Thursday, December 08, 2016

Some Kind of Award is Due

Earlier today, I received an email that deserves some kind of award, perhaps for Worst Press Release of the Year. I'm not going to reprint it, but let me count the problems.
  1. The email is from someone's personal Gmail account.
  2. The press contact is someone entirely different, and that individual's personal Gmail account is in the email. The PR firm has a web site, but somehow hasn't figured out how to set up @companyname.com email addresses. (Oh, wait, here is why: the company web site is very likely on Weebly and it costs money to get Google Apps for Your...oops, G Suite on Weebly. Hint: there are ways to set up an alias so that you can send email that looks like it comes from companyname.com. Ask me how I know this stuff, and by the way, it is not because I work for the Big G.)
  3. There isn't a reply-to set up for the press contact in the original email.
  4. The email is riddled with grammatical errors, logical issues, and poor writing.
  5. It is completely obvious that the PR company and the person sending the email have absolutely no idea of what my blog covers.
  6. I believe that my readership would not be very interested in this product. (This is a corollary to no. 5.)
  7. The pitch for an article is....naive.
  8. The Big Idea in the email is....well, I just don't know too many people who would go for the action the PR company is suggesting.
  9. Those certifications you mention are not "awards."
  10. Featured on TV in 2011 - that's five years ago - isn't all that impressive.

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