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After the Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors Monday night in Salt Lake City, Warriors forward Stephen Jackson delivered the following press statement in response to the question of wheter he expected the Jazz to come out fighting like they did in the first quarter. (That was a mouthful).

“Isn’t Utah a fourth or fifth seed?” Jackson said. “They had a great year. They’re a good team. They’re not the Atlanta Hawks.”

Point well taken.

Metaphors can be very powerful in getting your point across with the press, but you should be careful about doing it. Just ask Sen. Ted Stevens about using metaphors to describe the Internet as a series of tubes. Google now has 660,000 references to the blunder indexed online. (Make that 660,001).

As PR pros, we’ve all made some embarrassing  mistakes, even sending press releases or pitches to the wrong media list. But some mistakes are bigger than others. Eric Govan, PR manager for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, sent an e-mail titled “Ghetto Prom” — featuring photos of black people in formal attire and commentary denigrating the outfits — to the team’s entire media distribution list.

Oops. Govan was fired.

Maybe it’s because I’m bitter that I didn’t get into the St. George Marathon, but I thought that I’d rant a bit and use a recent e-mail as an example of the importance of knowing who you are targeting.

As some may know, I’m an avid runner. I’m not very fast and most of the time I do it as a social experience — nothing like taking off on a long run with your buddies on Saturday mornings. But yesterday I got an e-mail from a local running store that I recently bought a few GUs who put me on their mailing list. I’m OK with it, afterall I agreed to giving them my e-mail. But yesterday was an example of why you need to know your who you are targeting instead of just blasting a mass e-mail (or in PR’s case, mass pitching).

“Diva Night” is a women’s only event filled with women specific information including apparel, bra fitting, getting into triathlons, etc. Diva Night will be Tuesday night, May 15th, from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at XYZ Company located at XXXX Dr.

Highlights of the night include:

1. “Women in Running and Triathlon” presentation by Nicole DeBoom, Ironman Champion and founder of SkirtSports. Hear first hand the exciting opportunities for women in these sports through the experiences of Nicole DeBoom.

2. Flattering fashion show allowing those present to see what the apparel looks like when worn, not on the hanger. Featuring the latest in running, multisport and active lifestyle clothing by companies like Nike, Pearl Izumi, SkirtSports, Hind, TYR and more!

3. Bra-ology 101 – Learn how the right sports bra should fit, how it can help improve your performance and receive a free bra fitting from one of our specialists.

4. Packet Pick-up for the TriUtah “Women of Steel” triathlon – packets for this triathlon can only be picked up at “Diva Night” or at the TriUtah expo the night before the race. No packets will be available the day of the race. For more details on the TriUtah “Women of Steel” triathlon go to www.triutah.com.

5. Mingle and get your questions answered with Debbie Perry (Co-owner Salt Lake Running Company, Triathlete and Sport Nutritionist), Nicole DeBoom and the women of Salt Lake Running Company.

This will be an evening not to miss. Women of all levels are invited to attend. Please invite and bring a friend. The atmosphere of this evening will be exhilarating! Come feel the excitement of women in running and multisport.

Happy Running,

(I didn’t want to disclose name)
Runner/Manager

OK, maybe they are hoping that I pass it along to my wife or think that I am in dire need a man-zirre or a bro, but this made me mad since this company isn’t that big and the database wouldn’t be too hard to maintain. I started to think about the editors I pitch and how upset they must get is they are a running editor and get a mass pitch from someone about enterprise technology or something outlandish.

The bottomline is obvious: know your editor/audience. But in the fast-paced business of PR when all the client demands is results, it is easy to forget some of the fundamental principles of the trade and by doing this you might be burning a bridge that needs to be crossed in the future. In this case, though I wasn’t a frequent shopper at this store, I’m less inclined to shop there in the future.

Do the new rules of social media apply to media training? Blogs and podcasts allow PR pros to communicate with target audiences in a transparent and conversational way. Should these principles also be applied to media training? Journalists are getting less tolerant of canned answers, and while bridging to key messages in an interview is important, it needs to be carefully done. Executives should not memorize answers, but think in terms of themes and keep the interview conversational.

In the recent Republican Debate, Mitt Romney did a great job. One criticism, however, was that his answers seemed too canned and rehearsed. The example cited was his answer to stem cell research which sounded very scientific and, according to The National Review, “somewhat over-educated”. However, it’s worth mentioning that The National Review praised Mitt’s performance in the debate: “And the winner is: Mitt the Good, the Perfect, the Gosh-Darned Smartest of Them All.” Mitt has recieved extensive media training, mainly from the PR firm Coltrin & Assoicates, during the 2002 Winter Olympics (I worked for Coltrin at the time). While his media training has obviously paid off, his messages still sound a bit rehearsed.

I’m at the end of a successful Boston/New York press and analyst tour. The client I was representing was Gary Kennedy of RemedyMD. Gary is the former President of Oracle USA, former CEO of Tenfold and PRC. Needless to say, an experienced and high-powered executive. During the tour we focused on keeping the interviews conversational while still delivering key messages and sound bites. The interviews went very well.

It’s no secret that new media is changing the way PR pros operate; delivering a strong message in an interview is no exception.