Mea Culpa
In typical PR fashion many moons ago, my pitch calls and and emails weren't receiving the response I was hoping for.
During our weekly PR staff happy hour (when I actually engaged in happy hour!), I shared with a colleague that my pitch wasn't getting a response. Her solution: "Call Reporter Y. She tends to be more responsive than Reporter X...he always ignores phone messages and emails."
Receiving this advice from someone that I respected and trusted, I did as told and proceeded to call and email Reporter Y.
By golly, she was right! Reporter Y "bit" and my client was featured in the front page of the entertainment section of the largest Spanish language daily in the US! It was definitely a proud moment for me.
Fast forward a few weeks (maybe months) later: I ran into reporter X at a party. He was cordial and snarky as usual. We chatted a storm and even had a drink with with Reporter Y after the event. Nothing was mentioned about my chat with my colleague - not then, not ever.
It was the nature of the PR business to be discrete and professional at all times.
Things were simple back then and we all knew our role within the overall big picture. We all knew which lines we couldn't cross, and what professional discretion meant.
If you needed advice, or a new contact at a publication (newspaper, TV, radio, etc.), you could ask a colleague or a friend at a competing agency for advice or recommendations and not call it consulting. You simply did it because you were colleagues.
You could give your professional feedback about a colleague or reporter with no backlash or drama ensuing. We knew that once we had the information needed to do our job, there was no reason to share it with others for no reason.
But the rules of the game - err - PR, have changed.
Everyone is obsessed with calling any bit of simple advice as consulting. And everyone is, by nature a consultant. Wait, get this - a social media consultant.
Yah...right!
Call it "monetizing anything" crowd. You know the ones...those that are looking for any way to make money from every single minute of their day.
God bless them!
Hey, I am all for making money - and we all have our own personal agenda and ambition...But if you choose to work in this big, fat, wide-wide world of online and offline business, let's get a major rule straightened out:
We will encounter all kinds of people in our lifetime. More so now that the world has opened up with social media.
This is good - and bad. More so, because we (yes WE), have created something larger than life while having a horrible time trying to manage it.
Some people are upfront about their agenda. While some people work with an ethical backbone, and others - many, many others - are navigating the waters with a hope of making it by clawing their way up the top.
During our weekly PR staff happy hour (when I actually engaged in happy hour!), I shared with a colleague that my pitch wasn't getting a response. Her solution: "Call Reporter Y. She tends to be more responsive than Reporter X...he always ignores phone messages and emails."
Receiving this advice from someone that I respected and trusted, I did as told and proceeded to call and email Reporter Y.
By golly, she was right! Reporter Y "bit" and my client was featured in the front page of the entertainment section of the largest Spanish language daily in the US! It was definitely a proud moment for me.
Fast forward a few weeks (maybe months) later: I ran into reporter X at a party. He was cordial and snarky as usual. We chatted a storm and even had a drink with with Reporter Y after the event. Nothing was mentioned about my chat with my colleague - not then, not ever.
It was the nature of the PR business to be discrete and professional at all times.
Things were simple back then and we all knew our role within the overall big picture. We all knew which lines we couldn't cross, and what professional discretion meant.
If you needed advice, or a new contact at a publication (newspaper, TV, radio, etc.), you could ask a colleague or a friend at a competing agency for advice or recommendations and not call it consulting. You simply did it because you were colleagues.
You could give your professional feedback about a colleague or reporter with no backlash or drama ensuing. We knew that once we had the information needed to do our job, there was no reason to share it with others for no reason.
But the rules of the game - err - PR, have changed.
¿Qué de qué?
Everyone is obsessed with calling any bit of simple advice as consulting. And everyone is, by nature a consultant. Wait, get this - a social media consultant.
Yah...right!
Call it "monetizing anything" crowd. You know the ones...those that are looking for any way to make money from every single minute of their day.
God bless them!
Hey, I am all for making money - and we all have our own personal agenda and ambition...But if you choose to work in this big, fat, wide-wide world of online and offline business, let's get a major rule straightened out:
Answering a simple question, giving a recommendation, or providing a tip is not consulting.
It's professional back scratching.
Today you help me, tomorrow I help you.
Simple.
Done.
End of story.
Moving on...
I can see how one question can lead to an interview, or a dissection of ideas. Heck, it's happened to me. I feel used - I can see how others would also feel used.
But there's a difference between flat-out using an idea, without crediting the creator, versus inspiring someone to create something.
Don't know the difference?
Then don't talk. Really, don't. Shut your mouth.
It's not nice. It's not right. It's not professional.
We will encounter all kinds of people in our lifetime. More so now that the world has opened up with social media.
This is good - and bad. More so, because we (yes WE), have created something larger than life while having a horrible time trying to manage it.
Some people are upfront about their agenda. While some people work with an ethical backbone, and others - many, many others - are navigating the waters with a hope of making it by clawing their way up the top.
And we have allowed it. Really, we have.
We let PR folks and clients go beyond simple questions, to involving bloggers in entire strategy sessions - for free coffee and donuts! And now you wonder why we can't ask one question without a blogger promptly sending us their consulting rate?
YOU my friends, make the rest of us look bad!
By the same token, we have forgotten that not everyone started their blogging careers in the newsroom - or received the professional discretion memo. So when you ask a question that would have led to a very simple answer in a newsroom, it causes war when blogger #1, tells blogger #2, with input from blogger #3.
Really? It was YOUR fault to begin with.
Why do you expect bloggers to act like reporters, dress like clients, and navigate business like a PR pro's - without training and guidance?
Bloggers are people - really, we are! We don't have a rule book, we don't have a guide, and we definitely don't have professional standards (that are universally adopted).
So what works for blogger #1, may not work for #2, and will get a nasty blog post from blogger #3.
If you are hiding under your desk after reading my rant, get up and dust off your pants. It's time that you took responsibility for this mess.
It's time that you fix it by going back to basics and not assuming that bloggers know the rules of engagement. It's time that you call-out unethical behavior and celebrate those that are doing this right....
Like before, remember?
I would say that it's impossible to make generalizations when it comes to bloggers because there is a such a wide spectrum existing from professional journalism to personal journal. It's not realistic to place the same expectations on someone who was formally schooled in journalism/media and writing to someone who is just starting their blogging journey.
ReplyDeleteNow that said, to the bloggers that want to grow they need to do their due diligence or they won't be taken seriously. I think the increase in blogging conferences and the people attending is a positive sign.
You are soo right! I think that in due time, we will be 'forced' to have a level of accountability and respect towards our craft, so others respect us as well.
ReplyDelete