As a publisher and “New Media” kind of guy, I’ve been on both sides of the Public Relations game. The big question always becomes where do you draw the line between doing your best to get exposure for your cause and becoming a vapid, obnoxious shill. I think that the biggest dividing line between good PR and bad is laziness.

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, has decided to send a stack of PR agents that have had the misfortune of regurgitating press releases to him into the circular file. How can you keep yourself from suffering the same fate? Well, here are a few tips.

Publishers Are People

You need to recognize that publishers are human beings. When we open an email about your great new project and it looks like we are author number 435 on your mass mailing list, we tend to spend as much time reading your release as you did sending it — about .05 seconds.

Build Relationships

There are a few press people that I love hearing from. They usually send me releases promptly, cut out the stuff I am not interested in and occasionally even contact me when they don’t even need anything. Remember, your job as a public relations person is to build relationships. That’s why I love writing about smaller companies, they understand the power of building contacts and not just blasting out releases.

Do Your Research

Before you send a piece of press, do yourself a big favor and actually learn something about who you are sending it to. Make sure that they are interested in what you have to say, and if not at least try to frame it in a way that highlights those parts of your project that they might be interested in.

Be Prompt

The absolute worst thing that you can do is not follow up. If I take the time to respond to you with questions, please answer them in under a week. I can understand that entrepreneurs are busy but do remember that you contacted me. The best way to end up on my bad list is by wasting my time. It probably goes double for publishers who get a lot more email a day than I do.

Follow Up

Occasionally a really cool project crosses my desk but it gets buried in a pile of work. If you don’t hear from me in a while, send me a follow up. You would be surprised at how much it helps.

Web 2.0 Roundup

As for my friends who also blog, think back to when no one really cared about you. Try to remember what it was like when you wished someone would send you an email asking for some advice or some ink. Try to keep your newfound “fame” in perspective and realize that no matter how annoying, PR people are just trying to do their job. Expect competence but never mandate perfection.

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