Comments on: Pitching In Public

By: Celeste

Celeste — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:23:15 +0000

It was kind of ironic too, because Scoble said that less than a handful of PR people came to stop by that day. I mean the guy was there for a full day, waiting to talk about “new” tech ideas. Man I wish I could have fire hosed him.

By: Jon Greer

Jon Greer — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:32:00 +0000

Todd — thanks for the welcome. What I don’t get is the assumption that mere “sunlight” is the difference between a good pitch and bad pitch. Sure, almost all pitches should, almost by definition, be able to withstand the light of day. But that still doesn’t address the journalists’ perspective, that they want and NEED exclusive access to information that they can repackage. Unless what you’re really saying is let’s see all non-social media dead and buried as quickly as possible.

By: Todd Defren

Todd Defren — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:51:14 +0000

Andrew, I can’t disagree with a single word. Thanks much for stopping by, with a thoughtful comment.

By: Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 10:04:59 +0000

Todd – thanks for the link ref. To pick up on your following point: “A good pitch by email (or better yet via the good ol’ telephone) is still a relevant way to pitch a story idea to a writer, whether you “know” them or not.”

Agreed. However, the key word here is “good”. We all know that the overall quality of pitching is poor – and there are various reasons for this, such as the activity being delegated to account execs with little or no training/experience. I guess the point I was making about FB was that it could offer a way for journalists to share info about their focus/interests/availability that should help for better pitching – or provide no excuse for poor pitching.

And to your comment: “Relationships have to start somewhere/sometime. Sometimes it’ll be through Facebook. Sometimes not.”

Absolutely. I spent much of my early PR career spending a lot of my own personal time simply meeting journalists for a drink – no agenda, no pitch, just getting to know them as people – and in some cases, nearly 20 years later, they are still valued contacts (in many cases now working on national media). There is still nothing to beat that kind of personal contact. FB isn’t a silver bullet – but I am sure it offers a model for improving things in the world of PR.

By: Doug Haslam

Doug Haslam — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 02:32:30 +0000

This isn’t new, either. Previously, Scoble had expressed a preference for being pitched via comments in the Scobleizer blog– but he also has talked about how to pitch him via phone.

He evolves quickly, and often with the social media tools he is using. As with all reporters, we have to keep track. Scoble just moves faster than most of the rest.

By: Todd Defren

Todd Defren — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:06:33 +0000

You are both right.

Jon, if you check out the original post of mine that I quoted from, it goes on to say that the “stealthy” ways of the current/past system were put in place to serve reporters’ needs for privileged access, just as you note.

And David, you are REALLY right: all of our pitches *ought* to stand up to scrutiny at any time, but the fact of the matter is that there are too many firms who assign this critical task to barely-trained greenhorns for whom a “mass blast email” filled with lame and irrelevant content is still considered “a-okay.” This practice is exactly what will come to an end as more transparency comes to bear.

BTW, guys, not sure I’ve seen your names on the Commenters list before. Welcome! And thanks for your input.

By: David Wescott

David Wescott — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:21:42 +0000

I get Jon’s point about journalists wanting to pass information through their own filter. But 90 percent of the bloggers and other online folks I “pitch” aren’t journalists. Do they have the same motives as journalists when it comes to information, or are they really just trying to figure out a system that works best for them?

As for transparency and the disinfectant of sunshine, I was under the impression that we should write our pitches with the understanding that the blogger (or whomever) always has the option to publish your pitch verbatim anyway. You can’t look like a pathetic tool if you don’t write anything that makes you look like a pathetic tool. I thought that was just a basic principle of PR and communications.

I really think so much of this stuff is pretty easy if we just stick to the fundamentals. Or am I missing something here?

By: Jon Greer

Jon Greer — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 01:02:15 +0000

Wow — another new wrinkle for PR people to incorporate into their arsenal. Good luck! I’ll cover this new development in more depth on my blog (21stcenturymediarelations.com), but I wanted to leave one relevant comment here: not all pitching is done behind the scenes just because “that’s just the way it’s done.” It’s also done that way because journalists who want to resell your information as their own, after they add their perspective on it, don’t want the playing field completely leveled. They want the information exclusively and quietly. That’s why that’s the why it has been done. And btw — what are people pitching Scoble for? His blog?