Stuff PR People Like - Part 2 Reminiscing About Their Rookie Blunders

March 27, 2008 | Stuff PR People Like | Stuff PR People Like

It seems like there are a number of standard mistakes that all PR people have to make. Call it a rite of passage. Here at Sparkpr we love to talk about those painful times “when we first started out.” The days when we were so green and sweet, and to tell the truth some of us are still are a bit of both. The thing is that when someone new to their career makes one of these standard mistakes, they not only have to live through the embarrassment of making the mistake, they then have to listen to all of the veterans in the room talk about what happened when they did it. Stories like, “Don’t worry about it, back when I was an intern, I used to forget to put subject lines in emails and my manager would make me put a quarter in a jar…”

Here are some of the most endearing and embarrassing of the Newbie PR mistakes, crimes we’ve all committed and hope to never repeat, but still love to talk about.

1. Sending emails with no subject lines
2. Accidentally forwarding an email to client (regarding client)
3. CC’ing instead of BCC’ing - particularly horrifying if a senior manager or CEO is involved
4. Dropping reporters on media calls due to confusing conference option on telephone
5. Recalling email messages (that trick never works)
6. Cut & pasted pitches (what!) with the wrong reporter info
7. Ignorance to the nuances of Salesforce vs. Bacon’s
8. Pitching publishers or ad sales people instead of journalists
9. Getting too drunk at CES in Vegas (one of the most common newbie and seasoned professional errors, turns out)
10. Misuse of the “reply all” function
11. Misuse of “highly scalable” PR jargon
12. Writing pubic relations instead of public relations
13. Wearing high heels to the Las Vegas Convention Center

-Pam, Sheila, Jacqueline and Syreeta

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