Ode to Ma

With Mother’s Day this weekend I thought I’d give a salute to my own mom who is a natural PR pro and she doesn’t even know it. The apple doesn’t fall far, does it? PR pros spend a lot of money learning how to be great at what we do. We attend seminars, workshops, and spend way too much money taking reporters out to lunch to find out exactly how to pitch them. My mom meanwhile, who has never worked anywhere close to this industry, has mastered the art of the perfect pitch.

Anne Taintor Image -- She knows how to tell it

She figured out some time ago that I only open about one in five emails that she sends me (a far higher ratio than most reporters) and once open, I read only the first couple of lines then move on. Sound familiar? So instead of sending me countless “follow up” emails to see if I paid attention to her first one (aka nagging), she started to get creative. Here’s an example (names have been changed to protect those who we gossip about):

Subject line: Kelly’s up the duff…Josh on Idol…three buffets in three days…

This has gotten my attention quickly. In fact, I open this email before any others simply becaue I need to know what the heck she is talking about Willis. Here’s what’s in the body of the email:

Abridged Version (AV):

• Kelly is pregnant with her third.
• Josh can now say “THIS IS AMERICAN IDOL!” and it’s very cute.
• When are we going to Vegas again?

Unabridged Version (UAV): Bla bla bla bla.

She doesn’t really say “bla bla bla.” This is simply where she puts all of the tired details surrounding the top three points that I usually ignore. But let’s take a moment to see that my mom has instinctively done what reporters have been telling us for years to do: 1) have an interesting subject line that catches their attention so they choose to open the email 2) Don’t bury the lead — give the high points up front 3) follow the key points with all the details to support the story.

Thanks mom for sharing your creativity, you’re an inspiration. Now we just need to get you on Twitter.

Happy Mother’s Day!

PS — I let her read this before I posted it and she a) loved it and b) edited it without my asking. The apple really doesn’t fall far.

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