UnPitchingHow “Not To Suck” at Pitching the Media

Notes from Scott Stratten’s Webinar:

Webcast by Vocus – August 23, 2012

PR is not Public Relations PR is People React, People Respond,

People Reach-Out

Mailing lists are about your clients, not about you.

Use them to learn about your customers - to engage.

Mailing lists are not to be used with a shotgun approach (how many people can I send this to in the shortest amount of time?)

Get people to know you and they will read what you have to say – build relationships.

Sending mass emails is not a talent.* You should make each contact

unique. The emails you send should be

irreplaceable.

* Bonus slide at the end

NEVER USE ALL CAPS IN PRESS RELEASES OR SUBJECT LINES.

All caps is the equivalent of shouting (and it is very annoying for the reader).

The new press is electronic press– it’s digital, and it’s social.

Match the metric with the mind of who you are talking to.

What makes sense to you doesn’t necessarily make sense to your audience.

Create individual messages when making a pitch.

Remember to follow up. Cultivate the relationships you start.

People respond to awesome – care about others and you will be able to create Uber PR.

Uber PR – when you create something that gets talked about because it’s awesome.

The key to Uber PR is reachingthe 3rd circle.

There is You Then you have your 1st circle. This is

your immediate Twitter followers, Facebook friends, etc.

The 2rd circle is your 1st circle’s, 1st circle.

The 2rd circle is the unconditional circle of content.

These people share your content, not because they know you or like you, but they because your content is worth sharing.

Once they (the 2nd circle) start sharing your content, with no “brand umbilical cord”, it reaches the 3rd circle.

Then you know you’ve created something awesome.

Remember, viral can be good or bad. Once content is out there, you don’t

control whether it goes viral or not. The audience decides what goes

viral.

Phrase text in a smart way – as a PR person you should be able to tell people off and having them smile back at you.

Make sure there is no double connotations or inappropriate meanings when you put out content.

Specially if it is your logo.

You are not PR, you are the PR expert.

PR is everybody in your organization. Everyone influences the brand.

As a PR expert, you have to train your people on the impact of social.

Never tweet, text, email, post, etc anything you wouldn’t like to see on a giant billboard with your picture and the company logo.

What you tweet (and post in other platforms) is a billboard – if you disclose your company name on your profile, you are writing on their behalf (even if your bio says different).

People make mistakes. This is ok. But when it “hits the fan” your

response should be: Immediate, authentic and appropriate.

If you make a mistake, own up to it – don’t forbid people from commenting. Listen.

Never piss off geeks or moms. If you piss off a geek-mom, good

luck.

PR is real time. PR is a two way conversation, it’s a

telephone, not a megaphone

About Scott Stratten

Scott Stratten is President of UnMarketing.com, a company that combine sefforts in viral, social, and authentic marketing. He has guided companies such as PepsiCo, Adobe, Red Cross, and Saks Fifth Avenue through the viral/social media and relationship marketing landscape. Scott was name done of the top five social media influencers in the world on Forbes.com. He speaks globally on how business can engage better (or at all!) with their current and potential customer base using social media, viral marketing –and just plain old engaging conversation.

The complete webcast is available at bit.ly/Pkfw1e

Scott’s books UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging, and his latest book, The Book of Business Awesome/UnAwesome are both available on Amazon.

*Bonus slide

As Marcello Serpa said: “Alguémtem o email do imbecil que inventou o Email Marketing?”

Translation: Does anyone have the email of the idiot who invented email marketing?