PR Pitching is Broken; Profession as a Whole is in Good Shape

There’s a little debate out in the blogosphere about whether the “PR profession is broken” due to the rise of blogs and the Internet. Yes, PR pitching is broken, but the industry as a whole is thriving. Why else would so many journalists be jumping ship and coming over to PR?

While the two most prominent bloggers involved in the debate — Steve Rubel and Michael Arrington of TechCrunch — lump PR pitching with the entire profession, pitching is really only one small part of the business. And no doubt — PR pitching is broken. But guess what? PR pitching has been broken as long as I’ve been in media and PR, and that’s more than 27 years. I started getting inane PR pitches as soon as I arrived at the San Jose Mercury News in 1981, and I got one this morning. It was ever thus.

The problem is the same as it has always been: spray and pray PR tactics, in which the PR person or agency floods the media with copies of their press release, hoping that someone who cares will pick it up. In the hope of increasing the odds of pick-up, cheerful-sounding PR people start smiling and dialing journalists to follow up on the release. They did this in 1981; they did it this morning, and they will do it again on Monday. It was a low road tactic then, and it’s a low road tactic now. The only reason it still exists is that it still, to some extent, works, despite the howls from journalists who get tired of the interruptions.

The Internet has changed two things: it has provided journalists (and everyone else) with unprecedented access to information, reducing the value of many PR pitches, and it has given journo-bloggers a place to vent their frustration about PR pitches.

But PR, as a business, is not broken. Revenues in the industry continue to rise, internal budgets continue to rise, and in an era of more communications options than ever, the reasons to employ communications professionals are still valid.

Old-fashioned “spray and pray” PR pitching can only be replaced by one thing: targeted pitching and relationship-based media relations. Know the journalist, know the blogger, know their coverage areas, deadlines etc. Have something relevant, timely and factual to provide to them. Keep them apprised of developments in your industry or company that aren’t pitches, just useful background. Be available when they need you for stories. Do these things and you’ll be busier than ever, and you will be neither broken nor broke.