Maybe it’s the new fiscal quarter. Maybe my email address has been sold to a new list of PR companies. Maybe there are really some not-to-be-missed openings and events coming up. Whatever it is, I have been hit with a cavalcade of emails from PR companies lately. Just the other day, I received no fewer than eight emails in less than an hour. Of course, most of them are borderline spam, sent out to all of the email addresses in a PR person’s contact list. Unlike spam, I am usually not given an easy opt-out link at the end of the message. Mass emails are easily identifiable, not only because of their impersonal nature, but also because I frequently receive an email sent to the la.foodblogging address, and then shortly receive a duplicate email sent to the address on one of my other food sites (Digesty or Cheww).
The tone of PR emails are consistent, always pretending that they are letting me in on some big secret that “my readers would be interested in”. A more genuine approach may be to phrase the message “my client has paid me to get this story placed as many times as possible, can you do that for me?”. Perhaps they should also add “I don’t read your site, have never commented or sent you an email outside of veiled pleading to publicize events or products.”
One thing I have learned about PR, and this is something that a PR person told me directly, is that the nature of PR is to not pay for any placement. That’s advertising, a different industry entirely. PR’s job is to make things look organic, when nothing could be further from the truth. I often see the same Press Releases that I receive end up verbatim in a blog post. I see the restaurants that are hyped in my inbox magically appear in major local publications. I do believe that it is an effective way to get the word out. I assume that most readers think that they are getting something genuine, delivered to them by the author because the author finds it interesting or useful for their audience. In truth, I think that authors who use Press Releases are simply lazy. There certainly isn’t shame in that. We are all lazy to some extent.
What I find most offensive is when PR folks explain to me that I should be flattered to be included in these releases. Somehow I should feel good that this site is considered as being “worthy” of being included as a member of The Press. I hate to use the tired expression that they “Just Don’t Get It”, but that’s just what it is. Our goal here isn’t to litter the site with un-paid advertisements disguised as content or personal recommendations. Sure, I may suggest a restaurant which has been pitched to me, but only if I have been there prior to receiving a press release. As it says in our About Page (which apparently is seldom consulted), the best way to make sure that your event, venue, product, etc. is not mentioned, is to send me a press release about it.
Last week, I was even asked about the traffic that la.foodblogging receives, because someone’s “client had requested it”. While I appreciate the honesty, that someone is selling the amount of traffic our site gets, that’s not something I generally give out. It is not the first time that our traffic numbers have been requested, and I assume that it wont be the last. Why wont it be the last? Because I do not believe that most PR people who email me actively read the site. They wont see posts like this one.
Now, everyone needs to make a living, and PR is a real industry. I don’t think that people who work in that industry are bad people, but by nature they need to be sneaky. They need to schmooze their way into publications, gaining the trust and the ear (and the pen) of various journalists and authors. No one likes to feel like they are being used or manipulated, so the PR folks flatter us with friendly speak, making us feel like we are getting privileged information.
So what is the answer to PR? Well, mine is mostly to ignore it. I generally read the emails, I may respond if I find something interesting. I did post some stats from the Zagat survey, so I suppose that one worked.
If I ever needed to get the word out on a commercial venture, I would probably give a PR firm a try. Although after reading this, they might tell me to pound sand. Somehow, I think that writing check would quickly change their mind though.
I know that bloggers are seeing an increase of PR coming their way. How do you deal with it? How do you think bloggers should deal with it?
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
We headed over to 
 
My mom and sister were coming up to see 
I began my little adventure at Cafe del Ray where Jason Niederkorn is the executive chef. On the menu: Rabbit Rillette on crostini with persimmon marmalade, green apple celery root soup, and chocolate truffle cookies.
