Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

In a reply to a publicist who contacted me recently on some subject or another, I surprised even myself when I wrote to her that I could not take up her pitch because she used the phrase “reaching out” in her email.

If memory serves, I actually went so far as to tell her it is my policy to say no to pitches in which the phrase “reaching out” or any of its variants is applied. It was a ridiculous, ornery reply to a well-meaning request for coverage, for which I apologize.

However, the “reaching out” phrase rankled me, and I am trying to figure out why. One reason is its overuse. This phrase -- “reaching out,” “reach out,” “reached out” or whatever form it takes -- is certainly overused in the p.r. biz today (and in many other places too)....

Previously available only in France, Babbler already boasts “300 customers worldwide and 5,000 reporters that use it everyday” in that country.

On Tuesday, the organization announced that it’s available to PR pros and reporters in the United States.

Here’s the selling point for the network, said via press release:

Babbler helps create, manage and engage media communities by providing them the best way to interact with their network of sources, content, and story ideas, all in one place....

I've rarely seen someone tell their interviewer that I'm not your monkey. But it seems like filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was very tired of answering this question.

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has been making violent (but well-received) movies for the past two decades.

His latest effort, Django Unchained, is the latest in a long line of bloody films. But unlike other Tarantino movies, Django was released less than two weeks after the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which spurred a new national conversation about the role of violence in our culture.

Given that context, it’s unsurprising that reporters would ask Tarantino about the extreme violence in his films. But it’s clear from Tarantino’s answers in this interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Britain’s Channel 4 News that he was tired of answering the question. (The exchange begins at 2:40.)...

Never leave a reporter hanging—especially one who's ready to write about your company. One of the simplest ways to please any journalist, blogger, or even potential investor, is to have a easy-to-find press kit on your site.

"The goal of a press kit is the same as public relations—make it easy to tell the story," says Jordan Lampe, director of communications at payments company Dwolla. He's helped land the startup on the front pages of the New York Times and the MIT Technology Review....