Dear Blogger: Here’s how not to spam bloggers - by spamming bloggers
Got this email from someone named Tami Queen at Vocus. In essence, she’s telling me how to make sure I don’t spam bloggers when pitching them.
Um…You know I have a blog, right? And it has a category about "really bad press releases," right? I’m not trying to be mean or anything, but does anyone else see the irony in spamming a blogger with an email about how to not spam bloggers?
Or maybe it’s just Tuesday. Considering the day I’m having, where I am starting to believe that I’m a player in G-d’s personal Gag Reel, who knows…
So Tami: Thanks - But I’m going to pass. but I’ll be happy to blog about it. Then pitch it to the wrong people.
Countless accounts of “PR Flaks” who have spammed bloggers, mis-targeted pitches or just plain gotten blogger relations wrong fill the Internet. Don’t risk finding your next pitch blasted on your favorite blog!
As a Public Relations professional, it is your job to find every opportunity to get your organization covered and be an expert on the inner-workings of the media. However, the explosion of the blogosphere has left many confused and wondering: How do bloggers operate? What type of approach will get my news covered? How can I integrate blogs into my overall PR strategy?
The new media landscape calls for additional tactics and approaches to the PR practitioner’s toolbox. Download the FREE Vocus white paper “ Five Golden Rules for Blogger Relations" to get insights on how today’s PR professionals can successfully incorporate blogger relations into their PR strategy and build effective relationships straight from four of the top blogging experts in the industry!
Join us, for a conference, with lots of people… blah, blah, blah.
Sigh.
It’s Tuesday.
I need to fall out of a plane.
4 Responses to “Dear Blogger: Here’s how not to spam bloggers - by spamming bloggers”
“I need to fall out of a plane.”
What? Don’t do it man! You have so much to live for…
Er… With a chute? Oh yeah, you do that all the time. Nevermind.
Move along to the next comment people, nothing to see here.
Benson
P.S. Hope the rest of your day goes better!
VOCUS Demonstrates How to Screw Up Blogger Relations
This is the email that I, and scores of other bloggers, received this afternoon from Tami Queen at VOCUS, a company that claims to make PR management faster and easier. Notice that they didn’t say better. Subject: Five Golden Rules for Blogger Relation…
Dear Peter,
I’d like to start out by saying I’m part of the marketing team here at Vocus. I’d like to apologize to you personally: It was not our intention to spam anyone or sell anything. We were interested in educating our customers - both Vocus and PRWeb - on how to engage with bloggers. If you are interested in reading our response, I have posted it to my blog.
I hope you are feeling better now that Tuesday is over.
Jiyan
Vocus is notorious for their marketing spam. I feel bad for whoever this Tammi Queen person is, because it all comes from her. Case in point: I got a call from Vocus…they were going to be in town, wanted to do a demo. Great. Set up the meeting, started getting multiple messages from Tammi per day. Each of them would start with some recockulous comment like “PR is all about relationships” or “PR is all about knowing how to target your audience.” I contacted the guy who was coming out for a visit, and he assured me it would never happen again. A day later, I got multiple messages from Tammi yet again. I called again and explained that if I got any more marketing spam from them about setting up a meeting, ours was off.
I ended up cancelling our meeting. Vocus’s new CMO, William Wagner, sent me a letter to apologize, and yet the spam still comes. It is absolutely unbelievable. If they can’t even handle their OWN outreach efforts, how can they possibly expect those of use responsible for PR at multibillion dollar organizations to trust their services!
They will never, ever do business with my company.