Don’t email Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine.
In his post. “Sorry PR People You’re Blocked” at The Long Tail, Chris Anderson claims that PR spam is to blame for his inbox overload. Then he goes on to list the offending email addresses. If you don’t want to wind up on this list, don’t email him. But do read Wired magazine.
Recommendations: one for bloggers and one for PR people
Bloggers or anyone who wants to be less accessible via email . . . set up a dedicated contact email address that replies immediately with an autoresponder. All email gets answered immediately with your canned reply. They’ll get the message.
Drop in a contact form on your blog or site in place of an email address. If they’re really interested, they’ll fill it out.
And, if your name is in a database, get it out if you can.
PR people . . . before buying a list or database, check to be sure that it is permission-based. That means everyone on it has agreed to add their contact information with the expectation of receiving [being bombarded with?] mega news releases. If you send your own emails, add in an opt-out link so that every recipient can remove their name from your list with one click.
Do Bookmark Problogger Darren Rouse’s How to Pitch Bloggers Guide
Problogger Darren Rouse generously shares 21 ways to pitch bloggers. A guide for anyone wanting to connect with the blog crowd, Darren’s list also works for many other PR applications.
Beginning with several pitching ideas, Darren goes on to outline 21 recommendations. Number one? Comment first, pitch later. Keep in mind that many journalists also blog. When you want to reach them with a story, start out with talking to them in their blog’s comment box. You’ll get more attention that way than you would with an impersonal email blast.
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