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PR Agency Advice: Writing Effective Emails

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So I’d just finished speaking at a Women’s Business Network conference and was breaking down my stuff as quickly as possible anxious to beat the rush hour traffic. There wasn’t a lot of turn around time between me and the next speaker, Elaine Sterling.

I was as far away from the door as humanly possible when she suddenly began her seminar. And the only way for me to escape was to walk right past her, lugging my box, while she was speaking.

I stood there somewhat awkwardly for a moment, me and my box, while everyone else had long since seated themselves. Finally, realizing I was trapped, even more awkwardly put my stuff back down and took a seat.

All I could think about was, “I don’t have time for this.”

I know you know that feeling.

If you’re like most people, all you have to do is look at your email inbox for the “I don’t have time for this” feeling to hit.

And that, ironically, is what Elaine’s presentation was about.

I get about 300 emails a day. You probably get more than you can deal with too. And you probably send a great many out, some of which you just don’t hear back on or you don’t get the answers you need.Elaine’s advice? Take more time. Yup, not less, more. With care.Most people dash off emails like they’re checking items off of a “to do” list. Let’s be honest. We probably are.

And they’re not working.

In fact, some of them are probably even hurting.

I was thinking of that when talking to a friend, another PR practitioner, about an increasingly unpleasant situation they are having with a client. While the executives are wonderful to deal with, the gatekeeper isn’t. She is more concerned about trying to establish her own sense of self-worth than she is about the project or its goals. When she’s in a good mood, she kicks out passive aggressive emails. When she’s in a bad mood, she’s just openly hostile.

Can she check “send email to PR firm about media kit” off of her to-do list? You betcha.

Is she working effectively with the firm to get the right materials? Nope. And that’s probably not important to her, although she’d tell you it is. She’s causing my friend’s firm added work

Susan McLennan

Susan McLennan

Founder at ReImaginePR
Susan McLennan helps brands become better storytellers both through the media and through direct and digital communications. She is an award-winning communicator with a background in television production who has secured media coverage through some of the top media outlets in the world and created content that has won hearts and changed minds locally, nationally and internationally.
Susan McLennan

@SusanMcLennan