PR Wish List

Dear Blogger...

Recently I received a pitch from a PR that started “Hi Alison…”  Hmmm.  What’s wrong with that greeting?  The “Hi” was a very nice, personal touch but something about the “Alison” made me very reluctant to continue reading.  For starters, my name is KARIN.  Now, trying to give the PR the benefit of the doubt, I have just checked my “About” page and “Contact Us” page on my site.  The first line on the “About” page includes my name (Karin…in case you forgot) and on my “Contact Us” page this is what the final paragraph says (of 2 mind you):

Just so you know…Café Bébé is comprised of Mummy (Karin-age late 30’s), Hubby (Mark-age early 40’s) and Little Miss (on her way to 2 years old). If you are wanting to appeal to me, try to get this information correct.

That’s fairly clear, I would say!  Now the rest of the pitch from this PR went on to ask me if I was interested in promoting an app for a product which I don’t own but she wouldn’t have known that so I continue to give her the benefit of the doubt.  I was very appreciative of this PR’s email and I did send her an email back thanking her for her interest in Cafe Bebe but correcting her on my name and letting her know that as I don’t own the particular piece of technology to trial the app she was promoting I couldn’t really promote it on my blog.  I was very nice considering that the email started out “Hi Alison”.

What I would like to know, from my fellow bloggers, is…what would you like to hear from a PR when they contact you?  We have to keep in mind that these PR’s have hundreds of bloggers/media/etc that they are contacting every day to promote their clients.  They don’t have the time to read, in full, all of our blogs.  They are trying to get information and pitches out there and I would guess that for every 100 emails they send out only a very small percentage are replied to.  There are now thousands of bloggers for the PR’s to approach…there just isn’t time in the day.

So, what would you, as a parent blogger, like to hear from a PR?  Do you expect to get a “freebie”?  Will you write a post just because you’re asked to promote something?  How many pitches do you get in a week and how many of those pitches are totally inappropriate?  What, in a pitch, makes you sit up and take notice?  How would you LIKE to be approached, in an ideal blogging world?  Just for fun, maybe you can share one of the BEST pitches you ever received (what made it best?) and one of the WORST pitches you ever received.

Now, lets see about the PR’s!  Those PR’s who are bloggers and might be reading this…what do you look for in a blog/blogger?  What makes you sit up and take notice?  What do you HATE to hear from bloggers?  What would make your life easier in regards to pitching to a blogger?

Over to you…let it all hang out!