March 28, 2007A Really Good Pitch
Filed Under: Pithy Conversation Catalysts
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Lately, we've been chatting a lot at crayon about blogger outreach and good v bad v ugly pitches.
Every week I get tons of really crummy PR pitches for Jaffe Juice and obviously, I - and the fellow crayonistas - am trying to do things in a unique new marketingesque way.
Worse than your typical "please post about us" PR pitch is the "link exchange" one, which typically comes from an automated merge and purge bot (or at least seems like it)
So I get this today, which totally stood out and caught my attention. I'm reprinting verbatim to give these guys props and also the visibility. Pithy editorial in bold
I saw your site this week as I was roaming through ad blogs yeah, right. Funny, I've always liked the number 725, which, coincidentally, would be the exact number of blogs linking to your site if you were to exchange links with madisonavenew.com it's now 733
I represent advertising legend Harry Webber never heard of him. is that bad?, who is credited with such notable campaigns as “Quality is Job 1,” “I’m stuck on Band-aid Brand,” and “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” among others. For the last few years, he’s published a weekly column drawing from his experience in the industry (which includes a Clio Hall of Fame induction). His articles are read each week by tens of thousands of individuals from hundreds of major corporations, including General Motors, IBM corporation, American Express, and industry powerhouses such as Ogilvy & Mather and Omnicom, to name a few. never heard of them
By linking to madisonavenew.com, you will be afforded exposure to this international audience of advertising and marketing professionals. Further, your graphic link will be given a highly visible position in the center of the page, directly next to Mr. Webber’s (sometimes scathing, always insightful) column.myself, I opt for always scathing, sometimes insightful
If you’re interested, please send a screenshot of your link to madisonavenew.com come on, don't you trust me?. In return, we’ll upload your link to madisonavenew.com and send you a screenshot. Or please let me know what necessary steps to take to add a madisonavenew.com link to jaffe juice.
Happy rantings always!,
Playfulness aside, this pitch really caught my eye. It was "mass customization" to be sure, but I felt they took enough time to understand me and personalize accordingly. Of course, all bloggers are ranting lunatics, so I guess I shouldn't feel special now should I?
PS One suggestion...provide hyperlinks in your e-mail.
PPS I checked out the site and really like the theme of the current article, "what would you do if you had to start over from scratch?"
PPPS I just linked to you via PS and PPS
PPPPS Now where is my link?
PPPPPS Why is the site so static? Move it to a blogging platform already! I know a great company to help you...
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Comments
Now, this really is some scheme to pitch crayon to Harry Webber! ;-)
Posted by: Reinier Meenhorst
I didn't say crayon was the company!
Posted by: jJ
Joe,
I've now Harry for over a year and he is, indeed, somewhat of a legend. He's legit. Yea, his site is very static. Always has been . never truly went blog but what he has to say trumps whatever site design choices might have been made along the way. He's active on Soflow and has joined AdGabber, my new social network for the ad industry. Oh damn, now I'm gonna get called out for self promo but whatever.
He works with intelligent people and it's very likely he does know your site well and cherry picked you as someone the offer would make sense to. ANyway, just sharing.
Posted by: Steve Hall
I'll have to give AdGabber a punt on Jaffe Juice. Can you send me a press release, Steve :)
Seriously, send me some info...
Posted by: jJ
Awful stuff, what you did you say back to them?
BTW, I have been doing some thinking about how brands are starting to use bloggers to seed products with - have you been approached? I am assuming that give the reach that your blog has, you probably have!
Posted by: Amelia Torode
Amelia, I thought this was a *good* pitch...really.
I was just having a bit of fun.
They did do homework and the technorati angle was smart.
And I did link to the site plus I found the homepage article valuable.
Posted by: Joseph Jaffe
Hey Joe
If you like that site, try this one!!
www.delivermagazine.com
and please feel free to note the irony of this message bearing in mind the first sentence of the Deliver's leader column!
Posted by: jeremy morris
Mr. Jaffee,
Please excuse the enthusiasm of Ms Tull ("advertising legend"). The only thing legendary about me is that I've worked for more well known hard-asses then anybody still standing. I do enjoy Jaffe Juice and when I finish this note I will have someone put your link on "MadisonAveNew.com" as promised. As for being static, it takes all I can muster to publish once a week. So much dreadful advertising to avoid. So little time. And the whole blog thing. I really do hate the sound of that word. It sounds like something I might spit up after a trot around the block. I prefer rant. And thanks Steve. Your check is in the mail.
Posted by: Harry Webber
Harry, I love your most recent article. Perhaps you'll come on Across the Sound - the New Marketing Podcast as my guest?
Drop me a note: jaffe [at] getthejuice [dot] com
PS Tell Tull that she did a great job - hyperbole and all :)
Posted by: jJ
Mr. Jaffee,
As promissed the link is posted AND your latest book has been added to our library. We will try our best not to plegerize too much. I would love to do your Podcast I will call on Friday.
Thanks.
Posted by: Harry Webber
I won't plagiarize either.
Posted by: harry Webber
I got this too, the latest in a long string of "we should link to each other!" emails for MMM. I've been ignoring them and this one seemed especially just off-the-wall. I never respond to them.
Posted by: Chris Thilk
Chris,
Last week more than 300 MadAve readers clicked on our link banners to visit other blogs. One person’s off-the-wall, is another’s off-the charts. Please accept my apology for the intrusion.
Posted by: Harry Webber
There's something ultra-weird about an established company asking a blogger for a link. I can understand why, but seriously, if a company is reduced to asking bloggers for a link, the blogger will certainly stand to benefit a lot less than the company being linked to will. You never hear of bloggers asking corporate sites to do a link exchange, do you? I doubt it. If a company's website needs traffic that badly, maybe it's time (as Joe suggested) they switch to a blogging platform instead of something static.
Posted by: Chris Clarke
Joseph: Did your fellow Crayonistas mention The Bad Pitch Blog? Feel free to send good and bad ones our way. We're trying to educate and entertain by showing folks what NOT to do.
Posted by: Kevin Dugan
