Ed Zitron is pretty awesome. He swears (a lot), enjoys Louis C.K.and stereotypes anti-social Everquest nerds in a hilarious fashion. None of this is relevant whatsoever, but it certainly makes his writing entertaining. Last September, Zitron wrote This Is How You Pitch: How To Kick Ass In Your First Years of PR, a book that outlines the basics of public relations in uncomplicated, brutally honest terms. He even cuts out a lot of the grossly overused buzzwords and advanced jargon many PR people use all too frequently.
Public relations in and of itself is pretty easy to understand, but putting it into practice while successfully embracing the concepts can be quite challenging. Zitron tackles those challenges head-on. Here are some useful takeaways from his book:
How many times have you sent out an e-mail pitch, only to have someone respond with a brief, seemingly rude response? Well, of course you have! Sometimes they’re two-word responses like “Not interested,” and sometimes they’re hefty diatribes against either the subject matter you’re pitching or PR people in general.
Those people must be grade A jerks, right?
Probably not. Reporters are people, too, and Zitron makes that perfectly clear. They experience the same pressures PR people do. Essentially, a reporter's job is to find stories that their target audience will be interested in reading, watching or hearing about. They’re busy, stressed and tired. Very tired.
Zitron is a strong advocate for human connections. “The reader determines the pitch,” he says, and he’s absolutely right. You can’t stop a reporter’s constant stress, but a well-crafted pitch can help alleviate it. The reporter’s job is to cater to an audience, so you should attempt to give them exactly what they need. By determining precisely what the reporter’s audience wants, you’ve already laid the groundwork for a good relationship.
It also helps to take a walk in the reader’s shoes . . . and to think realistically. When you’re writing your pitch, ask yourself, “Would I honestly read this?”
There is absolutely, positively no specific way to do public relations. Period. All campaigns have a variety of different goals, KPIs, audiences, and so on. That said, some campaigns are more difficult than others. “And you'll make mistakes,” Zitron writes.
In the end, you're going to have to be the dominant one when it comes to strategy and tactics. No "What do you want to do?" or "I don't care, I'll do whatever." None of that. You wear the pants, unequivocally.
That means when mistakes happen, it’s up to the professional (that’s you) to put on your big boy pants and be headstrong about fixing the problem. In PR, there’s simply no time to wait. Bad rumors and worse news travel fast, and your client’s reputation relies on the audience’s perception of them. If there’s even a slight chance that the audience’s support could waiver, you need to act immediately.
Take this example: Phil Robertson, co-star of the hit A&E show Duck Dynasty, recently got himself into hot water with some rather controversial comments. This situation could have easily been avoided had Robertson's publicist implored GQ to omit those comments from the article.
Then again, it's very possible Robertson's publicist let them stand as stated on purpose. It's been said before: There's no such thing as bad press. For every person who complained about his comments, another stood up for his right to make them.
By understanding exactly what the audience expects from the client, your chances of quickly fixing the problem are great. Zitron says that you need to be "embedded in the audience. Play their games, listen to their music, use the apps they designed. Audiences need to feel like the person you are asking them to invest in is on the same page as them."
In a nutshell, fixing (and perhaps avoiding) mistakes goes back to the “human element.” Your client's audience consists of real people with real wants and desires.
This is How You Pitch isn’t going to rock a seasoned publicist’s entire universe, but it definitely provides a fresh and rather entertaining perspective of one man’s ups and downs in the industry. If you’re just getting into PR or if you’re thinking of getting into PR, you’ll definitely benefit from reading this book. Zitron reveals a lot of harsh realities, but those very things can push your PR career forward.
After all, as Zitron writes, “In a twisted way, you should rejoice when you make an error, because you'll learn a lot more from your screw-ups than your successes.” And learn you will.
