Worst Practices | Press Release Content | Public Relations | writing | Media Relations
I recently had an exchange with an agency PR person pitching me about their client: Esker. The PR person wanted me to write a profile of an Esker employee for one of my EContent Magazine columns.
As much as I tried, I just couldn't figure out what Esker does.
So I ask: Is it just me? Am I thickheaded? I've included parts of the conversation here:
Agency PR person: "In case you're not familiar, Esker is the global business document delivery company. Their flagship products are DeliveryWare, a comprehensive electronic document management platform that automates information delivery quickly and accurately, and FlyDoc, a web-based, hosted document delivery service."
Huh?
Me: "Can you please tell me what 'comprehensive electronic document management platform that automates information delivery' means?? What problems does Esker solve for clients and how do they use technology to do it?"
Agency PR person: "In response to your question, in a nutshell, Esker helps organizations simplify their business processes. Their customers save time and money-- by keeping documents electronic, companies are able to streamline processes, simplify their IT infrastructure, and increase productivity. The need to run back and forth from your desk to a printer, stand by the fax machine or stuff and label envelopes is eliminated. Other common problems that organizations experience related to their business communication — manual handling errors, increasing IT complexity, slow processes, high postage costs and competitive pressures are handled."
I still wasn’t sure exactly what Esker does or what problems they solve for clients.
I went to the Esker site and found this: "Esker enables organizations to realize all the business advantages and financial benefits of effective document management through intelligent delivery of vital business information. Esker’s customers benefit from streamlined business processes, reduced costs, simplified IT infrastructure, enhanced customer satisfaction, and quality assurance."
Ugh.
I actually agreed to an interview with someone from Esker, partly because I wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. The PR person was also on the call. Guess what? After a half hour on the telephone, I still don’t know what the company does!
Yikes.
Attention PR people: Please eliminate the gobbledygook and try to speak like human beings. If your mother doesn't know what the company does, neither will the media that you are trying to pitch.
Note: It will be interesting to see if a representative from Esker's PR agency jumps in and comments to let us know what the company does (in English).
