Recently, I have been noticing that the number of poorly targeted email press releases I'm receiving has been increasing.
I've also noticed what I call pseudo-targeting. The PR firm can't be bothered to research the media outlet they are targeting so they send out something like this:
Dear Walt:
If your editorial calendar is covering the unique requirements for FDA compliance matters in medical device engineering please find a press release "Technical Guide for US FDA-Regulated Organizations— How to Avoid and Respond to Public FDA Criticisms—Form 483 Letters—for Temperature, Humidity and other Controlled Environments" –both pasted below and attached for your convenience.This is a very timely topic --- as FDA 483 letters are expected to increase this year, reflecting the FDA’s recent staff expansion and rewrite of the FDA 483 Letter rules to narrow response time to the new 15-day window. This has bearing on all R&D for any FDA-regulated devices sold in the US. Please consider this news release for publication.
Now, let's look at this beast. First, they personalize it, so they let you know that it is for YOU. Then they reveal that they haven't bothered to read your editorial calendar, which makes one wonder why we spend several months every year putting one together...and then they reveal that they have no idea what the editorial focus of your publication or media outlet is...
But if it DOES focus on what they want to flack to you, here's a whole bunch of stuff you have to wade through to find out if they have come even close to hitting your sweet spot.
Of course, Control and ControlGlobal.com don't cover medical device engineering, so they've wasted the electrons necessary to send me this screed. One could also ask the PR firm to calculate the carbon burn necessary to send this badly targeted email, and one could ask the PR firm's client what they think of the job they're getting for the price they're paying.
Or one could simply push the "delete" button and let all that wonderful pseudo-targeting go to waste.[img_assist|nid=3355|title=PR for the Automation Industry|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=425|height=320]
If you are a PR counsel, or employed at a PR firm, or you employ PR firms, you might want to take a look at a short ebook I put together a couple of years ago for the ISA Marketing and Sales Summit. It talks about how to do powerful PR in the automation and high technology industries. It is called Public Relations for the Automation Industries. I will be teaching this course again this year at the ISA Marketing and Sales Summit.
