Comments on: Open letter to PR agencies: It doesn’t have to be that way, you know…

By: Iris

Iris — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:50:19 +0000

I am both a PR flack and a blogger. I don’t claim to be particularly good at either, but have a passion for both - so where does that leave me?

I love that you called us out though - something I have been trying to explain to my bosses for a while now. Can you maybe give them a call and explain?

By: Do’s & Don’ts of Blogger Relations | Punch PR Agency

Do’s & Don’ts of Blogger Relations | Punch PR Agency — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:40:30 +0000

[...] Canadian Girl has published an interesting piece to offer first person insight and advice for PR agencies regarding some guidelines we might [...]

By: Pete Goold

Pete Goold — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:51:01 +0000

Great post - thank you.

In broad terms I think I took it to read ‘extend some professional courtesy’, which I think it’s fair to say, is pretty much common sense. Still, there is undoubtedly a major gap between people that ‘get it’ in any capacity and those that clearly don’t.

I can’t promise that we’ll always get it right but I find that courtesy, transparency and honesty seem to count for a good deal.

By: Dave Kinsella

Dave Kinsella — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:47:20 +0000

Great post Vero, on a tenuously connected subject, I help to moderate a large industry-specific online forum where various companies often get severely criticised. An upshot of this is that we often get requests to remove offensive content. Sometimes we get a polite personal email, mostly it’s a letter from a company lawyer threatening legal action if the content is not removed within a set time period.

We have implemented an unofficial policy that polite requests will be dealt with usually the same day. Legal threats will result in the content being removed according to the demand. We point out this policy when responding to these requests and yet still companies will pay for a lawyer to send a letter and let the content remain for a couple of weeks, rather than send an email and just ask nicely.

I think there is a corporate culture problem - the automation of business processes has led to an inflexibility of approach. i.e.

Criticism of company on website => have lawyer send legal threat to website owner.
or;
get blog coverage => buy list of blogger emails, send standard email to everyone, monitor opening and clickthru stats. Present figures in a graph to client.

Sorry to go a bit off-topic but I hope you see the connection.

By: The old, the new and the different « Groves Media

The old, the new and the different « Groves Media — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:44:06 +0000

[...] take on it was inspired, albeit a little negatively, by a plea from That Canadian Girl about the way PRs pitch to bloggers. There’s a few suggestions for a positive way forward at [...]

By: Mmd Russia Blog » Blog Archive » Открытое письмо

Mmd Russia Blog » Blog Archive » Открытое письмо — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:38:42 +0000

[...] PR агентствам” и сопровождающую его дискуссию можно посмотреть здесь, а немного сокращенный перевод, включая рекомендации [...]

By: that canadian girl » Blog Archive » It’s the little things that make me happy

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:02:32 +0000

[...] last month’s letter in the pond going a bit viral and stepping on PR people’s toes with my open letter to public relations agencies amongst other things, my stats have gone through the [...]

By: Is PR really as bad as the cool-cats make out? | blending the mix

Is PR really as bad as the cool-cats make out? | blending the mix — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:44:57 +0000

[...] this evidence, the suggestion is that indeed, as per Vero’s post, the PR Industry doesn’t get IT (IT being “it” the object, emphasised for dramatic effect [...]

By: Ian Jeanes

Ian Jeanes — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:04:15 +0000

Hey ‘that canadian girl’. I’m interested in more on what you have to say… I’d like you to get in touch.

Impressed with your ‘tag’ situation… more tags than a School Playground.

Keep blogging

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:26:48 +0000

“So they didn’t offer you enough cash. Hey, you want to be treated with respect then be worthy of it. Don’t take the cash. Don’t take any cash. Better still publish rules on your blog that states you take NOTHING from ANYONE and then we can give you the credit and can believe what you write.”

I don’t see any adverts on this blog… or any sponsored posts… or any content involving money changing hands.

Ourman, did you do any research about thatcandiangirl before commenting on her blog? Hmm, I have a great article which may be of use to you as a PR…

http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/blog/2008/07/21/open-letter-to-pr-agencies-it-doesnt-have-to-be-that-way-you-know/