How not to engage…

Back in my days on the editorial side of the fence I was often on the receiving end of this pitch:

“We want to do something that looks like advertising, smells like advertising… hell, it IS advertising, but here’s the kicker, the catch, the twist if you will - we don’t want to pay for it… So, what can you do for us?”

The answer of course was: “Nothing, but I can put you through to somebody in sales.”

I no longer receive such pitches - nor do I peddle them, for obvious reasons - but they haven’t gone away. A former colleague of mine, Dan Ilett, now founding editor of the hugely successful Greenbang has recently been explaining the difference between editorial and advertising to some pretty big names in the energy space (that’s utilities, not Lucozade).

It makes for a good read. Though from this side of the fence I'm surprised PRs would ever attempt to so blatantly diminish, in the eyes of paying clients, the value of genuine editorial. That's the stuff that's supposed to be difficult to get into... that's why companies traditionally spend more on PR than advertising.... oh, hang on...

Elsewhere I see others struggling to engage effectively with the blogosphere and media alike. Ruth Mortimer at Brand Strategy flags a particularly good example.