When my colleague showed me a recent piece of mail he got from Southwest Airlines, we both got a chuckle over how the company spelled his name: Roger Friedman had become Roger F-R-I-E-D-N-I-N.
At Phillips Publishing International (which owns PR NEWS), we share daily stories about blunders like this. But most of those missteps aren't based on customer-relations flubs as Roger's was.
Most are doozies that come from those in PR.
Sloppy communication with a journalist is risky, considering that your PR team could very well be the first contact reporters and editors have with your company, especially if your business is a start-up or is frequently in the news.
They may be small details, but generally our requests are reasonable: Know which publication (or show) you're pitching. Read the publication or watch the show. Give us relevant information.
Spell our names correctly.
We're people to whom names are important. It's drilled into us to make sure that we accurately identify our sources so we expect no less from you. And pay attention to the byline - it can provide you with valuable information about who to contact, what he or she covers, and can help you stroke a writer's ego to your advantage.
Murphey's Law
Rare is the day that I get a press release that is both addressed correctly (with my current title and the publication for which I write) and pertinent. For the record, I receive several hundred pieces of mail a week, and only about 10 percent have my name and title right. Do you think I ever wonder about the accuracy of the information inside the envelope?
Ever since I became editor of PR NEWS, I've continually corrected people about my name. It's Debra Zimmerman Murphey - no hyphen between Zimmerman and Murphey; not Deborah but Debra; just one "n" at the end of Zimmerman; and an "ey" on Murphey.
Today, in fact, I am Laura Murphy to one technology company. But my name isn't just butchered only every once in awhile. Who's addressing this stuff? Tinky Winky?
Call me picky, but it bugs me to see my name repeatedly scrambled. If you're a media relations professional, isn't one of the cardinal rules that you get the journalist's name right? Who cares if you write a great pitch letter if the name is not right?
Try pitching New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd with this intro: "Dear Ms. Doud." See how far that gets you.
Admittedly, we seldom write you or your company off for this kind of name plundering, but it's not smart media relations. Some day, we might count it against you.
Only makes me wonder what else you're being sloppy about. Every few months, at the minimum, someone at your organization needs to update your media list. And PLEASE, stop sending mail to editors or reporters that left years ago, and I mean years ago. If you want to be safe, drop personal names from your mailings and just send to "Editor, PR NEWS." We know who that is.
Regularly check beats, names, titles and details such as addresses, phone number and e-mail. (But you don't need to e-mail me, fax me, write me, call me and send me the same story by mental telepathy. Once will suffice.)
If it's too cumbersome to do this in-house, buy media relations software. It costs a few bucks, but it gets the job done. After all, this is your corporate reputation you're playing with.
If you think you're not the culprit, don't be too sure. Here are a few of the stories that have been swapped at the watercooler of late:
- Last week I received an announcement from a PR firm relocating to New York. My name was spelled correctly but my title was wrong. So far, so good. But someone at the firm must have been hyped on caffeine because they sent a total of seven announcements to our newsroom. Those are just the colleagues I talked to. Could have saved that postage for a client.
- I recently received a letter addressed to my predecessor, Thomas Moore, but he was addressed as the editor of Futurehome Technology News. (That's a pub he was never even remotely linked to; the newsletter was long ago merged with another pub under a new name);
- Our DVBusiness News Editor Tom Butts regularly receives mail for Mr. Art Butts. Someone apparently thinks the former managing editor, Art Cole, and Mr. Butts have been morphed into one. (The heck with cloning people);
- A former Phillips group executive, Craig Webb, was upgraded to Professor Craig Webb by one company that sent him a release. (Maybe they knew something we didn't);
- A former editor of Healthcare PR and Marketing News, Sharmi Banik, just got a wonderfully penned letter about a new book and a request that "Sharmi Bonik" review it. (By the way, Sharmi moved to London more than two years ago); and
- My personal favorite is a well-known organization that sends about three releases a week to "Debbrah Murjey."
As for the last item, the name's sticking. I think I like it.