Pet Peeves and other journalist lessons from Twitter – Q2

Advice, Journalist Pet Peeves

After an almost half year hiatus, the pet peeves articles are back!

Journalists never stop giving us breadcrumbs of information, and we also didn’t stop collecting them. Despite how fast things move, luckily, our team has found that they are all still relevant. Let’s jump into some of the micro-lessons that we learned from Q2.

This one is just super basic. Press release length: no longer than 1-2 pages. Two is already borderline!

If your press release is 4 pages long DON'T SEND IT
— Tom Jackson (@tomjackson1988) April 2, 2021

In the UK and most of the English speaking media: do not cold call journos. (Well, mostly).

We don’t live in 2007 anymore. It is preferred not to send attachments of any kind, just add your press release text nice and lean, into the body of the email below your email message.

Tech is full of smart people, including many who claim to understand product/UX.

Why is it that almost no one has figured out that sending press releases as a PDF is terrible for journalists doing email on a mobile phone?

You have a tiny window of opportunity, don't PDF it.
— Steve O'Hear (@sohear) April 9, 2021

Thanks for the confirmation, Steve.

Yes, some journalists will start blocking you. Don’t hound journalists like a madman.

PR ppl, this is how you go from ignored to blocked pic.twitter.com/9p4zgKm1He
— Sal Rodriguez 🕷 (@sal19) April 9, 2021

Not a pet peeve, but pet and journalism related. Some outlets don’t allow ‘gifts’. However, consider building relationships with journalists, aka humans.

A PR just sent a gift hamper for my dogs 🥺 the way to my heart
— Peony Hirwani (@peony_hirwani) April 13, 2021

We just said that journalists are humans, so remember that they would like to read stuff like a normal human would.

Tech PRs have a tough job translating their clients into ENGLISH, but when you get a release filled with words like the following, and the journo has to literally google WTF the company IS, your release has FAILED: “reinvent; analyzing data algorithms; every element is tracked…
— Mike Butcher (@mikebutcher) April 20, 2021

Your website is not just for yourself, it’s not just for clients. Journalists will go there to try understand you better, too.

Every time. Companies seem to care more about making their website colourful and shiny than explaining what it is they actually do in plain English https://t.co/7DD62SmF4T
— Rob Scammell (@RobertScammell) April 21, 2021

Timing is important. Get it right.

Here’s a long press release packed with news and links and images, and a link to the press conference which you can watch live. Let me know if you’re interested in speaking with this and that person, or this guy, ahead of the time the embargo lists.

(embargo lifts in 30 minutes)
— Robin Wauters @ Tech.eu (@robinwauters) April 23, 2021

What is special at first stops being special after everyone’s done it.

Dearest startups,

It is no longer very impressive to write that you ‘raised money in a pandemic’ or ‘hired staff in a pandemic’.

Newsflash: We are all in the pandemic…?
— Mike Butcher (@mikebutcher) April 28, 2021

Mary is always giving great advice based on horrible experiences. Always personalise your pitch, more so if you’re getting in touch with the likes of TechCrunch. Also, note that some journos find it easier to update their out of office status on Twitter!

Tip, if your pitch starts with "Dear media colleagues," it's most likely going to get deleted.
— Mary Ann Azevedo – ooo (@bayareawriter) April 28, 2021

Why do PR professionals use “utilize”? What goes in emails should be what you use daily. Why not use “use”?

The word "utilize" should be banned from the English dictionary. If you wouldn't say it aloud, why would you write it in an email, honestly?
— Patrick Mulholland (@pomulholland) May 4, 2021

Consider not using every piece of big news as an opportunity to comment.

Jason is spot on. Too many PR professionals use spray and pray. Personalise!

Question: Do some PR people get paid based on the number of emails they send out?
— Jason Abbruzzese (@JasonAbbruzzese) May 12, 2021

PRs who go the extra mile to keep spamming journalists can quickly become sworn enemies.

A certain infosec-focused PR agency that firehoses my inbox with spam has got around my clicking unsubscribe: they've set up a subsidiary with none of the same branding or infrastructure – but the same dist lists.

Tempted to email their clients at this stage. It's unreal.
— Gareth Corfield (@GazTheJourno) May 14, 2021

Free time is scarce for journalists. Don’t make them waste it.

PR FYI: Panel prep calls are not necessary when there’s such a thing as e-mail to workshop an outline, but they’re even less necessary when they won’t involve the actual human being I’m supposed to interview at the event.
— Rob Pegoraro (@robpegoraro) May 21, 2021

The amount of emails in the journalist’s inboxes are a serious issue – we suspect PRs play a major role here, so this is going into our Pet Peeves Hall of Fame. Next time you email a journalist, think about the time they will spend reading your information. Only send if you’re confident it’s relevant for them.

“Hey, I have seen your interview with Bill Gates, would you be interested in interviewing a small business owner?” Always understand the newsworthiness you can provide.

–
Every time I post a big celeb interview, I get at least 10 follow up pitches like:
"Saw your interview with Jane Fonda & thought you'd be interested in featuring hemp grower John Doe on your Forbes column next."
The lack of self-awareness is crazy…
–
— Javier Hasse (@JavierHasse) May 21, 2021

Newsflash: making your embargo sentence stricter won’t make the difference you think it could. You are still sending information out without really having agreed anything with anyone?

"UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL " … because when's the last time you saw an, "UNDER 'WELL, YOU KNOW, WE'D APPRECIATE IF YOU DIDN'T LEAK THIS NEWS EARLY' EMBARGO"?
— Dan Taylor (Pay/Me) (@sensorpunk) May 25, 2021

Yes, technology facilitated ultra-fast communication and research. No, it does not mean you should be when doing PR.

Startup raising money: it’s a crazy crowded market. That means coverage is changing. Plan for that.

as a ref pt for PR people, during the 2 PM hour I received around a half dozen funding pitches (amongst lots of other stuff) of which four were exclusives

it's busy out there
— alex (@alex) June 21, 2021

Does this mean there are more pet peeves that aren’t out because journos are too politically correct? We assume so, but hope not.

being a journalist is literally just having endless amounts of tweets in your drafts that you can’t ever publish
— Georgia Coan (@georgia_coan) June 25, 2021

Wow, get the name of your city right.

"The Hmaburg-based product …" heads to the atlas to find Hmaburg.

HINT: PR peeps – spell check is your friend.
— Dan Taylor (Pay/Me) (@sensorpunk) June 6, 2021

Only reach out to outlets like tech.eu or TechCrunch with exclusives, embargoes. Especially as an early-stage startup. There are so many deals happening.

Another pro tip PR peeps … "Today …. " is the fastest way to lose my attention. If it's not embargoed, chances are, I don't have time for it. Sorry @RingCentral and @RingCentralUK pic.twitter.com/sjW850NM9f
— Dan Taylor (Pay/Me) (@sensorpunk) June 22, 2021

Pitch the ask. If you go in doing lateral thinking, be extra smart about it and do your proper research.

Me: I’m looking for review samples of Huawei phones.
PR: Pitches an air purifier.
— Nicholas Fearn (@nicholasgfearn) June 17, 2021

Like any other human being, journalists might switch roles and even industries.

Seeing which PR agencies are still pitching me over a month since I quit the news biz, is a great way to filter out which PR agencies might be good to use in my new role 🤔😇
— Steve O'Hear (@sohear) June 10, 2021

This reminder should be the PR version of “please mind the gap”. Journalists open emails and reply if there’s interest. No need to triple check for interest.