Writer/Analyst RSAC Pitching Pet Peeves; Tell Me Something New … Please

Posted by Joe Franscella, 2-25-2010:

RSA Conference 2010 is here, only a few days away at least. Many in the PR trenches are busy psycho-dialing in hopes of scheduling that one last, or in some cases first, meeting with a journalist or analyst so you can prove your worth to your clients. If you have a big name to throw around with some big news coming out at the show then you may be hitting the jackpot, however, if you have small clients that don’t command recognition just based on their name brand, you may be running into some high, high, I mean high, hurdles.

If you have a small client and you were smart about it, you set them up to do mostly prebriefings with news breaking this week, I see some of this going on and it is clearly paying off. If, however, your are chartered with booking the all-coveted show briefing and you are having bad luck, don’t despair, you may be able to interest at least a few writers or analysts — if you know what they’re after and you know how to approach them.

In an attempt to better understand what might secure (no pun intended) a briefing with a security writer or analyst at the world’s biggest security trade show, I reached out to a wide audience and asked them what their pet RSAC pitching peeves are and what might make for an interesting pitch and potentially secure a meeting. Responses were similar all around — “tell me something new, something I don’t already know and something that is effecting the industry on a wide scale; don’t bother me with follow-up calls, understand what I write and for God’s sake, understand the difference between news and marketing — I do.”

Judge for yourself by some of these responses, are you following the rules?

Seth Rosenblatt, CNET Download.com, http://download.cnet.com/download-blog/?tag=rb_content;overviewHead:

The best thing any PR rep can do is research. Far too few actually spend the 30 seconds of Googling required to learn who covers which beats, and this is incredibly important in the complex field of security. Do all political reporters cover the White House?

Kelly Jackson Higgins, Dark Reading, www.darkreading.com:

Peeve: When they bundle all of their security clients together into one email/pitch.

What works: Tell me something I don’t already know, or have something truly innovative to share.

Ira Victor, The CyberJungle Live 10a-noon Pacific, Saturdays at www.kkoh.com, Podcast anytime: www.TheCyberJungle.com:

Peeve: PR people pitching products rather than true hard news stories

What works: Learn about our program, and pitch us stories that would be newsworthy for our audience

Martin McKeay, Network Security Blog and Podcast, http://www.mckeay.net, http://netsecpodcast.com:

Peeve: PR hacks who call and call and call and never leave a message or sending an email.  If you want to talk to me, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you if I’m interested.

What works: Take the time to do your research and make sure it’s something to I’m going to be at least related to what I do.

Dr. Anton Chuvakin, http://www.chuvakin.org, http://www.securitywarrior.org:

Peeve: Blind and uneducated pitches like “Need PCI-DSS compliancy? We can help!” They are my #1 pet peeve since they are both dumb and mistargeted.

What works: New, hot technology that falls under the category of things that I care about worked the best.

Deb Radcliff, Freelancer (SC Magazine/Network World, Online Crime Bites), http://derad.typepad.com/:

Peeve: A pr person I really like just sent the stupidist note.  “I have a lot of clients at RSA. So tell me your schedule and I’ll book them into your schedule.”

What works: Have some relevant market information, be in the pulse, and don’t just try to tell me a 4.0 is better than the 3.5. The other best thing, really try to align the client with the interests you know about the writer. Some try to shove these folks down the throat just for facetime no matter there’s a match or not there.

Jennifer Leggio, ZDNet | Social Business, Quick’n'Dirty Podcast, http://blogs.zdnet.com/feeds/?tag=trunk;content:

Peeve: Based on the pitches I am receiving it is clear that many PR people are not reading my bio or my blog. I’m getting pitches for data center hardware when what I cover is security relative to social networking. Not to mention, I work for a security vendor in my day job and I’ve had my company’s competitors send me pitches assuming that I would honor an embargo, even though I have no past relationship with the PR person. It’s both shocking and disappointing how many companies are sending proprietary news like that.

What works: Simple – make it relative to what I cover.

Sharon J. Watson, Senior Producer, Security Squared, http://www.experteditorial.net/securitysquared/:

Peeve: Agency reps—and they are always from agencies—who clearly didn’t bother to look at Security Squared in any depth to find out what info we cover or for whom we cover it, so they pitch products/companies that clearly don’t fit our profile (and the pitches are always generic).

What works: Tell me how your announcement fits our coverage profile and then tell me you have a consultant, analyst or user/beta tester I can talk with to vet your whiz-bang statements.

Mike Rothman, Analyst & President, Securosis, www.securosis.com:

#1 peeve is PR folks sending me bulk e-mail merge notes trying to get time with me. Oh, kind of like this message.

More seriously:

1) #1 peeve is someone that doesn’t take the time to understand what I cover and just sends me a blast email. No I don’t care about line encryptors and I’m not going to take a briefing at RSA about it.

2) #2 peeve is PR flacks trying to get me interested in their client/company 3 weeks before a show. Last time I checked, the year was 365 weeks and this is a relationship business. If I haven’t heard of you, the likelihood that I’ll take a briefing at a show like RSA (where I have maybe 20 meetings slots the entire week) is nil. So start building the relationship in the other 362 weeks of the year and then maybe we’ll get some time at RSA.

3) To be clear, there is nothing a PR hack can do to get me interested and to take a meeting. I make my own list of companies I’d be willing to meet with about 6 weeks ahead of the show. Then I tier it. I reach out to the folks I feel I need to see there (top tier). Then if someone else on the list approaches me, I’ll probably take the meeting. If you aren’t on the list, you’ve got no chance to get on my calendar.

To wrap up, the personal touch is always best received. Read my blog, follow my research and then make your pitch TO ME. Not some blast email. That ends up in the circular bin immediately.

Ellen Messmer, Sr. Editor, Network World, www.networkworld.com:

Peeve: Assuming there’s a lot of time to meet

What works: Make it clear why the news is important

Mirko Zorz, Editor in Chief, Help Net Security – www.net-security.org (IN)SECURE Magazine  – www.insecuremag.com:

Peeve: What annoys me the most is a *long* pitch consisting of several paragraphs informing me of news I’m very well aware of, as every member of the press should be. Such essays usually contain hideously exaggerated terms such as “leading, unprecedented, best-of-breed, industry defining” to describe the generally very obscure company I should be running to talk with because they someone named Pam told me there are a lot of breaches and that’s a problem. Wow, really?

What works: They should actually read the publications they’re pitching to, find how they do cover events such as RSA and what topics they focus on. These kind of pitches are always short, informative and make my decision easy.

PRs that have in the business for a while should learn how to develop a relationship with the people they’re pitching to. Some of the great ones have been sending me material for years and when it’s coming from them I know it’s worth publishing. They know what I’m looking for because they took the time to find out. It makes both our lives much easier as less time is wasted on unnecessary e-mails.

Rake Narang, editor-in-chief for Info Security Products Guide, http://www.infosecurityproductsguide.com/:

Peeve: I travel a lot and therefore prefer emails to voicemails. As we approach nearer to any major shows every year, I find that tons of voice messages are left for me. That’s the time I do not have time to listen to voicemails as my pre-event meetings and interviews have already begun and therefore I am probably not even available in my office. There’s no way that I will actually have time to listen to all those mostly 10+ minute voice messages.

What works: I am always open to new product announcements. Three things that I love most are products, products, products. If your initial message can summarize some recent attacks or security threats and how your new product can help, then I am already listening. I read all emails sent to me and anyone can approach me directly.

Nick Selby, Managing Director, Trident Risk Management, http://tridentrm.com:

Peeve: RSA is the busiest time of an analyst’s year; there are literally dozens of companies trying to get face time, and we’re looking forward to finding out lots of new information. The problem is, all companies think that RSA is, like, the best time ever to announce a new whatsit. So in addition to trying to meet up and see what’s happening in general, the flacks are all trying to get us juiced about some dumb-ass gimmick they’ve come up with to cut through the noise of RSA. Hello? The NOISE of RSA is why we go to RSA. All these announcements are distracting. What, you’re  so desperate for validation that you think that putting “RSA Conference 2010” in the lede of your press release will make customers say, ‘Oh boy! That product must be really good – they announced it at a conference they paid to be in!’ I don’t think so.

What works: If you truly want me to get excited, give me an embargoed release before the show so I can see whether I care. Don’t flatter yourself that you’re letting the cat out of the bag – no one cares about your drama unless you do more than $250m in business each year and even then it’s not like, you know, national security stuff (no matter how you try to play up that your CTO used to work for the CIA or went to MIT *yawn). Speak ENGLISH in your press releases (Nick Patience at The 451 Group famously said, “I know you have an end-to-end solution…But is it tightly integrated?”).

That is all.

Scott Crawford, Enterprise Management Associates, http://www.enterprisemanagement.com/:

Actually, this seems to have improved quite a bit in the last few years.  There seems to be greater understanding that we simply cannot respond to every request to meet (so don’t take it personally if we don’t). PR pros should also recognize that analysts aren’t journalists. Attention-getting is a non-starter. Our job is to highlight actual value, and we recognize we have to be thorough in covering a broad market, so we will take note. But give us the facts and make them digestible because if you don’t, we will do it for you. If I see that and I have an interest in your area, I will get back to you. We are interested more in the impact of a vendor offering on the market, on customers, and – most importantly – on real issues. Does a “solution” actually solve something? If not, that’s one of my “round file” words.

Again, it’s a question of bandwidth and interest. We simply can’t respond to all requests, nor will we react to every item of “news.” The PR biz in general should recognize that the signal-to-noise ratio is quite high around and before conferences, so they should weigh the risk that an announcement will actually get lost in that noise.  It would be best if 1) they know what we’re currently focused on & likely to respond to, and 2) if it’s actually news. You will help yourself by checking out what we’ve said recently: Twitter, firm websites and blogs should be checked. News really should be news. Product re-branding or incremental version releases aren’t. Innovation is, of course, but that’s a rare thing. Capitalizing on hype will likely get you tuned out, unless the client had already established credibility in the topic or area of concern and has a realistic take on an issue. Saying that a client is now all about <insert hypy topic here>, regardless what they may have claimed to have been all about before, will get you ignored.

Overall: Recognize that you’re doing your client a truly valuable service. Innovators aren’t necessarily communicators. Help your clients understand trends and how they really can address actual problems. Attention-getting gimmicks and manufacturing “news” just to get a client noticed mean you aren’t really invested in doing your homework for your clients. Have some self esteem. Don’t be a “hack, be a professional and do the legwork to know what the real issues are in your industry, so you can help your clients be better perceived for offering real value, and to help them perform better in fact. That’s a real service.