The Lazy Look

I like to think that very few things done by PRs annoy me (whereas so many impress me). Chase me, and I get it. Grab me at an event; well, it’s flattering really. Bend the boundaries of a Travmedia request? Fair dinkum. Even when Chess Moore, then of Bird Travel PR and now at J Public Relations, temporarily used my bank details to fund her Uber journeys, I wasn’t annoyed.

One thing which does get my goat, however, is when I get an email along the lines of “If you happen to be in [insert country or destination] soon, let us know and we’ll arrange a stay at [insert hotel name].” I have had a few emails like this lately, hence why I am bringing it up today.

It irks me simply because it feels very lazy. In this instance, the PR is ostensibly asking is that, with my having, presumably, worked on pitches, earned commissions and sorted travel, and with their having offered precisely zero angles, I give them coverage.

Perhaps this tack sometimes works (personally, my itineraries are usually too chokka to even consider adding something else in). And it is, at heart, a generous offer — I do recognise that. But it still smacks of a palpable lack of effort.

Ultimately, if wanting me to visit your client, you should be suggesting a good angle or two that I can pitch — without that, it’s unlikely to ever happen — instead of a derisory, peg-free 30-word invite.

Maybe I’m missing something, or being precious. Do say if so. But, to me, this is equivalent to arriving at a one-on-one press meeting and asking what the journalist is working on? A far better look, I think, is to come armed with a few strong ideas; to be obviously striving to try to create a story, rather than just hoping to piggy-back onto one.