PAN Blog

It would be an understatement to say the blogoshpere has changed the way PR people work with the media. One aspect of this change - the fear of posting "bad pitches". Posting of bad pitches presents a new challenge and opportunity for PR pros. For those newer to the career, it brings a level of fear and shakiness to emailing reporters right when they're trying to build their confidence and knowledge. That initial fear of picking up the phone that most PR pros have early on has morphed to fear of sending an email. What will this mean for media who ask to be pitched in email first? What will this mean for PR pros learning the ropes?

Not being in the media, I can only guess at the volume of bad pitch spam that reaches an email inbox. I know it must be frustrating. One thing to keep in mind though; some of PR is learned through trial and error - that's just the way it goes with any career. Certainly there are people who have a natural knack or talent for PR and can grasp what a reporter wants. But here's the deal - people make mistakes - all of us do. Hopefully, when we lose, we don't lose the lesson. Bad pitch blogging will certainly create a catalyst for learning from these mistakes more quickly. But will bad pitch blogging kill a person's interest in this career? Will it weed out the weak and make the strong stronger? Probably a little of both.

Posting bad pitches will likely create some opportunities for PR pros as well. It will get PR professionals to use the phone more often. This is ideal because a conversation spurs ideas that an email simply can't, no matter how targeted the email. The reporter might be surprised at finding a good story idea coming out of a conversation when they might have hit the delete button if it were in email. Also, the media will get what they want - more targeted, interesting pitches.

The rush of picking up the phone and having a solid and interesting conversation with a reporter, one where you can offer good ideas and become a solid library of information and creativity for a reporter is a conversation that I wish for all of my colleagues. It's what we strive for in PR. If bad pitch blogging inspires PR pros to pick up the phone and have this conversation more often- then blogging bad pitches might be a good thing. But the media better be prepared to start answering the phone more - because we're going to be calling.

• how search engines list Web sites for free and through paid placements
• how to get free "organic" traffic by building a site that pleases search engines and visitors
• how to calculate the ROI of search marketing efforts by tracking visitors from the time they hit a site until they buy—and get tips on improving conversion
• how to build links that generate traffic to a Web site
• what's coming next in the constantly evolving world of Web search

We'll be blogging from the floor and encourage anyone who wants to say 'hi' to drop by booth #119.  If any attendees have effectively added blogging to their PR or marketing mix, it'd be great to meet up to hear about your successes (or failures) and swap ideas. 

Technorati Tags : SES, Search, Search+Engine+Strategies, search+business, Search+Optimization, Incisive+Media  

Ephraim Schwartz's InfoWorld column today addresses the loss of Baby Boomers from the workforce, what companies can do to combat this loss, and the impact the IT world will have when IT pros leave the workforce. It's anangle talked about for a long time and not nearly considered enough. A "Gen X" worker myself, I seldom consider who will be around to teach me when they've left the workforce and how I will find time to teach to the next generation when I'm taking on the work of those who have gone off to retirement.

Ephraim's focus on what will happen to the IT workforce is especially thought-provoking. I would think IT is an area where there is less concern over baby boomers leaving. IT is an industry where change is not only neccessary but imperative, and where technology is getting smarter and doing more- requiring less work in installation and maintanence and thus less staff. One would think IT would be an industry not as impacted by the so-called "brain-drain" as other industries - like healthcare.

As my generation gets older, I'm sure we will all be impacted by the loss of the experienced baby-boomers, but the workforce might be completely different by that point as well. Five years ago the way we worked was very different. We can be sure that ten years from now, (when this huge impact will take place) we'll be in a whole new ball game as well. If that's the case, maybe this won't be as big of a problem as we expect? Of course, we should all do what we can to embrace technologies to help us prepare, such as CRM systems. But maybe that precise technology, and the technology yet to come will be the saving grace from our concerns?