A Few Questions for the PR Minded

This is not intended to be a rant.  At all.

Merely a question, or a conversation starter.

File this under Improving Blogger and Pr Relations.

Because I think the collective voice of the two sides is tremendously powerful.  But there is still a gap in understanding. (note: this is not a blanket ‘this-applies-to-everyone’ statement)

I have worked with some amazing, fantastic PR individuals and firms.  That goes without saying. And I would love to encourage that Blogger/PR Relationship. And yet, I am perplexed by something.

I receive emails like this a lot:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi Danielle,

Over the past few months, there has been anticipation around the release of XXXXXXXXXX in the U.S.… The wait is over! Your readers will be excited to know that XXXXXXX will be available for pre-sale, starting today at both XXXXX and XXXXX for $XXX.XX

The product will be available in-stores and for online shipment starting March 28. Please keep in mind that quantities are limited and are available while supplies last. Feel free to share the pre-sale information with your readers, or direct them to the below Web sites for more information on how to reserve a unit for themselves.:

(links to sites)

Additionally, your readers will enjoy the new features on XXXXX including:

Best,

XXXXXX

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I have to confess, I am perplexed.  Here are my questions:

*Is the hope that I will just copy and paste the press release on to my site?

*That I will be so excited about the release that I will tweet the links? (Despite the fact that my family will NEVER be using this product)

*Does this mean that the sender does not know that I am NOT a Deal/Coupon site?

*Does this type of blind email work?

*What would be the most helpful feedback?

I get lots of what I call ‘news-type’ press releases: St. Patrick’s Day Party Ideas, 7 year old girl writes book, Ways to Combat H1N1, How to be smart on your taxes, etc.  These make some sense to me - partially because I’ve done a few HARO requests looking for an ‘expert’ on a topic and now I’m on a few email lists. But just a straight, ‘your readers will love this/post it’ seems odd.

If I am misunderstanding, set me straight.

Also…..I don’t know if you got this email - I know some people who did, but really?

Hi,

I’m currently doing web promotion for my client. I was wondering if you’re
willing to do a blog post for them on extraordinarymommy.com. My client is
willing to offer $50 for this blog post. We can also provide the blog post
content according to your guidelines.

If you’re interested, payments are sent via paypal. Or if you have a different
proposal, let me know and let’s see how we could work things out.

Thanks in advance,
Iris

Are there people (Iris could be anyone - I’m not saying she is a PR gal) who believe I am so desperate to make $50 that I am willing to agree to post about an anonymous ‘client’? That I will potentially sacrifice content on my site for someone who clearly knows nothing about me?

I want to be clear about something.  I am NOT questioning sponsored posts.  I have done sponsored posts.  I am not questioning anyone’s desire to make money from their site  - in fact, I hope that you can.  However, I don’t think it would be wise to agree to sponsored content without know what that content is.  And I question this particular approach.

That would be a ‘no, thank you very much‘.

I would also like to address this from a, “what can bloggers do to improve relations’ standpoint.  Post coming soon.

I would love to know your thoughts. Share away.

Edited to add to the conversation 3/9/10:

I wanted to share a comment I received via email from a PR friend of mine here in St. Louis.  Brian works at Blick and Staff Communications. He wrote: