I received one of the most interesting blog pitches from a PR firm yesterday. It caught my attention because it came from someone at 5WPR (anyone remember why that name rings a bell? ). It also caught my attention because of the content...
Let me know your thoughts on how this works as a pitch to a blogger. I've purposely left in the copy & paste esque font changes, I've taken off the name of the person who sent it to me, and I've left in every mention of the word 'aggresive' and the a teeny bit over-the-top bigging up of the blog. The absence of personalisation is just as it was from the email to me as well.
Here goes:
I am writing to put the blog “PR Thoughts from Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5WPR” (http://ronntorossian.com/) on your radar. This is an amazing resource for anyone who works in public relations, who is interested in learning more about developments in this field, or who wants to benefit from the entrepreneurial and aggressive spirit of Ronn and 5WPR. For someone like yourself who maintains a blog about the public relations industry and communications and media trends, Ronn’s blog would offer your readers an insider’s perspective that they undoubtedly would appreciate.
Ronn Torossian, the Founder, President and CEO of New York City based 5W Public Relations, is a nationally recognized expert in PR who has led 5W Public Relations to achieve a spot on the INC. 500 list in 2007 and the title of “fastest-growing agency” three years in a row. Additionally, Torossian was named to Advertising Age’s 2006 “40 Under 40” list and PR Week’s 2007 “40 Under 40” list. Referred to by the NY Post as a “publicity guru”, by Fox News as a “high-powered PR CEO”, by CNN as “a leading PR expert”, and by The New York Times as “The consummate hard-driving, scrappy NY publicist”, Torossian is a highly sought after speaker by CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, The New York Times, and others. The same insights into PR that Torossian provides to these news outlets would be of considerable value to anyone with an interest in public relations.
The rapid growth of 5W Public Relations (including its expansion from New York City to Los Angeles) was made possible by Ronn Torossian’s aggressive, results focused orientation and his close relationships with members of the media, key influencers, decision makers, politicians and celebrities. Under Ronn’s leadership, 5W Public Relations has used its aggressive and committed talent to represent clients including Evian, Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, IHOP, McDonald’s, Microsoft, LA Gear, EDS, VeriSign, Seagram’s, The Loews Regency, Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment, Marriott Hotels, Russ Berrie & Company, NICE Systems, Vail Resorts, Pamela Anderson, Snoop Dogg, the Government of Israel, Avenue Stores, and Trinity Broadcasting Network. These client experiences, combined with 5W PR’s status as a full-service public relation firm maintaining practice areas in consumer, technology, health and wellness, entertainment, lifestyle, fashion and corporate communications, make Ronn Torossian’s blog an excellent resource.
Rings a bell for me as it was a cause celebre for the much-missed Strumpette bog:
http://strumpette.com/archives/357-5WPR-Porn-Marketing-Plan-Frustrated.html
Posted by: CISION.net&c | October 23, 2008 at 10:16 AM
er, "blog".
probably
Posted by: CISION.net&c | October 23, 2008 at 10:17 AM
It just seems like a load of waffle - but for the sake of commenting on your post I took a look at the blog, and was suprised! It's actually quite nice. Having a picture of a duck on the front page helped (I like ducks). Half of that email would be better left to his blog though.
PS:- Is it weird to post what would sort of be a private email to a public blog?
Posted by: Matt Aiken | October 23, 2008 at 10:22 AM
I'm pretty new to this PR thing (less than 1 year in the industry), but what strikes me is that there is no sense of personality in the pitch. I have no idea what the blog is about (other than the obvious - PR) or why my readers would want to visit it. What is his specialty? What makes the blog stand out?
That pitch was way too long - and standard - for my taste. I was bored by the second paragraph.
Posted by: Megan Miles | October 23, 2008 at 04:42 PM
Wow. Just wow. It's almost as if Word wrote that pitch by itself based on crappy Microsoft algorithms. Where I work, robotic pitches are strictly forbidden; personalization is key.
Posted by: Luis Levy | October 23, 2008 at 05:49 PM