We’ve all had a journalist get a bit salty with us for simply doing our jobs. Perhaps they didn’t like that you simply pitched within the first place, or perhaps it was the compulsory follow-up that drove them to ship a terse reply. It occurs.
However if you wish to take an already-crotchety journalist from 0 to 60 in a single e-mail, all you must do is ask for a learn receipt
Verify that field and you may nearly sense a journalist fuming from a whole lot and even 1000’s of miles away. For them, your pitch could make them really feel such as you’re their boss, peeking over their shoulder to verify they’re doing work at your request.
That’s simply not how a relationship between journalists and PR ought to work.
You would possibly say that your boss or consumer desires to know extra than simply what number of pitches you despatched – they wish to know what number of have been learn. Listed here are just a few methods of explaining to leaderships why learn receipts are such a foul concept:
- They don’t work.
From a purely technological standpoint, there are one million methods to get round a learn receipt. In each of the preferred e-mail purchasers, Gmail and Outlook, the recipient can merely ignore the ask. Or they will mash the alternative button simply to thwart you. These are just some the explanation why getting – or not getting – a learn receipt isn’t a dependable technique to know in case your e-mail was really seen.
- You’re measuring the incorrect factor.
Counting the variety of pitches both despatched or “learn” is the lowest widespread denominator of measurement. Worse, it might imply your group or consumer is valuing the “spray and pray” technique of PR moderately than a really focused method that will get the suitable releases within the arms of the suitable media of us on the proper time.
As an alternative, you wish to measure the variety of significant contacts made with journalists – that’s, media hits or conversations on background, even for those who don’t make it into the ultimate piece, in addition to what retailers they characterize and the way significant these are to your group. That previous rule of thumb nonetheless works: 80% of your time ought to be spent customizing pitches for the 20% of journalists you wish to attain.
- You would possibly lose out sooner or later.
Does this sound petty? Positive. However as journalists’ inboxes bulge with extra tales than they may presumably write in a lifetime, taking a step that makes you stand out in a foul approach – or worse but, will get you on the block checklist – is to be averted. You wish to nurture a relationship, not deal with a journalist like a micromanaging boss. Asking for a learn receipt implies a scarcity of belief within the journalist, which is an efficient technique to bitter any relationship in a rush.
What to do as an alternative
Hopefully the powers that be will see motive and cease demanding this self-importance metric. However what must you do as an alternative?
This reply will probably be unsatisfying, as a result of it’s the premise of just about all good PR: It is best to spend the time constructing relationships, crafting personalized pitches and constructing a sturdy media checklist. You’ll know your media technique is working as a result of journos will attain out to you concerning the content material of your pitch – not with an automatic response which will or not be correct.
COMMENT
