Bad PR

I know a thing or two about bad PR. In fact, I got my start in PR at the WORST agency in the world. When we started Talon, we did so by "reverse engineering" every stupid thing we learned from our boss. Unfortunately, there are plenty of PR people just like her. As evidence, read this little snippet from one of my favorite news sources on mobile gadgetry, ComputingUnplugged:

Thanks for all the pens
In the ongoing mystery that is PR peoples' minds, we find, from time-to-time, weird promotions that make no sense. In fact, one of my many fourth-tier goals is to create a site called the "Bad PR Hall of Shame," just to showcase some of this bad PR. Now, this isn't just because bad PR is fun to pick on. It's worse. Small companies (and some large) often spend a lot of money on PR agencies and while we've had the pleasure of working with many great PR agencies, some others are very, very bad.

I hate seeing hard-working developers squander their marketing budget on bad PR. But I digress. Today, we got a letter in the mail marked "personal and confidential". Inside was a press release about something called TUT (yeah, we don't know either). And it had two pens. No software, no hardware, no Web links, just your typical promotional-grade pens. They're nice pens. Denise claimed the pink one and I got the yellow one. So to the folks who wanted PR for "TUT", here it is. Bask in the joy of knowing you got press. And, someday, let us know what the heck you're trying to promote.

Here's a simple rule: don't be a stupid PR person. Treat the media as if they are paying you to provide them with your information. Give them what they want, when they want it, and in a form that they can use.