Doing your research

I'm noticing an increase in the number of people calling me who are just not doing their research. And it is making me ANGRY

Now far be it for me to moan. (oh the irony)

But we are all extremely busy just running to stand still at the moment, and the last thing any of us need are people ringing who don't really have a clue about a)you or b)the company you work for (obviously in my case CRN).

I really don't have much time to waste these days and I'm getting increasingly irritated when it does get wasted.

The amount of PR calls I get about subjects which are completely irrelevant to CRN are definitely on the increase and I don't know whether this is because people are just being told to ring 'whoever, whenever' to hit their numbers, but I wish it would stop.

For a start I am no longer the news editor of CRN - and shock horror, haven't been for over five years - so why do people insist on running news past me? There is no point.

Also it irks me that so many people cannot spell someone's name right in an email either - it is something I always double check before pressing send. (there is NO 'H' on my name).

Also just because the chief executive of such and such a vendor/company has come over from the US for ONE DAY ONLY - doesn't make me want to meet them unless they have some groundbreaking announcement that I cannot get anywhere else.

I get a ridiculous amount of emails a day, and someone ringing me asking 'whether I got their email' is a good way of making my blood boil.

If it was of any interest I would either have got in touch, or passed it onto the right member of the CRN team. Why can't most PR bosses understand that and save their staff a lot of hassle?

It makes the PR firms that 'get it' stand out a mile. I could list them on one hand.

When I am speaking to people - whether this is for an article, or something else - I make sure I read up on the company if I don't know them already - just so I don't ask any ridiculous, irrelevant questions.

It is a shame more PR firms don't do the same with journalists and their brands.

CRN is a CHANNEL brand. We DON'T cover product launches.

Ringing up and reading from a sheet should not be an option. PR should be tailored and targeted, not a 'one-size fits all' approach.

If you don't understand the title you are calling up, probably best not to call at all until you do.

Of course I'm not expecting miracles, in fact I'm expecting the number of pointless calls I receive to continue increasing until the day I decide to hang up my journalist boots.

But just for now, could everyone at least understand that I'm NOT going to Infosec this year?

FOOTNOTE: One point I meant to mention in this post was actually aimed at the vendors/firms that employ PR people, who often are responsible for putting pressure on their 'PR Employees' to push their uninspiring and dull 'news'.

They should employ the 'less is more' approach, and actually wait for an announcement that is interesting and above all relevant, before ordering blanket PR attacks across multiple titles.

And if anyone wants me to explain this to their clients in person because they are scared to do so - I'd be very happy to do it on their behalf in no uncertain terms!