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DAAM is an Acronym
By Dean Rotbart
I keep a DAAM file in my office that seems to get fuller with each passing week. It's odd to me that the file even exists, given all the money that companies spend on public relations advisors and the many decades of practice that the PR profession has had in which to get "it" right.
But my DAAM file keeps growing anyway.
This week's Dumb-Ass Amateur Mistakes installment focuses on, of all things, the seemingly simple process of letting a journalist know how to reach you.
"Knock, Knock" No reply
"Knock, Knock" No reply
"Knock, Knock, Knock" Still no reply.
What is this, some juvenile joke? No, it's the sound of me and members of my news staff trying to contact PR people at large, publicly held companies on the very same day they've issued news releases at the very phone numbers and email addresses they have listed on their news release.
At least one out of every ten attempts to make contact is a disconnect.
Why in the world would any company seeking to grab the media's attention put out a news release with a contact person who is "out of the office until three weeks from next Tuesday?" Or why would a corporate spokesperson include an email address for that comes back "undeliverable?"
Dear reader, if by some stroke of luck a journalist actually reads a news release you pay thousands of dollars to create and distribute, and that journalist then takes the trouble to actually want to ask you questions about your release, wouldn't it be basic common sense to make arrangements for someone to be in the office when the journalist calls or to give the reporter a valid email address?
My DAAM files overflow.
Another common DAAM news release practice is to list a senior company executive as the media contact, only to have the reporter call the aforementioned Chairman, CEO or CFO and be told he or she doesn't field calls from journalists.
"You'll have to contact our PR agency," is the common refrain.
Okay, then why not put the PR agency contact person's name on the release in the first place?
As a reporter, I've also had the pleasure of actually reaching the PR contact listed on the news release, only to have her (or him) tell me that she can't answer questions about the release because it was written by the company's lawyers.
This I do understand.
Lawyers, who may know the law but could use more than a workshop or two on media relations, often calculate that by making the contact person someone who is completely out of the information loop, they don't put their company/client at risk of actually having to say anything meaningful to the press.
That means the journalists will have carte blanche to get their perspectives on the news release from opposing lawyers, disgruntled ex-employees, disappointed shareholders and others who have nothing to lose by pontificating on what it is that they actually know absolutely nothing about.
It's truly a DAAM shame.
June 10, 2002
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