Pet Peeves and other journalist lessons from Twitter – Q2

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!

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.

Thanks for the confirmation, Steve.

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

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

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

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

Timing is important. Get it right.

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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

Wow, get the name of your city right. 

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.

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

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

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.

There are so many different journalists with different beats, preferences and specialisations. Do your homework when reaching out to them!

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