The first quarter of 2023 is behind us (time flies when you’re busy). Despite many in the media declaring their time on Twitter was over following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the avian social media platform, we’re happy to tell you that pet peeves are still alive and kicking. We can still comment on PR pitches gone wrong, and also flag pet peeves we might actually disagree with.
Let’s see what the first months of the year had in store for us…
January
PR is a people business. Yes, journalists need newsworthy stories, or they won’t cover you. No, that doesn’t mean all interactions are “transactions”.
Clocks changing, time zones with different names for summer and winter. There’s lots one can get wrong with timing. And in PR, timing is key!
This is just confusing. What!?
Very often it’s just about the basics, common sense. Chances are if you are pitching a publication called The Banker, your pitch needs to have something related to the banking industry…
February
You wouldn’t pitch something based on events that happened last year. Wait, someone would?
As a PR pro, it should not seem like you’ve just been in cryo-sleep for a decade.
Don’t define the actions that create problems and then execute that exact same action. Offer something new, something interesting! You’re already stealing a bit more time, make it worth it! If not, don’t follow up.
Is it that difficult to read/listen?
March
The eternal misunderstanding: no response, not even a decline from a journalist. But there’s a reason for that. Do all PR people know it? Do all of them understand how to deal with it? Seems not…
If a journalist already declined, the worst thing you can do is follow up with nothing that could be game-changing for the pitch. Unfortunately, even that is unlikely to cut it. Make sure your first email packs the biggest possible punch.
You can’t invite someone on a press trip and then retract the invitation because of their integrity in their journalistic practices.
Emailing a tech journalist on something that isn’t about tech… is this really a PR fail? I don’t think they’d be worthy of being considered “in PR”.
Reid Hoffman once said, “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” However, don’t send a journalist a product to review if you know there are still issues with it!
There are limits to the number of comments journalists need for things like the new budget.
The power of saying “no”, PR edition. Does the client pay you to do what they say, or to do what you believe is best? Patrick knows the answer.
“I hope you are well” and its variations are just… hollow. You don’t need to use it! What might be useful is to use names.
No, no, nooo. Timing 101. Journalists are in the business of NEWs. Also, if you are really working in PR, what do you need wires for?
Deja vu in the same month. Who are these people?
You can leverage timing to get something really right. Or, making the wrong calculations, you can get it really wrong.
The PR pro that uses ChatGPT to cheat will soon realise they are cheating themselves. Know what tools are (not) for.
Almost every journalist and all PR research suggests email is the preferred method. So why not try that?
We disagree that this is a PR fail, because no real PR professional would send this. Likely scammers who are also sucky scammers.
Want to learn even more? Check out some of our previous journalist pet peeves blog posts:
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter – Q4 2022
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter: Q3 2022
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter: Q2 2022
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter: Q1 2022
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter: Q2 2021
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter: March 2021
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter: February 2021
Journalist pet peeves on Twitter: January 2021
