I know everybody moans about the tube, the over-crowding and so forth, but I always seem to get the ‘tube turkey’ next to me. It doesn’t matter whether I’m standing up, sitting down, if it’s a packed carriage, or an empty one, this idiot will find me!
On this occasion it was the ‘Bo Selecta Craig David lookalike.’ You know the one…. young guy, goatee, wearing jeans that would work well in the after shot picture of a weight-watchers campaign, and wearing massive headphones.
Coming out of this young gentleman’s headphones was what can only be described as noise, at a ridiculously high volume. My first thought was…“I don’t want to hear this!” I didn’t ask to hear it, and it didn’t fit with my musical interests. This got me thinking about the media – and the amount of unsolicited, poorly targeted junk journalists must have to wade through every day.
Too many businesses still persist in sending journalists irrelevant material, which gets lost in the 2,000 emails journalists are receiving a day. Then they wonder why their ‘noise’ doesn’t achieve media coverage.
We’ve had plenty of businesses come through our doors saying “we’ve tried PR, but it doesn’t work for us,” but it’s not until you ask to see what news stories or feature ideas they’ve pitched to the media in the past, you realise why it hasn’t worked.
If you’re sending a journalist something that isn’t relevant, is not in tune with their writing/broadcasting style then STOP. Give them something that they would want, and something their readers/listeners would want!
Research your media, buy their magazines, watch their shows…then provide them with something that suits. You’ll be surprised how supplying relevant and engaging material will actually work. Simply ramming your news or ideas down the journalist’s throat just won’t!
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