Linda VandeVrede - Photo by Adam Nollmeyer, Phoenix Photographer
The following is a guest post from PR Consultant & Author, Linda VandeVrede
On most days I am really fascinated by public relations. There are a few things, however, that always seem to get under my skin and ruin the moment when I come across them. I call them my personal PR pet peeves.
- Magazine websites with no helpful contact information at all. Women’s consumer magazines are the absolute worst. Many of these publications are based in New York City. Now I’m originally from the East Coast, and I still find their switchboard people incredibly rude.
- Expensive directories with out-of-date information. These often sell for anywhere from $500 – $1500. Whether you buy the print or online version, usually the great majority of contact information is completely wrong. You can’t trust them for accuracy. How many times have you called a contact in one of these directories, only to have them completely irritated that they are even listed?
- People who call press releases a “PR,” as in, “Can you write a PR for me?” PR means public relations. It’s a field, not a document. ‘Nuff said.
- Male executives I overhear saying, “I’ll get my PR girl to do that.” That’s when I want to put my hands on my hips and do my own Foghorn Leghorn impression: “Boy, I say boy….”
- Writing copy that has to have an approval list a mile long. Folks, we’re not creating the Magna Carta. The worst approval cycle was at a publicly held company I worked with that, honest-to-goodness, had a review list that included 11 people in two different states and two different timezones. Many times I wouldn’t get the information to write the material announcement until late in the afternoon. Eleven people have 11 different opinions about how copy should be written. Sometimes I think the only thing they didn’t change was the spelling of my name.
I probably have more than five peeves, but for some reason these are the ones that really steam up my reading glasses.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hilarious! You are so right.
Linda, a cumbersome approval process really wears everyone down. The writer, the approvers – everyone. It’s what I call “engineering the corporate consensus,” and it’s a bear, especially when it becomes a game of “my idea is better than your idea,” or more likely, “my title is bigger than your title.” The trick for PR people is to gain respect early on, hold that respect, and be able to say things like “we’re not creating the Magna Carta.” (I wonder what the approval process was like on that one!)
That is a very expressive photo Linda. Goes great with the copy.
LInda this is great stuff! I’m laughing while reading this.
Thanks!
Fred