I thoroughly enjoy reading Adrienne Gonzalez. If anyone in the accounting blog circuit has big balls, she’s got ‘em, tackling tough issues in a no nonsense manner. Anyhoo, she wrote a post with the above title and then went on to list three things she’d like media people to do. It’s begging for a rebuttal:
1. Respond When I write you an email inviting you to participate in an interview, survey, ribbing, etc., a response would be nice either way though I obviously appreciate a “yes” far more than a “are you kidding me?”
Rebuttal: I get so much inappropriate crap from PRs that want me to write about everything from some arcane social media algorithm to commenting on Kutchner’s latest Tweet session that if I answered all those emails I’d never get anything done. The delete button is my best friend. If I don’t respond, I don’t want to know and please don’t ‘cycle back’ or ‘gauge my interest.’ The only person doing any gauging of my particulars is ‘er indoors aka JaaS.
2. Don’t be scared I’m not sure what it is or why people seem to perceive my brand as hostile but I’m really not as hostile as it seems if you actually talk to me.
Rebuttal: Hmmm. In my case? Be afraid, be very afraid. I rarely ask a question that I don’t already know the answer so expect to be skewered from time to time. But don’t take it personally. It’s what I do and funny enough people tell me that a little sunshine is the best disinfectant.
3. Wake up! If you are going to start A) a campaign and/or B) a Twitter account, please expect that I’m going to find it and possibly come ask you questions about it.
Rebuttal: Are you kidding me? Most of the Twitter accounts I get spammed with are PR/marketing junk for the ‘me me’ mob adding almost no value whatsoever to things in which I am interested. Note how few people I follow? It’s deliberate. If I have to put up with PR crap via email I sure as heck don’t have to put up with the same repeated verbiage via Twitter. And if you’re running a campaign then unless it involves saving oodles of cash then I’m not interested.
Of course I’m just guessing, just saying – maybe that’s what Adrienne REALLY wanted to say but is trying to sucker the odd PR wonk. Go girl, go. (Two can play the conspiracy theory game.)
Image of Bull’s Balls courtesy of a Tweet from Adrienne that lead me to this site.
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Dennis,
I think you almost got my point but missed it – I totally should have called people out.
I am talking about ME emailing these dumbass media departments (insert professional organization or state society of CPAs here) to ask if they would like to schedule an interview with us, talk about x initiative they have launched, etc etc. I am NOT talking about me spamming people to get them to talk about Going Concern, if I had been I would TOTALLY agree with you on every point, I hate PRtards as much as you do.
So let’s say you email Sage and go “hey, I want to give you a bunch of free PR by having you talk to me about _____” and they don’t respond, isn’t that a load of crap? It’s bad enough I have to do their job for them, THEY should be the ones banging down MY door and not the other way around.
For the third point, let’s say I’m talking about a certain Twitter account that one of these societies or orgs has started that’s about – just using an example – financial literacy. Now I think talking about this new account would be relevant to my readers so I hit them up and say “hey! Got some time to talk about your latest media effort?” and get no response. WTF is that?!
And yes, they should be scared (because I DO have fangs and we all know I am not afraid to use them) but not so scared that they ignore my request completely. Again, aren’t media departments there to deal with, oh I don’t know, the MEDIA?!
So I think you missed the nuance and maybe that’s my fault for not calling people out.
Dennis,
I think you almost got my point but missed it – I totally should have called people out.
I am talking about ME emailing these dumbass media departments (insert professional organization or state society of CPAs here) to ask if they would like to schedule an interview with us, talk about x initiative they have launched, etc etc. I am NOT talking about me spamming people to get them to talk about Going Concern, if I had been I would TOTALLY agree with you on every point, I hate PRtards as much as you do.
So let's say you email Sage and go “hey, I want to give you a bunch of free PR by having you talk to me about _____” and they don't respond, isn't that a load of crap? It's bad enough I have to do their job for them, THEY should be the ones banging down MY door and not the other way around.
For the third point, let's say I'm talking about a certain Twitter account that one of these societies or orgs has started that's about – just using an example – financial literacy. Now I think talking about this new account would be relevant to my readers so I hit them up and say “hey! Got some time to talk about your latest media effort?” and get no response. WTF is that?!
And yes, they should be scared (because I DO have fangs and we all know I am not afraid to use them) but not so scared that they ignore my request completely. Again, aren't media departments there to deal with, oh I don't know, the MEDIA?!
So I think you missed the nuance and maybe that's my fault for not calling people out.