Pitch Me? Strike Out!
Posted: May 25, 2008 • Filed under: Marketing Strategy, New MarketingIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to get the latest posts, Thanks for visiting! If you want to link to me or this post please read how to link to me
I find it fascinating that marketing folks still spam pitch me (and other bloggers). I mean we’re talking about people with fancy titles like “VP of Marketing” or “Director of Marketing” who go online, copy and paste their pitch and then hit send. Now, how exactly did you get to be in charge of your marketing department when you still don’t understand that spam does not equal marketing. I’m usually quiet about this sort of thing because there are plenty of other bloggers out there who ream pr and marketing professionals for spamming them, but it seems to me, that the only way to teach these guys is to call them out. So here it goes…
This morning I received an e-mail from (name removed), the VP of Marketing for Site605. The e-mail read as follows:
“Hi Jacob,
Let me know what you think. Glad to do a follow-on conversation.
Best,
(name removed)”
The e-mail then contained a pasted version of their press release, which of course I did not read. Now, am I supposed to honestly believe that (name removed) cares about what I have to say? More importantly, (name removed), what makes you think I care about what you have to say? I mean you might as well have written me an e-mail telling me how great viagra is like all the other spammers out there! You didn’t even try to get to know me, and quite frankly you didn’t ask my PERMISSION to e-mail me your press release. Now I am not trying to be rude although I am a bit irritated, but think about it from my point of view. Let’s say you are at home on a Saturday and then all of a sudden you get an e-mail like the one I received. What would you do?
Now, I’m not saying I hate Bob, heck I might even like (name removed) in person. BUT, let’s be honest here. Bob tried to spam pitch me and now is getting called out for the world to see. Now you tell me, was (name removed) marketing effective? (name removed) could have built a relationship with me, he could have gotten to know me a little bit better. Then he could have asked me to take a look at his company and his pr pitch. Perhaps then, I could have written a post about Site605. Instead, we now have an irritated blogger (yours truly) who could care less about Site605.
I see this over and over again, and so do other bloggers and online marketers. It seems to me that sometimes the people in charge of marketing don’t really understand marketing and relationship building (this does not go for all marketers). Just because you are a “marketing professional” does not mean that you know how to market, NOW. Marketing is a dynamic industry, the mediums change and so do the techniques and strategies. If you are not constantly trying to stay up to date on the new marketing strategies, then what good are you as a marketing professional? Still, marketing has always been a relationship driven industry, we should never forget that. RELATIONSHIPS are the keys to marketing success. The next time you (or anyone you know) is trying to market a product or service, ask how you can build a relationship with the people (person) you are trying marketing too.
Here are a few good resources on how to pitch bloggers:
How to Pitch Bloggers - 21 tips
PR is About Relationships, Just Ask Robert Scoble
UPDATED: Example of a Great PR Pitch
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