Some advice for wine PR people

There are two jobs in the wine business that the Wine Curmudgeon does not want to do. One is making wine, which is way too complicated. The other is doing wine public relations, since it means that I would have to deal with people like myself.

I mention this because the recession has not been kind to wine PR people, who are being asked to market wines that no one is buying, and they're being asked to do it by clients who don't always understand about the recession. As noted, I have seen an increase this summer and fall in cold calls from PR people, an excess of samples, and emails about wines and wineries that never would have contacted me in the past.

And the sad thing is that most of this extra activity hasn't helped. Most of the time, I'm no more inclined to write about their wine than I was before all the extra effort. I suppose, somewhere, there is someone who thinks $40 sparkling wine is affordable. But I don't, and it's a waste of time to try and convince me otherwise.

The emails and phone calls have increased over the past three or four weeks, as the holidays have pushed the PR world into hyper mode. But the problem is that these pitches, mostly for the holidays, haven't been very good. So, as a service to my friends who do this for a living, a few thoughts after the jump about what you can do to improve your efforts.

· If you're going to pitch a story and mention something that the writer has done, make sure you get the name of the writer's publication or blog correct. It's embarrassing to read an email that mangles the name of the Fort Worth newspaper, where I'm the wine writer. Which happened, in fact, this week.

· Don't try to fake "localize" a story. I got a pitch this week from someone in northern California who was touting a wine that would be perfect to drink with the Dallas Cowboys, "who are poised to reclaim their postseason glory this season. ..." First off, it's a lousy approach because it's corny. But, more importantly, I'm sure that same pitch went out to writers in the 31 other NFL cities, with the sentence adjusted for local sensibilities.

· Know your market. One pitch that told me that I should interview such and such because one of my competitors was going to interview the person. The only thing that does is irritate the writer who gets it. The media world has changed dramatically this decade, but one thing that hasn't changed is that we don't want to be seen copying the other guy.

· Know your writer. I realize there are a trillion of us out here, but if you're going to pitch something that makes it seem like you've read our stuff, make sure to read it. You'd be surprised how many people don't do that.

Want to get our attention? Tell us why we should taste your wine and be straightforward and concise about it. And you know all those talking points that the bosses came up with? They're more or less the same ones that everyone else uses. Don't do you a bit of good.

That's what the good PR people do, and I'm lucky enough to have worked with most of the best. Because, frankly, if I never get an email again that promises a wine with all the goofy adjectives that are used in a Wine Magazine review, I'll be the happiest wine writer in the world.

wine writing, wine public relations

Comments

[Jim Caudill]

For the record, dealing with you has always been a pleasure....

[Bart Reeder]

I'm not in the wine reviewing or critiquing business (or whatever you call it), but I deal with lots of cold calls as owner of my business. Your points of advice are true for salespeople in essentially every business. You suggest but never quite say that the source of these dumb comments/pitches appears to be the desperation the PR people feel to do some thing -anything- to sell their product. And extended periods of desperation lead to people running around looking like chickens with their heads cut off.

[Jeff Siegel]

I think it is desperation, given the economy (and have written about this -- http://www.winecurmudgeon.com/my_weblog/2009/07/wine-the-recession-and-the-wine-curmudgeon-sample-index.html). What bothers me the most is that they'd have better success with better focused effort, instead of the scattershot approach too many are using now. I got a call on Friday from someone who wanted to know if I had written about an iPhone app for their wine. No, I said, I don't have an iPhone. It took some convincing that that was a good reason for not writing about it.