slammed down after you deliver your spiel. I'm talking about no reply whatsoever...zero...zilch...silence.
I don't mind rejection. At least with rejection comes closure. It's that netherworld that irks me (and prompts many a PR person to leave that death knell of a voice-mail: "I'm calling to see if you received my email." )
Sure, who can blame those beleaguered journalists on the receiving end of the endless string of inane, ill-conceived and frequently misguided pitches? And what does work in this changed media landscape?
Jeremiah Owyang today shared one effective, and decidedly hybrid story pitch for a mention in his blog. For it, Owyang received a snail-mailed invitation to visit a website where he encountered a video pitch. Here's the Forrester analyst's tweet about it:
jowyang I get a lot of pitches, few of them ever standThe creative approach worked.
out, this one clearly did, "how to get me to blog about you" http://tinyurl.com/ywtq5m about 1 hour ago from web.
Then there was that Ozzie New Yorker Young Paull, I mean Paull Young, who relayed his success engaging a fellow blogger, via Twitter, about his client.
paullyoung Hi Devra! I work with Graco. I'll be attending the DC Moms blog Get-Together on Mon. Found you via mammaloves - nice to meet you! 06:29 PM January 05, 2008He posted the authentic and transparent dialogue on his blog, which WOMMA subsequently lifted for its blog. No heavy sell here. Just a friendly chat...gently infused with his client's message (and URL).
Devra Hi Paull, Oooh Graco! You would have had me at "Pack N Play" LOVED that when my kids were little! Mamma Loves is tops tho! 09:48 AM January 06, 2008
paullyoung That's great to hear! Did you know the Pack N Play just turned 20? 1 of our first posts on the new Graco blog: http://tinyurl.com/348tym 03:35 PM January 06, 2008
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