PR agency pitch mentality

Late last week I wrote a post called Advertising agency campaign mentality. It got some attention with, as of this writing, a few hundred tweets, a bunch of Facebook likes, and 24 comments.

Some people – including Chris Brogan and Dominic Litten called me out in this post because they saw it as a collection of clichés. Yep. Guilty.

While I stand by what I say and I certainly have seen a large number of ad agencies talking up their social media campaigns in the way that I talked about in my post --check out this one for example -- I will admit that my personal experience hiring agencies is from a decade ago. Sure, I did go a bit into the zone of cliché. But sometimes that's a great way to learn, right?

Every agency touts their expertise in social media. It doesn't matter if they are a PR agency, ad agency, design agency, or interactive agency—they’ve got you covered for that social media stuff.

"What's your budget again?"

So to be fair, I want to talk about the typical PR approach to social media too.

PR agencies are skilled at "pitching" reporters and editors in the hopes of getting a "hit" that they can add to their clip book.

(Interesting that the ad people use war metaphors but the PR people prefer baseball.)

So in my experience, their preferred approach to "that social media stuff" is to pitch bloggers too. I get more than 100 of these pitches a week: "Your blog readers will find our clients' stuff interesting! Oh, and we built them a Facebook page!"

PR APPROACH TO SOCIAL MEDIA - PITCH

• Relies on getting others to talk up clients. (We know all the key mommy bloggers!)


• The pitch is dripping with gobbledygook. (Our client has innovative, cutting-edge, mission-critical applications to improve business process!)


• The pitch prattles on about the client’s product or service. (Features! Benefits!)


• The pitch includes superlative laden quotes from third parties, such as customers, analysts, and experts. (Hey, don’t take our word for it – check this out.)


• The pitch usually includes "an invitation to speak with the CEO." (I always find it weird that only the CEO talks. What about offering up a customer of the client to talk about how they use the company's products or services?)


• Big budget. (Hey, we’re an expensive agency. You want the best, right? Want to see our Gold Quills and Silver Anvils?)

Just like when I talked about ad agencies, I know there are PR agencies out there who totally understand other ways to get their clients "some of that social media stuff" than just pitching bloggers and getting a few clips.

There are some excellent agencies that combine traditional media relations with content creation and social media.

I think the excellent PR agencies understand that they have a role in helping their clients to create original content that gets them noticed. That valuable online information -- YouTube videos, blogs, photographs, ebooks, Twitter feeds, Webinars, and the like – is a better approach in the long run than generating a handful of clips from bloggers.

What do you think?

Image: Shutterstock / Mark Herreid

Comments

[Maria Reyes-McDavis]

This post and the previous, while full of cliches, are excellent litmus tests for any pro (PR or not) to consider for themselves. Definitely passing these on to my fave pros.

[Ann_donnelly]

I'm glad someone has finally said it!

[Dragan Mestrovic]

You are totally right!

The most important thing is to be honest with a client. And to market a bunch of yesterday’s success stories is like blowing smoke in their faces.

Yesterday is yesterday and gone forever!

Only what you can achieve for your clients today and in the future is important.

As technologies and marketing changes, also the rules change constantly and to pitch future "guaranteed success" with game plans from yesteryear is simply an unfair behavior.

Every client should look what the agency is doing today! Their doing is the truth and the results the client will possible get.

[Joseph Ratliff]

Solid stuff David! These "cliches" are a good checklist indeed.

[Bobraibourne]

David,

Being a PR and Advertising student who is close to graduating, I hope that this is few and far between. I know that some people think that social media works like spray and pray and the more they get other people to talk about it the better there numbers will be. I do not disagree with you there. But some people get it. Maybe your dealing with the wrong firms but there are firms who know how to work with a small budget and do not pitch on everything they do and is not full of gobbledygook.

[Elizabeth Kaylene]

I see both this post and the ad agency post as a guide for what not to do, not as the only way ad and PR agents do it. I've gotten pitches myself through email that made me hit the delete button without giving it a second though, all because of how "pitch-y" it was.

[David Meerman Scott]

Thank you all for the comments. Yes, what I said in this post and the last one were cliches, but I am happy that they were interesting nonetheless.

@Bobraibourne - YES - these things are most certainly out there. As I said, I get 100 pitches or more a week. I see them all the time. Not sure if you have a job lined up yet, but if you are considering working at an established agency, you MUST find out how they do their work. Please run away if they do this sort of stuff. It's always telling to see what agencies do themselves in the way of content creation. Are they blogging? Doing videos? Tweeting? And how successful are they?

[Torque Wrench]

A collection cliches, indeed but amazing cliches to be exact ..

[twitter.com/CandaceKuss]

I've worked at and with both ad agencies and PR agencies. Like any business, how they behave depends on the people inside the agency. But with a typically fluid workforce, an agency can change perhaps more rapidly than other organizations. If what they do doesn't work for their clients, they'll try something different.

Nice observation on war vs baseball metaphors. Made me smile as it reminded me of the late great George Carlin's classic Baseball vs Football: http://t.co/hXvDp7e

[Jchernov]

Very interesting post, David. I agree with your observations, and I think the criticism is fair and deserved. There is, however, a character missing in this narrative, and it's the client. I just read that PR is the second most stressful job (http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/Report_PR_pro_is_the_secondmost_stressful_job_7998.aspx). I have to imagine that it's the needy, by-any-means-necessary, our-competitor-was-mentioned-we-weren't clients that are behind the wheel for most of these email fender-benders. The PR person just sorta follows bad instructions.

[Cale D. Hawley]

I posed a similar question on Twitter a few days ago: what makes someone a social media expert? It sure seems there are quite a few of them out there (at least according to their bios). Really they should claim to be experts in content citation as they frequently retreat others marketing advice and sometimes make it appear as if it was therir own. Has the practice of digital/ social media been around long enough to have experts? Are their any PhD programs in social media? Gave any social media experts been asked to testify in court regarding social media to lend their expert opinion? All questions that keep me up at night. (ok that last sentence may have been a bit sarcastic)

[David Meerman Scott]

@Candace -- Ah, baseball vs. football...

Joe - I like your idea of the client. I'm gonna do one for that next. Thanks for the idea.

Cale -- Something interesting is that many, many people call me a "social media expert." But that is NOT how I describe myself. I am a marketing strategist. I advise companies all over the world on marketing strategy. And I have several bestselling books published in 30 languages. I understand why people think I am a social media expert, but that is not how I see myself.

[aluminium kozijnen]

Of course.. This is great way to learn..I agree this one.. Social media will give better results who are all using that .. Thanks for sharing this excellent idea.. Really very useful idea..

[seo sydney]

Thanks for the invitation to your blog! Every agency touts their expertise in social media. But Every client should look what the agency is doing today! Their doing is the truth and the results the client will possible get.
Thanks for sharing your valued vision!

[PR Agency]

This was an intriguing read. Your personal thoughts and the information presented were interesting.

[Seattle public relations firms]

Agree! Thumbs up for your pretty nice theme here. Looks like simple and unique. Thanks for sharing this useful info! Good job!

[SEO Dubai]

This was an intriguing read. Your personal thoughts and the information presented were interesting.

[Henry Garcia]

I have always thought that social media is the best to convey our views to the people around us. This article is a great piece of work David! keep it coming.