I watched The Apprentice last night. The task involved presenting ideas for a greetings card to three different card shops. Both teams botched the presentations monumentally.  Why?

• Too formal.
• Hectoring.
• Talking but not listening.
• Too much machismo masking too little self-confidence.
• Standing up.
• Humourless.
• Dependent on the script.
• Too little preparation.
• (Probably) too long and verbose.
• Using jargon and clichés.
• Inappropriate use of rhetoric. In one case, the presented lapsed into the worst kind of green hectoring with rhetorical questions (”Did you know that…”). It just alienates people.

In short, they turned into monsters. Unrecognisable as human beings. Totally unfriendly, untrustworthy and boring. It’s a common problem.

Last week, I saw a presentation that worked really well. The future of the internet and how to stop it by Jonathan Zittrain at the RSA. (Download the MP3 version.) It was witty, relaxed, informal, engaging and while he did use PowerPoint, there was no text on the slides only pictures. As my old history tutor might have said, you can use PowerPoint like a drunk uses a lamp post - for illumination or support but not both at the same time. What worked for him:

• Good jokes
• A compelling story that builds an argument
• Responsiveness to the audience
• Friendliness
• Obvious mastery of the subject and willing to go into more detail on different points
• A quarter of the allotted time given over to questions
• Jargon- and cliché-free

My wife’s theatre company, C Company, is running a course today for a London PR firm. The actors in her company all train in the Meisner technique. Its central tenet is responsiveness which means putting your attention on the other person and adjusting your own acting in response to them. The catchphrase is “living truthfully under a given set of circumstances raised to the optics of the theatre.”  It’s an interesting sidelight on the whole question. 

Perhaps it’s applicability to presentations is summer up by the quote from Wikipedia: “Solid preparation supports the spontaneity, an idea articulated by Martha Graham when she wrote, ‘I work eight hours a day, every day, so that in the evenings I can improvise.’”

(As an aside, it was depressing to watch one team argue for three hours about whether ‘National Singles’ Day’ should have an apostrophe and if so, where?  They even rang the editor of the Daily Telegraph for advice. What do they teach in schools?)

I was asked to join the advisory board of the UK’s Business Superbrands project. The book just came out and it included this article, which I wrote for them about the use of writing as a branding tool. Regular blog readers will recognise several themes but I enjoyed writing this article for them because it weaves everything together nicely.

Companies lavish great sums on ads, branding and websites. But they give less thought to the everyday writing they create. I’m not talking about copywriting in adverts. That’s poetry. I’m talking about prose. The humdrum stuff of daily business life: press releases, contracts, marketing collateral, website content and the rest.

I believe that writing is a fundamental part of a brand. Finding a corporate voice and using it consistently adds weight and distinctiveness to a brand. Companies that neglect their writing risk short-changing their brand.

Google is a role model. It is no coincidence that it has a very consistent style and that its writing echoes the brand. Google’s home page is nothing but words, after all. Most people concentrate on the button “Google Search.” Those two words define what Google does but the other button, “I’m Feeling Lucky,” is more subtle. It reassures me that I’ll find what I’m looking for. It tells me “I” am in charge. It radiates optimism. These few words tell me a lot about the Google brand.

Google’s word-branding goes deeper than its home page – it permeates everything they do. Its terms and conditions also talk straight to the reader (“Thank you for trying out Google Desktop! Google Desktop is made available to you by Google Inc….”). It tells you what’s important (When you enable advanced features it said “Please read this carefully, it’s not the usual yada yada”).

Reinforcing the brand

Good writing, like Google’s, enhances a brand in different ways. It can reinforce the reader’s idea of what the brand stands for. For example, Virgin Atlantic shares the Virgin brand’s cheeky irreverence. Tired by a long flight? “Pretend you’re already there,” says Virgin Atlantic. Bored by safety announcements? Watch a cartoon instead.

On a more practical level, good writing can increase sales. Amazon’s login screen has a big friendly button which says “Sign in using our secure server”. This reassures me that Amazon will keep my details safe. Similarly, on the penultimate page of the checkout process it says “you can review this order before it’s final” right under the “Continue” button. Amazon has analysed where and why people stop buying and they’ve added these cues to get more people through the process.

Breaking faith

In contrast to Amazon, Virgin and Google’s success, most corporate-speak is bland, undifferentiated and hard to read. Meaning is obscured by jargon, waffle, hype, verbiage, legalese and conventionality.

The cost of bad writing far outweighs the value created by good writing. A typical example is the heavily-promoted ‘free’ online trial that opens with a daunting click-through contract. Another common problem is website copy that just doesn’t answer your questions. Yet another is the pious press release that takes 200 words to clear its throat and get started. My pet peeve is application forms that might as well be written in Medieval Latin. In fact, once you start looking for bad business writing, it’s easy to spot.

It is possible to track the impact of clear product descriptions on sales, well-written manuals on support calls and snappy website copy on traffic. On the other hand, it is very difficult to add up the costs that come from poor marketing collateral, obscure press releases or badly-worded letters.

The cost of bad writing is two-fold. First, you lose the money you spent delivering the words to the reader. Expensive website? Waste of money. 50,000 brochures? Recycling fodder. Second, you lose the hoped-for result. Have you ever read a brochure that bored or confused you? Did you buy the product afterwards?

Once you get past the glossy ads and shiny exterior, most companies sound like a headmaster, bank manager or lawyer. Is this how you want your company to sound to its customers and employees? In a wider sense, a company breaks faith with a reader any time a company’s words don’t match its brand. It’s like a witness squirming under cross-examination. The truth will out.

What is good writing?

Good grammar, punctuation and spelling are necessary but not sufficient. Business writing is about hooking and persuading the reader. The best way to engage a reader is to use stories because human beings are wired for them. We look for believable details, natural speech and a flow from beginning to end. Journalism has evolved ways of creating credible, persuasive and readable stories and books like Donald Murray’s Writing to Deadline have a lot to teach the business world. But journalism stops short of persuasion and that is the objective of a business writer. The ‘call to action’ often comes at the end of a piece but good business copy has a logical thread running through it that persuades the reader as it goes.

Writing for the web

We’re all internet entrepreneurs now. The internet has done what technology always does. It has gone from being gee-whizz to ho-hum, from avant-garde to comme il faut. Business writing – so important in this new medium – has not caught up with the change. The BBC has got it right, though. They know that people don’t read web pages the same way they look at newspapers or books and they write accordingly. Their website uses short paragraphs, short sentences, scannable text (clearly labelled links and headlines), hype-free language (in the journalistic tradition) and crisp micro-content (“Falklands return. How going back 25 years later helps heal veterans’ scars”).

One of the problems with less switched-on websites is the low priority given to web copy during development. A 2006 survey of digital agencies found that over half of them blamed delays on content problems but only 10 per cent said that content was a priority. They thought that design, development and search engine optimisation were much, much more important. To me, this is like building a missile but forgetting the payload. The gap is filled by ‘lorem ipsum’ placeholder copy. If you see this on a development website, consider it a warning sign.

We’re all writers now

Thanks to email, blogs and social networks like Facebook, we’re all business writers now. Microsoft positively encourages its employees to blog. Its thousands of employee-bloggers put a human face on their business. But most companies prefer to muzzle employees rather than develop their writing skills and embed a corporate tone of voice across the business. As these new media burst into life, we have a chance to embrace every written word as a tool that can make a brand strong, fresh and different. Otherwise it’s just the usual yada yada.

Viral videos are an interesting phenomenon. I think marcomms and ad agencies see something in the world of social media that they understand: a clever advert that people actually want to watch. You give your time and they provide something entertaining. (See my earlier post: To free or not to free.)

I’m seeing more of them. Even my wife’s theatre company has posted some of its plays online.

Now, my client HP is getting in on the act. They’ve made a fun little video to promote a competition and encourage people to visit their Happy People website. I wrote the copy on this site for them. [PS From comments it’s clear that some people may have misunderstood this last sentence - I wasn’t involved in the viral video itself, only in writing about 30,000 words of content for the Happy People website it links to. Sorry for any confusion.]

There are many voices calling for the death of the press release (e.g. Die Press Release Die or Amy Gahran who wants to put them out of their misery). What is needed is not execution but reform. Here are my tips and suggestions for doing it:

Preparation

1. Have something interesting to say. A press release implies something newsworthy. A press release that isn’t is another form of spam. Don’t cry wolf when there isn’t one.
   
2. Remember your audience, forget your client. A press release that your client loves is not as useful as a press release a journalist (and her editor) loves. Make sure your press release will help sell the story and get you coverage.
   
3. Yes, journalists are cynical and lazy. Deal with it. Be uncynical. Work harder. Don’t assume an adversarial position. Don’t stoop to their level. (See The top ten lies of PR companies.) Trust me; you’ll get back what you put in.
   
4. Look at bad pitches. Studying bad pitches is a great way to learn about what mistakes to avoid. Sign up for some press release services. Also check out the Bad Pitch blog.
   
5. Read the blogs and magazines of the people you are trying to reach. This is the best way to understand what they are looking for in a story.
   
6. Employ a professional writer. Some PRs are good writers, many are ex-journalists. But it makes sense to use someone who knows the business. Just because everyone can write, it doesn’t follow that everyone can write well.
   
7. Use surveys sparingly. Surveys are the traditional standby for a PR company in want of news. They can be effective but I think the public and journalists are getting increasingly sceptical. See my post: Surveys, uses and abuses for writers and PRs.
   

Write it well

1. Be brief. Antoine de Saint-Exupery said it best: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Most press releases would be more readable, more credible and more memorable if they were about 25-30% shorter.
   
2. Get to the point. Most press releases start with a paragraph of pious throat-clearing about how great the company is. You need to open strong and get straight to the point.
   
3. Killer lede. As with any article, the first sentence is the most important. You should aim to put as much work into the first sentence as into the whole of the rest of the press release. It needs to convince a busy, cynical journalist to read on.
   
4. Eliminate words. You can cut out about a third of the copy in a typical press release and it will read better and more convincingly. This is sound advice from Strunk and White, among others.
   
5. Be scannable. Press releases are very temporary documents. Readers don’t give them a lot of time because they are not, usually, a high priority. This is a lot like websites and one of the key lessons of writing for the web is to be scannable. That means using bullet points, sidebars, pull quotes, bold, underlining, lines and other page structure to make it easy to scan the page rather than read it from start to finish.
   
6. Tell a story. Human beings tell stories. They don’t go to the coffee house and share press releases or soundbites. Donald Murray explains what a good story is and how to get it in Writing to Deadline (also available as a ten-minute summary).
   
7. Construct an argument. As an alternative to the story-telling approach, construct a compelling argument using The Pyramid Principle: state a problem then explain how your product or service solves it. (See Barbara Minto’s website.) My history tutor at Oxford used to say ‘take your argument and drive it like Ayrton Senna.’
   
8. Create a sense of place. Was the product invented somewhere? Did you make an important announcement in an interesting building? Try, somehow, to anchor the press release in a real place. It will ground it and add credibility because most press releases seem to take place in the corporate ether.
   
9. Reveal personality. Again, it will enhance your credibility and make the press release more authentic if you can capture a sense of real people. What are they like? How do they talk? Do they have any experience, hobbies, interests etc. that relate to the subject of the press release? Details matter. Three or four words that give life to a name will animate a whole press release.
   
10. Echo your client’s tone of voice. If they don’t have one, help them find one.
    
11. Relax. Relax! For heaven’s sake won’t you people RELAX! Press releases don’t have to sound like a lawyer’s letter or the small print of an insurance contract. Write like you speak. Imagine explaining the subject to an intelligent friend.
    
12. Use everyday words and phrases. This is important. Somehow, people think that corporations have a dull, wordy, formal voice. Why? Their employees don’t. Use the language of everyday speech. So, do, get, make, build rather than develop, obtain, maximise, construct.
    
13. Understate rather than hype. This needs a touch of humour and good writing but it can be very effective. I loved that Virgin ad that said “British Airways don’t give a shiatsu.” As well as being a cheeky attack on a rival, it was a cunning way to mention the free massages in Upper Class without actually mentioning them. Another good example is Ronseal, the varnish company that advertises its products by saying “it does exactly what it says on the tin.”
    
14. Pick short, apposite quotes. The tendency in press releases is to quote whole paragraphs (usually made up) from VPs. Much better, I think to quote three or four words but pick really good words. Look for quotes that include metaphors, comparison, individuality, character and which get to the heart of the matter. If you, as a writer, can say something better than the quote you are using, don’t use a quote.
    
15. Eliminate hype. For an example of how hype words (e.g. prestigious, leading etc.) don’t work, read the worst press release ever. Readers don’t just discount hype words when they read them, they assume the opposite of what you said. Hype words are road blocks on the journey to credibility.
    
16. Eliminate jargon. Jargon is a vocabulary used within a specific company or industry. It is often meaningless to outsiders, including journalists. If your gadget can do 48 circumfludels a second, you had better explain what this means in English and why it matters. Don’t assume anything about what the reader understands. The same applies to little-known product names. Even Google, with its massive brand awareness, had to change Froogle to Products because people didn’t understand what it did.
    
17. Eliminate acronyms. Acronyms and abbreviations are another kind of jargon. They assume that the reader knows something. People often use jargon and acronyms to sound big and clever, without realising that it actually has the opposite effect on most readers.
    
18. Avoid buzzwords. These are phrases that mean more to you than they do to the reader. See: Buzzwords from hell, The Global War on ‘Solutions’, What is a ’solution’? and Ban the word ‘Leverage’.
    
19. Throw in the occasional firework. A one-sentence paragraph. A killer quote. A spectacular analogy. A powerful statistic. An appropriate use of an everyday expression. Always try to add a little fizz and ginger to everything you write.
    
20. Close with a kicker. Go out with a bang. The last sentence needs to be thought-provoking and memorable. It needs about half the work of the opening sentence. A typical magazine way to end a piece is with a memorable quote from an objective source, some kind of paradox or a tiny detail that illuminates the whole story. A short, pithy summary of the whole thing would do as well.
    
21. Be direct. Don’t use the passive voice (the mat was sat on by the cat).
    
22. Be human. Used sparingly and in the right context, the pronoun ‘we’ can be very powerful and authentic, as well as helping you avoid the passive.
    
23. Box out the key points. Have a sidebar titled ‘If you read nothing else, read this’ and summarise the story in three very short bullet points. Yes, you’d like people to read the whole case study, but only 10 percent will do that. Wouldn’t be great if another 30 percent at least knew something about the contents.
    
24. Write a Google-friendly headline. Write a headline that summarises the story (not what the PR wants you to think about it). See: Write press release headlines that make sense.
    

Check then double-check

1. Don’t beat about the bush. Don’t hedge your bets by overqualifying sentences (e.g. “many companies find they have different kinds of problems with certain email viruses”). Be more assertive: “Email viruses hit companies hard.”
   
2. Use a spell checker. D’oh! But it happens. I sometimes see final draft press releases for my clients that have two or three typos.
   
3. Use a grammar checker.
   
4. Use readability stats. Use the built-in tools in Microsoft Word. (For instructions on switching them on, see Microsoft Word Readability Statistics.) Aim for under 50 in the Flesch reading ease, under 8 for the grade level and no passive sentences. It’s hard but worth it.
   
5. Check facts. Especially names and titles. Most magazines are obsessive about this and you should do the same for a press release. It’s worth keeping a separate document tracking all the sources for the different information in the copy so that you can go back and check who said what.
   
6. Use Bullfighter. It’s a free download that measures readability and warns you if you’re using jargon.
   
7. Employ a proofreader. Read an interview with my own, Sarah Bee. (Incidentally, she doesn’t check my blog - mistakes here are my own!)
   
8. Redact hidden content. Word hides a lot of version control changes, including copy you would prefer journalists not to see. You can eliminate it easily by following this advice from the US National Security Agency (PDF). Read my post, Unintended press release disclosures, for an example of what happens when you don’t.
   

Get the process right

1. Stand up to clients and managers. Don’t let them turn your press release back into porridge. Explain that a well-written press release will get them more coverage. One tip: show them a ‘typical’ press release side-by-side with an article in a magazine. Explain the differences and ask them which one they would want to read themselves.
   
2. Include contact details. Don’t leave this information out. It’s astonishing how many press releases stored on company websites have no contact details at all.
   
3. Write a factual, one-paragraph summary for email. Most press releases go out by email as Word or PDF documents. Most journalists delete them without reading them. A one-paragraph email summary (like this one) means you have more chance of converting recipients into readers.
   
4. Don’t frankenquote. This is my phrase for any made-up quotation that is used in a press release. Usually they are turgid, content-free and obviously made up. See this post for an example.
   
5. Avoid spokesrobots. Skip the usual suspects - the VPs and the CEOs - and get quotes and input from the guy who designed the hinge and the woman who optimised the code. Go to the shop floor; find the story behind the story.
   
6. Use real interviews. One of the most important ways you can make your press releases more authentic is to use real interviews with key people to research and write them. That way you’ll get it straight from the horse’s mouth. For advice on interviewing see: How to interview someone, why interviews go wrong, How to give good interview.
   
7. Avoid death by red-lining. Redlining or version control is a tool that allows non-writers to rewrite copy, regardless of their skill or experience. The problem is that when the CEO redlines a press release, it’s very hard to undo their work. They’re the boss after all. I recommend sending PDFs or other locked documents and inviting feedback by email or phone. Also, encourage people to explain why they want something changed and explain that once you understand what they want, you’ll do a better job of writing and save them the bother of doing it themselves.
   
8. Payment by results. Most PR companies are paid for the time they put in rather than the results they achieve. This is a false incentive. You don’t necessarily have to tie payment to coverage, but to something more measurable like how many people read the press release (which you would know if you put it online) or gave positive feedback (which you would know if you asked for it).
   

Alternatives and variants

1. Is a press release the right medium? Should you just take a selection of journalists out for a drink or call them up? Could you put something on the website or a corporate blog?
   
2. Try a one-paragraph press release. Consider using your one-paragraph email summary as the press release itself and providing a website link and contact details for more information.
   
3. Try micro-pitching. How about the five-line pitch? The 130-word pitch? Write a conventional press release then slice and dice it in different ways to pitch to different journalists. (Thanks to Michele Capots on The Buzz Bin for this idea.)
   
4. Use social media. Use a blog for press releases. Try a press conference in Second Life or buy a branded island there (like Coca-Cola did). See Brian Solis’s post: Social Media Releases - Everything you ever wanted (or should) know.
   
5. Publish data-rich press releases. For example, see Edelman’s web-based tool for publishing social media news releases. It contains all the traditional elements of a press release but in a more web-friendly format, with hyperlinks, links to images, tagging and links to other sources. (See also the Social Media Release blog)
   
6. Go direct to the customer. Why rely on the media to read, digest and use the information in a press release when you can communicate direct with customers using your press release. See this interesting article in PR Week.
   
7. Turn a press release into a search release. Publish a press release online and make sure that it is easily search using a corporate search engine as well as Google and the others. Optimise the content to make it as searchable as possible. (Hat tip to Amy Gahran for this idea.)
   
8. Consider FaceBook, LinkedIn (but be careful). Facebook is getting huge press at the moment and growing fast. Unsurprisingly, PRs are debating whether they can use it. (See for example, PR Squared’s recent post.) These kinds of networking sites are popular and powerful, but I would suggest that the right approach is to set up networks and groups and allow journalists to opt-in; rather than using them as a means of pushing out press releases to unwilling recipients. Used properly, these could be very powerful ways to build relationships and encourage conversations.
   
9. Try some alternative formats. Infographics, bullet points, poetry, podcasts, MP3 files, SMS, cartoons, PowerPoint with narration on Slideshare.net. (Hat tip to Strategic Public Relations for some of these suggestions) Todd Andrlik believes that there is “a positive linear correlation between the amount of PR elements offered to reporters and the quantity and quality of media coverage generated.” Years ago, when I was promoting a game that I had designed, I produced an electronic press kit - on four Mac floppy disks! - that included pictures, maps, even songs and we got tons of coverage as a result. That was back in 1991 and I haven’t seen anything like it in the games industry since.
   

How to send it to the media

1. Don’t spam. Better to send ten press releases to journalists you know, with a personal cover letter than spam 1,000 and get no response. As Ryan Anderson says, “In all cases, your value as a PR person is about the number of relationships you have created… not about how many press releases you send.” (Addition: Sherrilynne Starkie adds that journalists receive around 60 press releases a day.)
2. Don’t use the “important” flag when emailing your press release. It may be important to you, but journalists received hundreds of these things and it isn’t important to them.
   
3. Don’t call 10 minutes after sending it. “Just to make sure you received it.” Guess what, email worked yesterday and it still works today. The only reason to call is if you have something unique and valuable to add, such as an exclusive interview opportunity.
   
4. Follow-up on a story after three months. Send out an email three months after a press release saying ‘remember we told you about our new product, well we thought you’d like to know that it’s sold ten million units.’ Nobody ever does this so it would be a nice way to sustain the relationship and extend the story.
   
5. Say thank you. If someone uses a press release or gives you coverage as a result, say thank you. Again with the relationship thing.
   
6. Invite feedback. Instead of ‘how is my driving’ why not add a ‘how is my press release’ link to every press release. How about asking journalists when you speak to them if it was useful and what they would add or change.
   

Technorati Tags: Press release, PR, media, news, journalist, media, social media, Facebook, SlideShare, writing, copywriting, marketing, search release, LinkedIn, jargon, hype, acronyms, interviews, interviewing, PR Week

Don’t hire an agency. Do it yourself. (Says Guy Kawasaki’s buddy.)

Guy Kawasaki, citing Margie Zable Fisher’s theprsite.com, has a good top ten list of Why PR doesn’t work. (Actually, it’s pretty pro-PR but explains the reasons in terms of poor relationship management.)

I think there are times when PR won’t work, even if the the client and the PR firm are communicating well. There are also times when PR doesn’t work because, frankly, the PR industry is inefficient, cynical and expensive. Worst of all, PR companies - whose job is communication - often do a really, really bad job of communicating.

Here are some examples.

• Failure to use blogs and other new media. See: Boeing vs. Airbus.
• Dreadful press releases. See: Press releases for human beings and The worst press release ever.
• Abuse of surveys.
• Treating bloggers like conventional journalists (i.e. not very well and without understanding the medium)
• Not understanding what a story is.
• Lying outrageously. See: the top ten lies of PR companies.
• Abusing case studies. See: the fall and rise of the case study.

Despite the tone of these comments, I’m not against PR firms per se. In fact, I collaborate with several good ones. But I do feel that there needs to be some kind of fundamental change in the way they function. I think writing has something to do with it. But then, I would, wouldn’t I.

Technorati Tags: PR, Guy Kawasaki

Lee wrote an impassioned letter to MCV, the computer games trade magazine in the UK, asking PRs and journalists to just get along better. Since I am interested in games, PR and writing I decided to ask him a few questions. Here are his interesting, surprising and insightful answers.

1) What was the biggest surprise when you switched from hostage to terrorist (or is it the other way round? J)

Both terms can be applied to the press as well as PRs. I firmly believe any antagonism is less about the role and much more to do with the individual personalities involved. To pigeonhole two sets of people who work so closely together as “incompatible” only serves to reinforce the sense of Them and Us, of bully and victim, of master and slave. This realization was, in fact, the surprise; that I could still be an effective PR person while retaining my own identity and individual style.

2) Now you’re on the PR side of the fence, what irritating PR activities now make sense to you? What changed?

It’s always worth remembering that PR execs don’t work in a vacuum. Organising even the simplest interview or presentation event can involve multiple suppliers, client contacts, journalists, developers, all amounting to variables galore. Any and all of these can and often do go awry, causing headaches for the PR and “irritation” for press.

For instance, if a videogame developer isn’t available when he said he would be, an event naturally has to be postponed or rescheduled and the press inevitably put out. I will always recommend that alternatives are found but you have to be realistic.

The idea of a generic “off the shelf” PR solution, tied up in a bow and ready to be made available to any and all who wants it, benefits very few people due to the lack of personalization, specificity and relevance to individual media.

3) Do you ever have to explain to your colleagues what it’s like out there in editorial land? How do you do it?

Many members of Bastion’s team come from an editorial background, both mainstream and specialist. Those who do not have been working in PR and marketing for many years. They know how editorial works because it’s our business, as a company, to know. If a PR doesn’t understand the basic editorial processes of magazines, websites, daily newspapers, TV and beyond, then they are failing, in my opinion.

4) Is it ever right to follow up an email or press release with a phone call?

Not only is it right, in the games industry at least, it is absolutely essential. All too often there is a sense of emails disappearing into a digital void once sent. The follow up call is expected by press and clients alike. As an agency we need to demonstrate forward planning and knowledge of when coverage is hitting. The follow up call is a great way of doing this and it also gives us the chance to get to know individual press on a personal level. The games industry is relatively small and mostly friendly. The follow up call helps cement bonds between Bastion and journalists.

5) What’s the best way for a journalist to build a good relationship with a PR?

It works in different ways for different personalities. I’ve seen the most unlikely bonds form between press and PRs because of a common interest in Arsenal, or ice hockey, or parenting. There’s no one correct way, in the same way that there is no guaranteed formula for making friends outside of the working environment. It’s about chemistry, but even if that chemistry isn’t there you can still have a successful working relationship as long as both parties respect each other as best they can.

6) What are the three most annoying things journalists believe about PRs?

That we’re all dolly birds or wide boys enjoying free lunches, while being transported from client dinners to launch parties in account cabs. If that’s true then how come my keyboard has more crumbs than my nan’s biscuit tin from working through lunch breaks?

7) I’m interesting in writing, especially lousy press releases etc. I believe that PRs start out writing well but get corrupted by their clients’ interference. Is this true in your experience? How do you retain your integrity as a communicator when a client has unreasonable expectations or interferes too much?

Well , a more uncharitable person would point out the irony of the typo in the first line of this particular question = )

My biggest personal bugbear is TMs and ©’s and ®’s dotted throughout product press releases. They can make even the wittiest, cleverest release look dry and corporate. I’d like to see them outlawed for good, from a writerly point of view at least.

Is games PR different from other PR?

Not having worked in different sectors, this is tricky to answer with any authority. Reading some of the tales on your blog it seems that your experience of PR has been somewhat different from mine, when I was a journalist. I also have a friend who is a music journo who says that PRs bend over backwards to assist her in any way they can.

9) What is a typical day for you? Where does the pressure come from? The deadlines?

It’s a bit cliché but there really is no such thing as a typical day. I could be on a photo shoot, organising a press event or tour, or simply spending a day on the phone selling in stories. It’s massively varied and that’s why I enjoy the role.

10) You end by asking ‘why can’t we be friends?’ Do you think the PR-Journo relationship is inherently antagonistic or is there common ground?

I think this relates back to my first answer. Yes, of course there will always be pressure and stress – it’s business and it isn’t always easy – but I firmly believe that the way in which PRs and press react to that stress is what makes the difference between a good working relationship and poor one. Manners, honesty (yes, a PR used the “H” word!) and respect have worked much better for me than shouting and threatening ever could.

Technorati Tags: Bastion, PR, computer games, MCV

Last week I was working on an article for business magazine.  My deadline was Friday and, in fact, I was trying to finish it on Thursday because it was my sister-in-law’s wedding on Friday.

I was trying to interview a senior industry figure.  I finally booked the interview for 5pm on Friday which meant a) postponing my deadline to the last possible moment and b) leaving the wedding reception early.  I explained this carefully to the PR guy.
I get back home ready to do the interview and, guess what, a message on the answerphone: “sorry he can’t do it after all, can you reschedule for next week?”

PR stands for public relations but it could also stand for press relations.  This is a classic case where a PR manages to screw both pooches in one go.

I didn’t think it could happen, but today a PR found a new way to wind me up.  I put out a request on a wire service on Monday for input to an article I was writing for a major UK magazine.  I was very clear that a) I only wanted to be contacted by email and b) my deadline was 11am Wednesday.

So today, two days after my deadline, I get a call on Skype from a PR wanting to pitch something for the article.   Which bit of ‘email only’ didn’t he understand?  Did he think I was lying about my deadline?  Argghhhh!

He was the worst example but he wasn’t unique.  23 of the 89 PR companies that responded by email did so after my deadline.  What is the point of that?  23 companies are going to get billed for work that was irrelevent and unnecessary before it even began.

Over at The Church of the Customer Blog, there’s a post about a recent Jupiter Research
report that makes some predictions about large company blog. It traces the efforts of several bloggers to uncover the methodology behind the research.
I posted recently about the abuse of similar surveys and research by PR companies. Now it feels as if large companies also use these kinds of research reports and futurology to make their business decisions. It’s almost as if they’re drinking their own Kool-Aid. Where does it end?