Comments on: Absurd spammy press releases sent to my blog

By: Tim Trent

Tim Trent — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:10:48 +0000

I love it that you published that list! I tend to hit back, usually hard. Maybe that’s because the business portion of my blog is about Permission Based Marketing, and these spammers have precisely no permission! I’ve linked the most recent broadside to my name here. [If your comments form had a preview button I'd try to be cool and link it in the text, too, but I'm not sure if it will work, so I haven't.]

By: Einat Adar

Einat Adar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:03:14 +0000

I just loved this one:
Dynamic law firm, Spring Law, unveils innovative business Model

You can hear the client saying – it’s not interesting enough, you must explain that we’re dynamic, not just any firm.

As someone who hires a PR pro from time to time, I know there are good ones out there who do a great job that helps both clients and journalists/ bloggers. It’s just that the bad ones stand out.

By: Kelly Rigotti

Kelly Rigotti — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:49:17 +0000

I’m a blogger who gets pitched daily, usually multiple times per day. I’m also a marketing consultant for a software developer and part of my job is to send out PR for our company. It’s been really interesting being on both sides of the equation, as my experience from each viewpoint definitely helps how I react to and deal with the other!

By: November 5th: PR top 5 | Strive Notes

November 5th: PR top 5 | Strive Notes — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:40:12 +0000

[...] Matthew Stibbe names and shames those PR firms that continue to send him irrelevant news releases. He lists 14 [...]

By: Matthew Stibbe

Matthew Stibbe — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:11:30 +0000

I share your pain, Richard. I had similar experiences back in my Caspian days – and I’m sure you did too. Sometimes I think PR people exist to get in the way not to help. There are some good ones out there but not many. I suspect it’s because most of them get paid for activity not results. Any fool can spam out 500 press releases to blog authors. But only the ones that make the effort to build a relationship will get any results.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:46:32 +0000

I don’t get as much PR spam as you, but I do still get my fair share of releases. Most, like you, I delete after reading the headline and realising it’s nothing special. Then yesterday a Big Four accounting firm sent me a release about an employee who’d won an award – and for something that would qualify him to be on the panel of a web seminar I’m running for a client.

So I call the number listed under “for more information contact…” and ask for the PR person the release suggests can help me. “She’s not working today.” Ah. Well why is her name on the release then? The conversation gets a bit snippy. I explain why I’m calling, but the person who is in the office – and who was responsible for the email – seems to think I’m intruding somehow.

Are their releases really so awful that they never actually get a media enquiry after sending them out? What was the point of this release? Does the PR department actually have a purpose connected to the wider aims of the organisation? I can understand external PR agencies sending out “filler” releases to bump up their activity-based payments or meet a contractual quota. But an in-house team? Terrible.