Dickon Ross’ Publishing World
Dickon Ross has some advice for PR managers who want to get his attention.
“Dear Ross, I would like to introduce myself as the new Account Manager at X and Y Public Relations Ltd. Let me know what you would like to receive from us and how we can help you in the future…”
There is a pause and then: “Dear Dickon, I am so sorry I misspelled your name…”
If you’re worried that this email might be from you, don’t be afraid. I’m not attacking anyone in particular here. This harmless mistake happens so often that I hardly notice it anymore and just consider it an inevitable consequence of an unusual name.
There are much worse ways to start emails, and I’ve compiled a list of the best ones here. OK, some of these might be just the right tone to strike with millennial influencers, but they don’t go over so well with the grumpy old editors of my generation. Most of the time they’re not that important, but they annoy me, and sometimes they amuse me. So let’s get rid of those little things…
- Yay! It’s Friday! For most of us, it’s just one day of the week. But in marketing, it’s a source of uncontrollable excitement and an opportunity for brand promotion. It’s more of a marketing habit than PR, but now it’s spreading to other days of the week as well. Soon, every day of the week will be an occasion for insane euphoria.
- Dear (First Name) (Last Name) We all make mistakes in email, and we all dread making the same in mass mailings, but you should be especially careful if the news you want us to be interested in involves an “unrivaled database of industry contacts” for use in direct marketing. Maybe that’s the case, but your message would be stronger if you cleaned up your own distribution data first.
- I am thrilled to be connecting with you to share… Is that you? Is that really you? That sounds a little contrived to me, and when I see the story, or rather the lack thereof, I know it must be, because the strength of the story is inversely proportional to the excitement involved in sending it. Also the number of emojis, which must be numerous and repeated, because that’s what the Gen Z intern does. Oh well, there’s nothing seriously wrong with that. I and many other journalists just find this kind of exuberant language annoying. But we also don’t have much time, so please get straight to the point. And are you one of the top four? No, so resist the temptation to reach out.
- Get a little taste… This may fit in with your cleverly planned drip-feed marketing strategy, but we’re working here and we don’t have time for such marketing striptease. We’re doing a job, so please stick to the conventions of releases, briefings, and press conferences. An email to the entire database telling all users exactly what’s coming is neither “sneaky” nor exclusive. If you make it public, it’s an announcement no matter what you call it. But if you insist on it, at least spell it right: sneak peek. It’s not a secret summit.
- We cordially invite you to our round table on… Why doesn’t anyone hold proper conferences anymore? These events, which I believe are designed to hide the fact that they don’t actually have news to report but need to improve their media presence for their CEO, are also often held under “Chatham House Rules.” So you could provide useful background information if you have the time, but you can’t attribute news to them even if there was some to report. Some PR people also don’t seem to understand what the Chatham House Rules are supposed to mean.
- Here is the 300 dpi image you requested. Yes, we print at 300 dpi, but if you have 72 dpi, you can’t change the resolution to print resolution by simply saving the image at a different resolution. Prints need larger images than screens. The resolution needs to be 300 dpi when the image is reproduced. If there’s one simple, practical thing that PR and marketing managers should learn early on, it’s to understand the size of digital images. Find the original and send it, please.
- Under embargo until … That’s fine, we magazines with our weekly or monthly publication schedules like embargoes; they help us to be more up-to-date compared to other media. But not if it’s already in the public domain and especially if you put it there yourself. An embargo should be the same for everyone. If you have exceptions for your preferred media (usually a broadcaster or a national newspaper), the embargo no longer applies. There are no selective embargoes.
- We would like to recall the press release…Please delete the message immediately and do not use it… This message never comes after an interesting publication, only a really, really boring one. The request is usually unnecessary, as it’s always about something so unworthy of coverage that it was deleted as soon as it arrived, but this is guaranteed to result in us fishing it out of the email folder. It so surprises me that PR people don’t use it as a ploy to generate more interest in their new offices or the appointment of a new regional sales manager for the South West. Or maybe they do.
- I wonder if Information Age might like the following exclusive article… An exclusive can be many things: a story you broke, pictures no one else has, an interview that’s yours alone, a story you broke first in your market or country, or just a story no one else has broken but is just right for your audience. But it has to be unique to you. I responded by saying I didn’t know if Information Age would like that article because I don’t edit Information Age. You’d have to ask the editor of that title, and maybe they got an offer for an exclusive for E&T, which I edited. Whatever happened, it doesn’t sound very exclusive to me.
And what would we really like? A decent story that doesn’t need lavish superlatives to convey its importance, and that comes with a picture of the right size. If you really want to help…
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
