The topic of pitching bloggers comes up a lot in our industry. Every social media and/or blogging expert you talk to will probably give you a different answer on how to best work with bloggers. We thought we’d go straight to the source on this one to settle a few questions once and for all.

Gina the Fitnessita

I recently interviewed my friend Gina the Fitnessista, arguably the most popular and recognized fitness and lifestyle blogger in the whole blogosphere on the topic and here’s what she had to say.

Q1: How do you prefer to be approached by a brand? Email, Twitter, comments on your posts, etc?

A1: Email is great I think, just don’t start your email with “Dear Blogger,”. Twitter is fine too, it can be a little aggressive but it depends on how they approach the conversation. Sometimes I will mention a brand or product and they will instantly start sending me tons of tweets expecting more conversation or tweets. It is fine to initiate conversation authentically, but don’t look at a blogger as a means to promote your brand just because they mentioned you. And please do not leave a pitch in my comment section, you will be spammed.

Q2: What in a subject line will actually make you open an email?

A2: My name, or mentioning something about my blog that is authentic and not just a pitch. Brands always approach bloggers to re-post or retweet their branded content. The savvy bloggers avoid this to maintain the integrity of their blog.

Q3: Would you rather brands send you information on a product/event/etc. and let you decide if you want to be involved, or a full pitch telling you exactly what they’d love to see in a partnership?

A3: It depends, but mostly just send me the information, and let me decide if it’s something I’d like to work with. I will follow up with you if it is intriguing.

Q4: What should brands be looking at in terms of compensation?

A4: I don’t think a lot of companies realize that they ask too much of us. They want to send us something, and then they want specific blog posts, tweets, videos and so forth and that irks me a little bit. At the end of the day, we are driving traffic to their site and we would rather be compensated than receive free product with huge expectations. I’d rather spend $20 on my own coconut water than to pimp you out on every channel I have.

Q5: If you could tell brands one thing about approaching you to work with them what would it be?

A5: Make it personal, at least give me a hint that you’ve read my blog, don’t just look at my high traffic and reach out to me. We don’t want our blogs to be content focused from brands, if it is an authentic fit we’re more eager to work with you.

Q5: Name Three brands you’d die to work with?

A5: Women’s Health Magazine, Shape Magazine, and Clean Eating Magazine.

Q6: One of the things I love about your blog is your humbleness and authenticity. How do you maintain this, and what advice would you give other bloggers to stay true to their voice and beliefs?

A6: The biggest thing I believe is to write what you want to write about, and not write what you think people want to read about. If you write about what you love, then the audience will follow. They can tell if your passionate or faking it. Be authentic. Do you. Don’t let others dictate how you want to write for your blog, that’s what keeps.

To sum it up, be authentic as a brand AND as a blogger. Don’t just pitch a blogger because you want their traffic, pitch a blogger because what they write about and how they write truly fits with your brand. Remember, they did not get to thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of daily pageviews simply because they know how to take a picture of their daily meals and upload them to Wordpress, they build communities. Something we as brand catalysts strive for daily, so treat them just like the experts that they are. Oh, and try out Fitnessista’s Breakfast Cookie, it is to die for.

This agency is about to hit its 17th year (holy cats, where does the time go?!) and over the years we’ve seen all sorts of trends, but during the past couple of years I’ve been seeing something that troubles me deeply. Some of this may be a sign of the times and some of it is generational, but it’s raising a lot of questions for me. The agency business needs people who value a career within the industry. It needs people with longevity who bring strategic insight and experience to its clients. But where are we headed?

Let’s see how much of this rings true to you (perspective will vary according to your age and position

1. Agencies are the best training ground out of college.

2. Agencies are a good stepping stone to that secure in-house job that’s the real prize.

3. I don’t see a career at an agency. Corporations are for careers.

Based on recent conversations with former employees and many people in and out of agencies, it appears the above list is the “new truth” for young professionals. When I ask people in their twenties to be brutally honest they acknowledge that this is indeed what they believe.

Where are they learning this? Are colleges teaching this? Has an uncertain economy resulted in the belief that a big corporation is safer? What a crock!

Let’s look a little more closely at each of these beliefs.

1. Indeed, agencies are the best training ground. Let’s look at why. Agencies believe in growing their people. Agency employees know that they  have to be at the forefront of our industry in order to educate and lead our clients, so they continually invest in getting better, learning more and being on the cutting edge of what’s happening. That isn’t a two-three year experience. It’s what an entire career in an agency is about. Growing, learning, selling and using your expertise.

I have lost count of the number of conversations I have had with former employees who went in house, only to discover that not only does no one understand what they do, they don’t highly value it, yet everyone has an opinion about it. They find themselves silo’d and often concerned about how they will grow their skills.

Do you view agencies as a good post-college choice? What about in-house? Tell me about your post-college expectations?

2. My first job out of college was with a big multi-national corporation. You couldn’t have asked for a more blue-suit, solid, I’ll never worry about my paycheck kind of place. In my first year I was sexually harassed and watched the company scramble to cover it up and get that guy out of the building. Not out of the company, just re-positioned in another state, which didn’t give me a great sense of trust or value. A year later I watched a man who had given 20 years of his life to the company be summarily fired because he didn’t get along with our general manager. Just like that. Done.

I don’t believe that large corporations care more about their employees than agencies. Often, shareholders mean more and employees are viewed as an expendable line item. If you don’t agree, just read the headlines this month. Every December hundreds and thousands of jobs are shed as corporations adjust their new year’s budget. Security indeed.

Now I’m not telling you that agency jobs are any more secure. But I will tell you that agency owners will sweat and cry and do everything they can to keep you. Layoffs, at least in smaller shops with integrity, are not done lightly.

What is it about in-house corporate jobs that make them appear more secure?

3. I am a member of PRSA’s Counselors Academy, a section comprised of senior level PR/Marcomm professionals and it has been a revelation and delight to spend time with so many seasoned pros. These are people who saw a career for themselves in an agency and loved the energy, learning and ever changing environment so much that, like me, they’ve never left. Will your career trajectory be as fast or offer as many title options? Perhaps not, but you will be part of a community where people treat each other like family. A community that values creativity, learning and creating a place that is great fun to come to every day. Agencies are filled with people who love the fact that every day is different, who get to shape their culture, where clients change and offer new opportunities and the learning never stops.

Have you had a long term career in an agency? What made you choose that over an in-house job? If you’re just getting started, what do you think? What makes one choice more appealing than another?

The “Good Reads” series is dedicated to quality marketing content we’re reading throughout the week. We hope to share and inspire you to pass on the love. Enjoy.

This is Your Pitch in the Waste Basket

Fast Company expert blogger Josh Linkner offers five straightforward (and humorous) ways to avoid a pitching disaster – excellent reminders that will help you “land the job, get the girl, win the capital, and seize your full potential.” Sounds good to me!

Ladies, Shall We Revamp Our Images Already?

A few weeks ago, I read Adrianna Giuliani’s blog post “The new face of ‘PR girls,’” which discusses pop culture’s stereotypes of women in PR. On a related note, Gini Dietrich’s post examines women’s tendencies to tear each other down – both within the communications field and beyond. My takeaway: the responsibility falls on all of us to manage the reputation of our profession and ourselves. Food for thought.

Words of Wisdom for New PR Pros

Arik Hanson of ACH Communications and HAPPO dishes out some great advice for up-and-coming PR pros, though I think some of these tips are valuable for those in our profession whether you’ve been in the biz for a few months or for many years. What would you add to this list?

Read anything good this week? Tell us about it below.

In a recent blog post I wrote about my secrets to successful phone pitching, I spent some time emphasizing the importance of in-person communication whenever possible. Coming off the heels of a few recent media trips, I thought I’d share a few of the tactics I’ve learned from my time spent face-to-face with media.

There are three typical situations in which you’ll be pitching media face-to-face:

1. You’re pitching in person by chance because you happen to be sharing a cocktail with a media friend at an industry event.
2. You’re speed pitching because you’ve been lucky enough to attend an event hosted just for the purpose of pitching and the media is ready to hear it all in 5 minutes (like that hosted by the San Diego Press Club on January 25th).
3. You’re pitching in person because you’ve set up an appointment to do so. You have something to offer the media and the media is interested enough to give you some of their time.

No matter what the circumstance, start by caring about your product or service. If you’re planning to pitch face-to-face about a product you don’t quite understand, don’t truly like or don’t believe is a perfect fit for that publication, it’s not going to work. Done and done.

Situation #1:

This one requires extreme tact. Focus on the fit for the publication instead of the product or service. Start by talking about the outlet, the part of it you see your product in, and how it fits. For example, if I want to pitch a board game to help families unplug and share some laughter together, the best bet is to talk about the trend of families wanting to unplug, wanting to spend more quality time together. Sell the person on the story, before the product. Keep in mind that the media person likely knows what you’re trying to accomplish, so be tactful, but be real.

Situation #2

In this case, get to the point because you only have five minutes. Start with your product so it’s clear who you’re trying to promote. You’ll find that in many cases, the media will help you get to the best story angle that fits your product if they really understand it. Throw out all the ideas you’ve been mulling over with your team to find out what resonates best with them and then build from there.

Situation #3

You’re stoked. Situation #3 is the best. Take the opportunity to find out what the person really cares about. Sometimes the most successful placements come from personal interest rather than a great pitch. That said, don’t be afraid to leverage a person’s interests to help get your product to the right person if it’s not them. Talk through all the details of your clients as well as the angles you’ve been pitching so that the two of you can come up with an exclusive angle that’s going to work perfectly for this outlet. Make sure they know what you can offer them and bring everything you can: photos, press materials, product samples, let them know who they can interview, what imagery you have, etc. Seal the deal while you can.

From there your follow up should be a hand written thank you note as well as a call or email to finalize any last minute needs for the piece. Hopefully by now you feel like you know them on a personal level and can have some very genuine and productive conversations moving forward.

Lastly, use this time to learn about the person and the outlet and how to best pitch them in the future. Ask if they appreciate phone calls, what they like to see in a subject line, whether or not they open emails with attachments and how far out they plan each issue. This information becomes invaluable.

Remember in all situations to follow up. Sometimes the media needs time to digest it, mull it over, check that there are no conflicting advertisers or run it by their editors. Take the ideas you discussed and condense them into nice succinct ideas and email them or call to follow up.

In-person communication with the media speeds up the process immensely, for everyone involved. At BG, we strongly recommend making the effort to get to know the editors we work with in other cities, whether it’s flying out to New York or driving up to LA and jam-packing the day with meetings to discuss our clients. Just a few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of meeting with 11 top media in Orange County and LA. We secured more than 10 placements for our clients (including multiple placements in a couple of publications) that may have taken us weeks to secure had we not met face-to-face.

If you’re planning a trip like this, try bundling clients together to make it more appealing for the media to give their time. An added benefit to this is that when you meet with someone planning to talk about a new restaurant opening, you may find that in addition, they’re particularly interested in another client of yours and have a way of including that in their publication or a different publication that you might have had no foresight to pitch.

So take every chance you get to meet face-to-face, even if just for a few minutes. Dropping off a sample? Do it in person. Got a great placement that made your client hoot and holler? Offer to take the media out for a drink to thank them for their coverage. Got a pitch that’s taking too long to type? Pick up the phone and if the conversation is going well, ask to get together and catch up. You won’t regret it.

Hotels and Travel Companies Nail It with Social

Key players in the hospitality and travel industries realize they cannot control every online review about their brand. The only way to help manage messaging around a particular hotel, resort, destination, etc. is to utilize social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and more to counteract any negative messaging that may exist about the brand. Read more about which hospitality companies are doing it just right.

New Klout Algorithm Getting You Down?

For many, the recent Klout changes came with a bit of a blow to the ego. This article gives a bit of insight into some of the late great online buzz around the changes and what people are saying. Quite frankly, I think life goes on…

Kraft PR Goes Big for Halloween

No, we are not biased because of the Koolaid brand, but Kraft broke out the big guns this year for its Halloween PR outreach – the company even invented a Jell-O mold to replicate a brain (yummo). All gross things set aside, take a look at the in-depth campaign Kraft rolled out this year in honor of Halloween next week.

*This post is part of Bailey Gardiner’s What New PR Pros Need to Know series, which offers advice, insights and guidance to students and new professionals who want to learn more about the PR industry. Topics and suggestions are welcomed.

As a new PR intern-turned-account-coordinator, I can speak volumes to the importance of internships and the experience they provide new professionals. After occupying the intern corral here at BG for eight months, I learned a few tips and tricks when it comes to making the most of an internship. So after you’ve followed our tips for writing a stellar resume and used our pointers for landing an internship, here are a few things to keep in mind once you secure that internship.

Ask questions.

Whether it’s your first or fifth internship, every organization does things differently. From media list building to clipping to reporting, the process varies so pay attention during training. If you didn’t catch all the details the first time around, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Think about it – it’s better to ask for help and get it right the first time than waste time doing the task incorrectly. On the other hand, it’s also appropriate to ask bigger questions about the industry or what different PR words and abbreviations mean. Soak up as much knowledge as you can.

Think like your supervisor.

As an intern, you will provide support to the team and are expected to complete tasks in a timely manner. When given assignments, make a note of when they need to be completed and how much time to spend on it. Don’t let your supervisor ask you twice to finish an assignment. Think forward to the next steps and offer to help before they have to. Make your superiors’ job easier.

Be strategic.

Think and plan for your future career strategically – research, plan, implement and evaluate. Be aware of your personal goals as an intern. Sit down with your supervisor to define your expectations and theirs. For example, I wanted to build my portfolio by adding press materials and placements I secured throughout my internship . To accomplish this, I asked to help out with writing and pitching and offered to take these type of projects on when the opportunity was available. What do you want to accomplish? Improve your writing skills? Pitch media? Get placements? Build relationships? Learn social media? You catch my drift. Working toward a goal gives your work purpose and meeting those goals gives you confidence.

Build your network.

Back when I was involved with PRSSA at San Diego State University, networking expert Hank Blank gave our chapter some advice that stuck with me. He told us to live a Norman Rockwell lifestyle. What he meant was to meet and engage with people often and face-to-face if possible. The more contacts you have, the more opportunities arise. At your internship have coffee with your coworkers, eat lunch with someone different every day and start building relationships with media.

Work hard.

It seems like obvious advice but hard work shows and pays off. Manage your time. Be efficient. Stay focused. Try your absolute hardest to not chat with fellow interns or stalk your friends on Facebook. Over the summer, I helped the BG team coordinate Opening Day media credentials for the Del Mar Racetrack. Whenever a contact responded with an RSVP, the information was passed down to me, compiled in a spreadsheet and sent to the client. On Opening Day, we distributed more than 200 credentials without a hitch. Take pride in your work. If you play by the rules and keep up the hard work, you will definitely reach those goals.

What are some other proactive measures new PR pros can take at their internships?

You have a great product, you’ve done your research and you’ve hired the best PR agency out there. The ball is in the agency’s court, but it seems to be taking forever to get that first placement. What’s the hold up?

There’s a lot that goes into this “ramp-up” period and it can seem long and discouraging, if this initial planning stage isn’t explained and expected beforehand. I hope to alleviate this misconception and shed some light on everything that goes into these beginning days and why it’s crucial to the overall success of any PR campaign or project. Hopefully, these tips will help speed things along for you in the long run.

Setting goals and strategy:

Your PR company needs to know what your goal is. Is it traffic? Sales? Awareness? Social media interactions? Are you just dying to be on Oprah or do you want to saturate one local market? Are you interested in being featured in the food section or the living section or the business section? Are blog placements more important than traditional media placements? Arm your agency with the answers to questions like these before they even have to ask and they’ll be able to put together a strategy you love on the first try.

On the flip side, if you’re at an agency and not getting the answers you need – then get the conversation going and ask those necessary questions straight out of the gate.

Getting to know the product and becoming passionate:

It seems simple but it can take time. A PR person needs to be as well versed as the client and there’s a good chance the client has spent years getting to know the product. In PR, we don’t just need the pitch, but we need to be able to carry on a conversation about your product and that doesn’t always come easily. Be sure to arm your PR agency with all the tools, information and experiences they could possibly need to be well versed – and passionate – about your product.

Successful PR pros will continue the learning process even after this initial start-up period. Keeping up with industry news and constantly monitoring what’s going on in the client’s world.

Sifting, researching, brainstorming and compiling:

Once you’ve sent all the info you can, realize that it’s going to take some time for the team to sift through it to find what’s most relevant to the media. If they’re really good, they’re going to do some brainstorming and maybe even some research to determine the pitch that’s going to best resonate with the media you want to target. They’re also going to do a lot of research to determine relevant trends, round up and stats that may add to their pitch to ensure that your product has a place in the media’s story. Fill them in on the industry details that they may not be well-versed on. Tell them what trends you’re seeing in the industry, stats that support your position and where you think your product stands out.

Drafting press materials:

The media moves fast. If we pitch a daily publication or TV station and they like the pitch, they expect that we can turn around all the information for tomorrow’s news. That said, all press materials should be ready to go and approved before any pitching begins. Press releases, fact sheets, bios and images, all need to be at the ready. Speed along the process by responding quickly to your agency with information and approvals.

Finding just the right media:

Keeping up with media changes is getting out of control these days. There are more blogs and websites being created every day. Freelancers are working for different publications all the time. Layoffs, buyouts and folding magazines complicate the process and no matter how well-established your agency is, their media lists will need to be refined before every use. On top of that, research should be done to find people at each publication that write about just what you’re aiming for. This may require trips to the magazine store, sifting through articles, blogs and TV segments to determine the home-run contacts that are going to love the pitch idea. Show your agency any media placements you’ve already secured or any example articles that would be ideal. Let them know if you have any already-established media connections and how they may leverage those relationships into quality PR placements.

Writing just the right pitches:

Once the media lists are in place, it’s time to write the pitches. Maybe we discovered that this product has an angle for family writers, food writers and feature writers – that’s three pitches to craft and a pitch is not to be taken lightly. This pitch is like a handshake, it must impress upon first impression. The subject line is a science, the first sentence must be strategic, just the right information must be included and each pitch must be catered to each individual outlet. If your product is especially complicated because maybe it’s hard to explain why it’s different, it’s name doesn’t quite explain what it is or it’s something that must be experienced to be understood, then it’s up to your agency to determine how to get heard through all the noise in somewhere between 2 and 15 seconds (the time the media will likely give you for that first impression).  This may require your agency to come up with a great visual, an event, a video or just a creative way of talking about your product. Let your agency know what you’re willing and not willing to do. If you can allocate funds to creating something to mail or deliver, if you have great video capabilities or if you’re willing to send products to media, make sure your agency takes that into consideration at the beginning.

Agency folks looking for ways to get creative with the pitch, start with a team brainstorm and don’t be afraid to step outside of those traditional media relation boundaries of an email pitch and phone call.

Been there, done that:

If you’re thinking, “we went through this when they gave me the proposal,” you’re right. We did. We probably asked you some of the same questions and gave you a great idea of what our pitches would be and who we would pitch but when it comes time to get things rolling, there’s much more detail involved. The pitch idea is one thing, the actual pitch that grabs the writer’s attention is far more developed. The media list likely included the outlets, not the contacts and their email addresses and phone numbers. The more information your agency digs up, the more successful they will be in placing your product.

So in sum, to achieve the best results for your product, plan ahead, allotting about a month for your agency to “ramp up” and prepare for great things to come. On the agency side, being clear about these ramp-up projects beforehand is key. Letting the client know realistically what your time frame is moving forward, is never a bad thing. After all it’s better to be thorough and successful, than quick and mediocre. If all goes as planned then, the PR placements should come rolling in.

There are times when a pitch is so straight forward that a succinct email to the right person warrants an immediate response. An interview is set, images are sent and a placement is made. Done.

But more often than not, it’s not that easy.

Usually, a pitch that’s going to warrant a great in-depth story is going to require a great, in-depth pitch and email just isn’t always the way to go. So when email isn’t cutting it, here are a few tips I’ve learned to help garner results by phone.

First ask yourself this: Is a phone conversation even going to do it? If not, then ask the media person to drinks, coffee, lunch, or a deskside appointment. Face-to-face time is wildly more valuable and wildly more productive. Just recently, Katie Levien and I set up a meeting with the new editor of San Diego’s Downtown News. The result was an ongoing series dedicated solely to our client, Seaport Village, highlighting a different tenant each month. Had we requested that by email, she may have thought us absurd but our face-to-face conversation led us to this great result.

If a phone call will do, make your call wisely. Is your list of media to call seven pages long? Treat those seven pages one call at a time.  Research the pub and the person to make sure you have a fit and that you know just the way to propose it to the person on the other end.

Then when you do pick up the phone keep the following tips in mind:

• Remain calm and cool. The media person on the other end is likely going to sound like they’re rushing you because naturally, he or she is busy. Respect that, but do not let it get in your way. Remind yourself of this before you pick up the phone so that their quick response is not a surprise that throws you off.

• Talk slowly. Respecting their time can be done with a succinct pitch and a concrete question or request from them. It doesn’t mean that you have to talk abnormally fast.

• Entice him or her to respond. I find it best to start with: “My name is Lizzie Younkin and I work with Seaport Village. Are you familiar with the destination?”

You may get some great info from them to help direct the rest of your conversation, or you may learn that they just did a story on it (shame on you for not knowing) and you can end your conversation before wasting their time. Here are a few other tips and tricks that may help you get the job done:

• Pause. Let them respond and think and talk it through with you. Allow it to be a conversation instead of a pitch.

• Try calling on Fridays. If they’re in the office, people seem to be quite happy then!

• Keep in mind deadlines for different outlets. If you know that one publication always goes to print on Thursday, try calling on Friday or Monday. If you know another is on deadline the last week of the month, respect that week and make your call another time.

• Research new contacts. If you’re not finding the right contact, kindly ask editorial assistants and receptionists to get you to the right place.

• Here are a few key questions to ask in order to get the conversation going in the right direction:

Is this __ and do you cover __?

I know, it sounds so obvious but how annoying would it be to give your whole pitch to the wrong person? Also, if you say what they actually do cover, then they’ll know right away that you have something that likely fits their beat and will be more likely to hear you all the way through. If they don’t cover the beat you’re pitching, ask what they  cover and ask if they know who covers the beat you’re looking for. Consider every interaction an opportunity.

As mentioned earlier, ask if he or she is familiar with your product or brand, or propose your roundup/trend/pitch and ask straight up if they’d ever cover anything like that. Sometimes this isn’t so easy, but if you’re pitching a product for a holiday roundup, the quickest way to the point usually starts with “Hi, this is Lizzie Younkin calling from USAopoly, I’m wondering if you’re compiling any holiday gift guides this year?” This allows you to work your product into something they’re already doing, rather than giving your pitch, and leaving it to them to figure out where to fit it.

In sum, my rule of thumb is to always imagine that you’re sitting across the table from the person, enjoying a coffee. Your phone call should feel like a respectable and succinct conversation. If it’s not working out, but you know you have a great pitch, literally meet for coffee to build your relationship and find ways to work together that are mutually beneficial. While not everyone wants to pick up a phone call when they know it’s a pitch, everyone is willing to pick up a call from a friend.

Last week, while attending the fall meeting of Pinnacle, a worldwide network of independent PR agencies, I visited the Newseum in Washington DC. PR practitioners are notorious news addicts, and a visit to this shrine of the news made sense for our group. The Newseum is jam packed with history, including the first newspaper – a little German publication from the 1600s, a three-story East German guard tower from the Berlin Wall and a retrospective of Pulitzer-prize winning photography that reduces me to tears.

What I couldn’t find anywhere in the museum was one mention of the uneasy alliance between the media and the PR industry. Many reporters complain that those who practice PR are nothing but a pain in their rear, standing in the way between them and a good interview. The view from this side of the aisle is that I don’t believe most reporters/editors could get their jobs done without the help of good PR people. How many story ideas, leaks and photos have been supplied by PR folks over the years? It’s countless. Over the last few years as media organizations have shrunk, their reliance on PR pros to get their job done has only grown.

According to private equity firm Veronhis Suhler Stevenson, US public relations spending in 2010 was expected to reach $5.4 billion. I’ve seen estimates that put the number as high as $8 billion in the US. There isn’t an industry sector that doesn’t have a public relations practice of some sort or another. PR is a lot of things these days, but one of its primary primary purposes has been and continues to be, to communicate to an organization’s publics through the media outlets of print, TV, radio and online. That’s a heckuva lot of money being spent to make sure one’s particular news, point of view or product/service gets media coverage. It must be working or people wouldn’t be spending so much money on it, right?

Did you ever hear of the movie “A Day Without A Mexican”? It’s an indie film about what would happen if every Mexican in California disappeared for a day. What happens is an awful lot of mayhem as business grinds to a halt. I have often wondered what would happen to the news business if every PR pro in America took a week off. Where would all the news come from? The product photos? The intros to sources? The background research? The correct spelling of an interviewee’s name?

The lack of acknowledgement at the Newseum of the role of the professional public relations practitioner in the reporting of the news is a true affirmation to me of how uncomfortable the media are in owning up to their reliance on our industry.

Anyone who has taken a media class has undoubtedly read about George Carlin’s “Filthy Words” routine (commonly known as the “seven dirty words”) that led to the establishment of indecency regulation in American broadcasting by the FCC and the Supreme Court.

Those few words caused a lot of controversy.

Less, ahem, colorful words can cause a stir as well. An article this week by Andy Beaupre on PR Daily laid out seven reasons why the terms “pitch” and “pitching” should be retired. His thoughts on using those two words:

1. It doesn’t accurately portray the relationship between PR practitioners and media.
2. It takes our profession back to a time (either real or imagined) when authenticity and transparency weren’t the norms.
3. It makes us sound dated – “old school” and “pre-social media.”
4. It reflects a one-way communication in which we push an idea onto someone.
5. It assumes the individual you’re “pitching” is familiar with or interested in your product or story.
6. It perpetuates a negative stereotype of pushy, aggressive PR people.
7. It doesn’t help build genuine relationships in which conversation is shared.

The thought hadn’t occurred to me those words could be a detriment to our profession. One part of me wants to say, “It’s just a few words!” but, then again, we all know a few words is all it takes to get yourself in trouble. I think Mr. Beaupre makes some viable arguments; public relations practitioners are (or should be) known for staying current and evolving with the times, so it seems our terminology would do the same.

On a related note, the article hearkened back to a moment a few weeks ago when I was looking through HARO queries, when I realized some people take words a bit too lightly. A writer looking for a source started his request by specifically addressing “PR flacks.” What was confusing to me was the way he used it; he said something along the lines of, “PR flacks: If you have a client that fits, please send a short bio…” He basically used that cringe-worthy term to address an entire industry, and I’m still not entirely sure if he knew the emotion he was evoking by using it.

Coupled with the PR Daily article, this got me thinking about other terms that should be retired from our industry, whether they’re words we ourselves overuse or ones that misrepresent the work we do. Business Insider recently posted a list of “The 23 Most Overused Words in PR” – “leading,” “solution,” and “best” topped the list of buzzwords – and terms like “spin,” “spin doctor,” and “publicist” come to mind when I think about PR stereotypes.

In a profession in which we choose our words wisely, where pieces of writing are edited over and over until they are just so, does it seem like sometimes the opposite is true?

What are the words or phrases you think should be retired?