Deep Thoughts on Media Etiquette. Some email aficionados use their signature lines as platforms for profound quotes and witty vignettes. Robert McGarvey, a columnist for
Entrepreneur and Home Office, uses his email sig to plug his new book, How to Dot.Com - and as a place to throw a bone to the PR community. We found the
following rules in a link at the end of his signature line:
- Don't call, ever. If I want to talk with you, I will call you.
- Don't send follow-up emails. "I just wanted to be sure you got the email I sent yesterday." I got it, I didn't answer because I didn't want to, and asking again will only
annoy. - Don't ask when the story will run. Usually I don't know. Check the magazine or Web site, and when the story runs, poof, it's there.
- Don't be stupid. Twice, in two days, I got emails from an AE pleading with me to put her client on the cover of INC. Does she want me to buy the magazine? I've never
written for INC. Never. This may be an exceptional bit of stupidity, but there are runners-up. Some slack afternoon I plan to create a Hall of Shame where I post the
month's stupidest pitches. - Read what I write. Do that before pitching, and tailor pitches to suit me. Check http://www.McGarvey.net and http://www.McGarvey.net/mcgarvey.htm for my columns and features. You're too busy? Fair enough. I'm too busy to read your
shotgunned pitches. - Don't ask for elaboration. Often in response to ProfNet queries, PR people write, "Could you give me more details about your slant?" The answer is no. Re-read the query.
Read some of my articles. Either you'll get it, or you won't. - Be terse. You have, at most, 100 words to interest me. Some of you are still working up to giving the pitch at 250 words. I won't read that long if you haven't hooked me.
Put 100 interesting words in front of me and if I want more details, I'll ask. - Don't send attachments. If I want to see 'em, I'll ask for 'em.
- Don't call me "Joe," "Jim," "Rob," or pretty much any other name that isn't mine. It's amazing how many emails come in with salutations aimed at another person. What might
you call me? Mr. McGarvey is nice for a start.
McGarvey says the sheer volume of tech-related pitches is overwhelming, and 98% of the pitches he receives are wildly off-target.