Clueless PR: Attached Files = DELETE!

The subject line was intriguing, but I immediately trashed this announcement because of the attached file and lack of real content. (Click to enlarge)

If you're a PR pro and you want to get some media or blog coverage of your news, it helps to communicate in a way that works for the people you're trying to engage or influence. Annoying people or generally appearing clueless is unlikely to work.

Thus, I had to laugh when I received an e-mail with the potentially intriguing headline: "NorthWest News Group Redefines Online for Weeklies." Since I edit the Poynter Institute's weblog E-Media Tidbits, which covers online-media developments of interest to mainstream news pros, I'm interested in trends about how weeklies and other papers are grappling with online media.

But a second later, I decided that the format in which this message was transmitted to me completely undermined its credibility...

How could I believe that a company that sends me a press release as an attached file (an MS Word doc, no less) -- rather than simply telling me the "so what" in the body of the e-mail and providing a link -- could have anything compelling to say about online media?

This PR technique is common, and it's clueless. Many people (including me) routinely delete attached files sent by unknown people. Consequently, if your "so what" points aren't in the body of your e-mail, chances are your message is dead.

Of course, as I've said many times before, I think the traditional press release is a woefully ineffective and outdated format for getting coverage. But I realize it's entrenched (much like the QWERTY keyboard) and will continue to be used no matter how much it sucks.

Chances are, someone at the Northwest News Group (maybe not even the administrative assistant who sent me this message) was just doing what they've always done, without thinking about whether their communication method worked. OK, that's fine, I'm willing to give them another shot since they at least wrote a compelling subject line that was directly relevant to me (a major point that they got right).

Northwest News Group: If you want to send me your announcement again -- not as an attached file and (please God) not in the format of a stodgy fake news story press release, but just as a simple e-mail message with relevant links -- I'll check it out.