This goes back a few weeks, but I was just turned on to it by Marketing Profs. Chris Anderson, of Long Tail and Wired fame, has finally gotten sick of PR spam artists who do not take the time to fully understand their intended audience and craft personalized messages to pitch stories.
In a pretty ballsy move, he has published a list of “offenders from the last 30 days” on his Long Tail blog. And trust me, there are some big time PR firms on the list. Calling them out is one thing, but thanks to web bots, there’s a very good chance that these email addresses will be harvested by spammers themselves. “Turnabout is fair play” according to Anderson; and I can’t say that I blame him. Even this little blog is hit daily by spammers wanting to trade links.
Just look at how many of the emails are generic addresses – pr@…, news@…, press@…, mail@… In today’s world, you have to communicate in a one-on-one manner. Target your messages towards your recipient’s goals. We’re all too busy to figure out how you can help me.
A few folks on the list have tried to defend their actions in the comments, but it’s clear. When you take the easy way out, bad things will happen sooner or later.
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