Having blogged for almost three years now, we receive an increasing number of media releases from PR agencies. Having run a food PR consultancy before starting our Whale Cottage Portfolio, I have long wanted to write a blogpost about how we view PR consultancies, and the recent Mail & Guardian article, pitting food journalists against bloggers, and detailing how PR consultancies have to deal with the blogging politics, has been a further inspiration to do so.
Our observations are as follows:
1. As the representative of the client, we are surprised about the spelling and grammatical errors that we see in media releases sent by PR consultancies. One would expect clients to sign off media releases, and they too do not seem to pick up the errors.
2. In the era of social media, everyone knows where bloggers are, as they like to Tweet about it. One of the biggest problems this causes is that bloggers know when they have been left off the invitation list for a lunch or launch, without explanation or warning. While one understands that not everyone can be invited to all functions, there is an automatic affront if one is left off such a list, and one picks up from Twitter who is present. This is a minefield for PR consultants. One would think that they would rather host a small number of events with bloggers and journalists who tolerate the presence of others than invite all of them to one function. To be sent the media release about the restaurant/product after the lunch that one has not been invited to is adding insult to injury! No PR consultancy should pander to blogger or journalist egos in dictating who they want/don’t want to be in a room with at a function!
3. My biggest issue with PR agencies is their inability to say ‘thank you’ when one has written about their clients’ brand, whether it results from an invitation to attend a function, or is a spontaneous visit to a restaurant and it receives a good review. Not saying thank you for coverage received is as rude as a blogger/journalist not thanking the host and PR agency for the invitation! As a blogger we are spending our own money and time to evaluate a restaurant or product, and are not remunerated for this by an employer. In the pre-Social Media days, our PR company subscribed to an agency that tracked all coverage we achieved for our clients, especially in print. It was difficult in those days to track TV and radio mentions. To pick up Social Media mentions, one can subscribe to Blogs that one expects coverage from and to whom one sends releases, check Hootsuite for mentions on Twitter (via keywords reflecting the clients’ names/brands), and via Google Alerts for the client name/brand. One should not have to write the PR agency’s Twitter handle into the Tweet linked to the blogpost about a restaurant/product, for the agency and/or its client to pick up the coverage. Blogging has an important role in gaining awareness for a new brand/restaurant, and bloggers with high readership can get the product/restaurant onto the first page of Google, the ultimate goal for any brand, with resultant financial benefit if it leads to bookings. We rarely receive feedback about the business that is created for the restaurants we write about. An exception has been De Huguenot, which is tracking via Google Analytics where its website traffic is coming from, and could tell us how many hits it had received from our write-up about their launch lunch. An absolute no-no is a PR consultancy requesting that one informs them when the blogpost about their client’s brand has been published!
4. What is surprising is how few PR consultancy staff appear to read the Blogs they send media releases to, firstly in not picking up the coverage their clients’ brands achieve, but also in asking for coverage in our ‘events diary’, something we don’t have. This means that everyone on the media list receives the same release and request for coverage, making the PR consultancy look unprofessional in not understanding the bloggers’ writing interests (we are all diferent), and the media release will be deleted as a result. One cannot help but think that media consultants are still old-school, valuing print coverage more than coverage in blogs. Part of the problem is the valuation of the coverage, the measure PR consultancies use to prove to their clients how good they are, and what the coverage achieved would have translated into in advertising Rands. There is no official public information about the readership of an individual blogpost, or even of a Blog, or a means of placing a value on this readership, making it appear that blog exposure is a secondary achievement for PR consultants compared to print coverage, even if the blogpost achieves an excellent Google ranking, and therefore could be far more beneficial to the client’s brand and its sales. There is also no quantification of the value of the immediacy of coverage in a Blog compared to that in a magazine three to four months later.
5. While we appreciate receiving information that can help us write an interesting story on our Blog, we don’t want to receive information that has been sent to every other journalist and blogger. Only one PR agency, representing the Stellenbosch Wine Festival, took time to request which angle I wanted to write about. In the end I chose my own perspective on it. However, background information on a brand launched at a function to which one is invited helps in writing the blogpost, as one can add the personal individual touch from one what one has learnt at the function itself. An exclusive angle is great, but these are seldom seen. Reuben Riffel’s visit to America earlier this year, and his appearances on TV there, was an exclusive story we were given by Manley Communications.
6. Another sign of the lack of understanding by PR consultancies is being sent high resolution photographs, which slow down the download, and are unusable on a Blog. Bloggers prefer using their own photographs, and would not want to use those that every other blogger and journalist have been sent.
7. While we sometimes fear that we will run out of things to write about, there is not such a dearth of material that we have to be flooded with media releases. One wine client PR agency sends a media release almost daily, and they look boring, and have minimal news in them, and are without attractive ‘packaging’ of the release, to entice one to read it. I am unable to write about a wine or a food product if I have not tasted it, and the fewest PR agencies send one a product to evaluate. I would never write about a product that I have not experienced, events being an exception. This does not mean that I feel I have to write something positive because I received the product for free – I may choose to not write about it if it is not exceptional, or if the story does not have an interesting angle. The worst thing that the staff of a PR consultancy can do is to chase coverage. There are no coverage guarantees in journalism and blogging.
8. While branded CD’s look attractive and professional, I far prefer a printed media release, to write from. An attractive interesting media release is preferable to a bland and boring one, for obvious reasons. But the release should be printable, and one should be able to read communication between the two parties, if it is against a dark background.
9. Bloggers do not know all other bloggers or journalists, and it would be really nice to have name tags at events hosted by PR consultancies, with an introduction to those we may not know. I rarely see this at functions. PR consultancies may not realise that the acceptance of an invitation to an event may be more about meeting other bloggers (an ever-growing band), and less about the meal!
10. We would like to be updated on changes happening at restaurants, such as changed names, changed opening hours, winter specials offered, changes in chefs and restaurant management, etc. This may not justify a media release, but an e-mail would be appreciated, so that one can update one’s blogpost.
11. Last, but not least, a free lunch cannot ‘buy’ most bloggers! I have been questioned about the degree of feedback one can give about an event if one has been invited to it, some feeling it rude to provide criticism of an invited event. This is a difficult question, but if the blogger is known to be honest in writing, then one would expect that person to write about the event with warts and all. There is no greater compliment when one’s feedback has led to a positive change. Many critical commenters on blogs question the credibility of write-ups based on lunch/dinner invitations. Any blogger with ethics will declare that a complimentary product/meal was received .
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
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one would think the answer is quite straightforward.
do not invite any foodbloggers to any events ever.
Only media
For instance….if I was, say….a rugby blogger. Would I get an invite to this weekends test match in Durban?
Media do, though, no doubt.
The social media(twitter) takes care of itself.
Problem solved.
I will waive the mediation fees.
I am not a “mediation blogger”
I do not expect thanks.
Thank you anyway Ryan.
As a restaurant owner, your comment is interesting (the food blogging part). I would love to hear your rationale for your comment.
Chris
Good point Ryan. A blog with a few hundred, or even a few thousand , followers does not automatically make a respectable food critic or expert.
The problem here is a number of bloggers have extremely high opinions of themselves, as well as their opinions, but this does not make their views credible, relevant or valid.
There has and should always be, a distinct difference not just between the individual’s experience, but also the integrity and credibility of a blogger and respected journalists/media.
There is no way that much of the smut appearing on blogs would never find its way to credible and respected print media. Journalists and print media have built credibility based on their principles and values. The same cannot be said for a handful of so called expert bloggers.
The day the line becomes fuzzy between the two, is that day that we all got major problems.
Recognised, respected and credible media and journalisist are accountable to their editors and values of the publishers.
Who are bloggers accountable to? The less respected they are, the less credible their views are, and the chances of them being invited to any event are naturally reduced.
Common sense and good marketing. A good PR concultant knows the differnce between the two and knows who to leave off the guest list.
If the shoe fits…
Chris,
the truth is that I could care less. This article did give me a good laugh while eating my pronutro this morning though.
…the self importance of it all.
“The blogger war”
However, I will nit-pick a few points from this article out and give an honest opinion(sic).
2.”One of the biggest problems this causes is that bloggers know when they have been left off the invitation list for a lunch or launch, without explanation or warning.”
” No PR consultancy should pander to blogger or journalist egos in dictating who they want/don’t want to be in a room with at a function!”
….does this not contradict itself? Why does a PR Company need to explain to anyone why they are invited or not? Why is Your ego-their problem?
3.”My biggest issue with PR agencies is their inability to say ‘thank you’ when one has written about their clients’ brand, whether it results from an invitation to attend a function, or is a spontaneous visit to a restaurant and it receives a good review.”
…Again, is this not another contradiction? The Bloggers ego is damaged when They are not invited for whatever reason but when they are, they expect a “Thank You”. Surely, in this case…the “Thank You” for inviting Me(the Blogger Complementary)…should be heading in the other direction?
Also, “As a blogger we are spending our own money and time to evaluate a restaurant or product, and are not remunerated for this by an employer.”
…in this senario I believe the Blogger could be expected to be treated as any other guest would. Good food,good service and a thank you and good bye from the restaurant on departure. Why the extra “Thank You” later on from a PR company? What is that gripe all about? You got what you paid for didn’t you? Why do I get the feeling that they always want more,more,more than your regular paying guest? And in fact, the amount of time that Bloggers mention that they do This(reviewing) on their own time and money without renumeration, tells me…that They actually want renumeration.
4. Well this entire paragraph is there or there abouts-specific restaurant dynamic depending. Printed media will outstrip social media or visaversa depending on wether you are a city bowl cheap and cheerful local friendly restaurant or a seasonal driven destination spot. For instance, I very much doubt that any incoming tourists to the Cape Winelands and Franschhoek are going twitter ballistic. They will however in all likelyhood, buy a magazine, newspaper or food guide when they arrive. I do agree that google search is important but surely if you have a decent website…you would be top of the page anyway? I will however mention now that I have never todate, made a booking based on something that I have come across on twitter or blogpost.Tripadvisor remains the biggest overseas booking forum. Bloggers need to understand that some food media are considered far more credible than some Jonny-come-lately foodblogger, (with many years(more than 3)experience behind them.I could imagine that a PR Company is of the same line of thought when comparing blogger vs media?
6.As someone dealing with a current website upgrade….high resolution pictures are what is required. I imagine this is an honest mistake. I do personally find the Bloggers own pictures, rank ameteur.On many reviews they do the establishments no favors in my opinion.
7.”The worst thing that the staff of a PR consultancy can do is to chase coverage. There are no coverage guarantees in journalism and blogging.”
…this has always grabbed me personally as bizarre? If the blogger/media has been invited Comp to a launch and it was “uninteresting”, they are under no pressure to write anything. Apparently they had no problem accepting the invitation, thus possibly denying someone that really did want to be there, just incase they missed something, or just wanted a free dinner with their mates? However, if it was genuinely Bad…they would race to write something! Go figure.
11. Honesty and Feedback.
Firstly, is there any honesty? What qualifies honesty as being a proffessional opinion?
Seriously, is someone not just a little full of themself to believe that their one piece of feedback will bring about positive change? As a restauranteur, I listen to all feedback but act on very little. I wait and see if there is a trend and then act, specifically withregards to things like ambience,music, wine list,etc. If there has been a “situation” arise during the evening, usually service or food…I know about or expect my staff to have addressed it long before speaking to the guest and getting “feedback”.
So there you go, my 2 cents on specific points. One would think that it is harder writing about restaurants than it is to run them?
As You can see, way to slow in the Hoek today.
Interesting points Chris. It is very difficult to invite everybody to a function, an it is not always possible to have smaller functions to accommodate those who do not get along. I believe some functions are better suited for certain media/bloggers, etc, and I compile a media list accordingly. The client also has a say in the guest list, sometimes for instance there is no budget to fly journalists in from Johannesburg, then you are forced to send the information without them being able to attend. PR is not an exact science, and I appreciate your pointers. I have to add, I wish I could write a similar piece, to tell the media how irritating certain things are that they do, but alas….! Thank you for your amazing blog, I sometimes feel you are the only lucid voice out there.
its simple, you chose to read and respect the bloggers who judge solely on the facts rather than following some of the bloggers who simply go to everything even the opening of a chip bag…it seems to be a big brag event and most of them miss the point.
And really ask yourself if people like Dax are going to &union tonight for beers would you say to yourself wow i must go there,let the readership decide who to follow.
I think the restaurants are also very lazy and simply pass on the PR to agencies who then invite the same people time and time again, lets use jasons Bakery as an example, instead of inviting the usual suspectsfor the recent opening why didnt he open up say 20 spots for some of his twitter followers or existing customers, would make better sense.
I’m pretty sure noone here has ever heard of the blog called StudsUp. It’s based in the UK and he posts cartoons about football. Last year he was flown to the States for a Nike media launch.
I’m pretty certain Nike wouldn’t pay for a flight (and I’m assuming accommodation) if “social media takes care of itself”.
Marvin
I have never heard of studsup.
I do however own a pair of nikes and watch my share of rugby and football.
And I think that is my point. Do you think Nike increased their sales because of Studsup tweeting? Probably not but could only help,right? Social media trades on the concept of “possibility”.
I’m also not to sure an international nike product launch is the same as a PR dinner, in all fairness.
Nike probably has a gazillion dollar marketing budget and in an effort to cover all bases, getting some bloke over from the UK to tweet for a couple hours is really just a drop in the ocean for them …
Would you say that Nike approaches Studup with the same seriousness as they would,say, Sports Illustrated,etc?
Also, the one key difference withregards to comparing Studsup and many of the said points in this article….is that Nike has paid for Studsup. Nike could now expect their pound of flesh and not leave it up to the Tweeters opinion to decide if the event is of any interest or not.
I’m just not convinced withregards to the entire “Social Media” thingy. Yes I have a twitter account,..as do most that I know. However, I like to see cold hard statistics that translate into bums on seats from a restaurants perspective until I approach any of this with any seriousness.
Dear Ryan
I love your detailed reading of my blog, and of this blogpost in particular. You must have added some secret ingredient to your ProNutro yesterday!
To answer each of your points would mean that I would have to rewrite most of the blogpost again. However, in summary:
1. I sense that you confuse blogging and Tweeting, using them interchangably – perhaps your way of saying ‘Social Media’ generically?
2. The ‘thank you’ that is expected is not for having attended, but for having written. PR agencies’ lifeblood is coverage, and it is a matter of good manners that when you ‘receive’ something, e.g. a write-up for a client, that one expresses thanks. It is also a reflection of how on the ball the agnecy is in picking up coverage for their clients – I wonder how much they miss out on if the lack of ‘thank you’ is a reflection of not seeing the coverage on Social Media (via a Tweet or a blogpost). I was not even writing about Twitter coverage – one agency will often reTweet praise for a client brand, but not always.
3. You will be surprised how many restaurants do not have a website, especially when they have just opened. If they do have a website, they are rarely number 1 on Google – I note that Ryan’s Kitchen is an exception. Well done! Most restaurants have good chefs, but are not very marketing-savvy. Luke Dale-Roberts is a good example of embracing PR, and Manley Communications does a great job for The Test Kitchen.
4. Sending a blogger high res pics shows that one is one of a 100+ recipients of the same release and pics, and that the PR thinking is geared to print media.
I hope that you have some business today, so that you can get to your pots!
Chris
Hi Darren from Hout Bay
You question the power of ‘celebrity bloggers’ like Dax – he has a massive following, and I think that many Blog and Tweet readers DO get influenced by such mentions.
I like your suggestion about Jason’s launch – but I could never see anyone doing that. It seems that such an incestious crowd is invited to such events, and probably are already going there anyway. The launch function then is more of a thank you for the support received.
Chris
Dear “PR poppie”
Thank you for your support.
I would love an anonymous contribution from you about bloggers and print journalists! I am sure that no-shows must be one of the problems you face, as well as the demands of the infamous blogger and House & Leisure editor in not rubbing shoulders with other specified bloggers!
Chris
Dear Mike
Thank you for your comment, which I have allowed.
If you find that so many blogs contain ‘smut’, why do you bother to read them, and to send one nasty comment after another?!
Buy some nice magazines and enjoy their ‘credible journalism’! They are just regurgitating the agency media release, and may have done their own shoot.
Chris
Dear Chris,
It is either deliberate or convenienent for you to have mis-interpreted my coments. Please read my comment again.
I did not say that “so many blogs contain smut” as you indicated, but rather, “much of the smut appearing on blogs would never find its way to credible and respected print media”. There is a very distinct difference in what I have stated, and what you have responded to.
I stand by this as there is no way that any credible print source or publisher woudl be writing about travel and tourism matters would make personal attacks on fellow bloggers or personalities.
As for “nasty comments”, please answer this question: When you refer to some of the legal woes and background of some fellow bloggers, or make degrading comments about people and their “medication” issues (just 2 examples by the way), how would you define these comments? Even the above comment you have made about the higly respected Editor of House & Leisure?
As the author of these comments, do you not consider these to be “nasty”? As Ryan has pointed out, you do sometimes appear to contradict yourself – so what is nasty, and what is not?
Since you raised the subject of nastiness, and it’s place on blogs or in print media, perhaps you can clarify this for the benefit of your readers?
What I do find very interesting, is your own personal view and general statement about print magazines and credible journalism, being nothing more than regurgitated press releases. This appears very cynical and insulting to the entire profession. BUT, it does tell your readers about how you view the print media in general, as well as the work they publish successfully month after month. I am sure the readers of these magazines take a very different view, but your attitude and opinion of the print media is very telling indeed.
Please do also allow this post, and lets see what your readers feel about this issue. Do they also have such contempt for anything printed?
Thanks.
Dear Mike
You used the word ‘smut’ relating to blog content. You cannot backtrack on it now.
As for nasty comments – you seem to not have read the source of Comments on the blog – the ‘legal’ past and ‘medicinal habits’ of persons referred to were written by Commenters, and were not my point of view. The ‘legal’ past of a blogger is well documented publicly. If the shoe fits…
The House & Leisure editor is not reputable, when she attempts to defraud a guest house, and rides on her business card, using it as a threat. I love the magazine, one of only two I subscribe to, as I have written before.
Maybe you did not read that I previously owned a PR consultancy? New product notices are rehashed releases. I receive the same releases that the print publications do. I can see the regurgitated words from the releases. The only unique touch the magazines have is their own photography.
Chris
Hi Chris,
The name I’ve used suggests that I am weary of PR – and I am, but not for the reasons that you might think.
I agree completely with what you say about nonstrategic, thoughtless, ‘spray and pray’ approaches: they irritate media no end, and confirm the perception that PR consulting is a quasi profession for mental midgets.
There are those among us who are appropriately qualified (and by this I mean with a PR or Communications degree); and who respect public relations for what it truly is – a strategic function that encourages mutual understanding between a company and its audience(s).
I can understand some of the reasons for what you write above, but I think Chris that you need to accept that you’ve delivered solid insults, both to PR professionals who don’t deserve this wrap (though they will imagine that you think they do, having been “excluded” from your list of the illustrious in point 5) and to the bloggers, who you claim cause others to be excluded from events by agencies who “pander” to them.
I have never intentionally excluded a blogger whose readership (note: READERSHIP) recommends them to an invitation list, but I think you may be the first. I am simply not interested in encouraging my clients to fund “networking” (point 9) opportunities for those who expect to be treated as the digital version of royalty, instead of the hard-working professionals that they ought to be.
Dear ‘PR weary’
Thank you for sharing your point of view. I agree with your first paragraph, but you lost me in the second one. I cannot even make out if you are a PR practitioner, a journalist or a fellow blogger. The reference to the invitation list should define you as a PR person.
You are welcome to invite who you like to your clients’ functions. Let me tell you that for most of us it is a great way to reconnect with our fellow bloggers (writing as a blogger), because we read each others’ blogs, but we do not see each other that often, ususally only at our Food & Wine Bloggers’ Club, or at functions.
Chris
I discovered your blog site on bing and check a few of your early posts. Always keep up the excellent operate. I just now additional your Feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking toward reading much more on your part at a later time!…
Thank you
Chris