The screenshot above displays some comment spam I received on this blog yesterday. I’ve redacted any information that identifies the spammer and the spammer’s client. I’m not interested in outing anyone but I am interested in practices that are detrimental to my profession.
The spammer copy and pasted a press release in its entirety and posted it as a comment to a blog post from 2006 announcing the launch of AliShops.com.
The press release was accompanied by a short note: “Please post to your blog, thank you!” The release itself announced Black Friday specials from some area restaurants.
I don’t want to pull the Righteous Rage of a Blogger act, but on the other hand, I don’t even know what led this person to believe that I’d want to post a press release. I’ve never done so in the past. The blog post to which she submitted the comment spam was only peripherally related to the press release. It was about the launch of a shopping Web site and since the release touted Black Friday food specials, I guess that was close enough.
Yes, I write about restaurant marketing and about shopping in relation to retail marketing but it should be clear from a mere glance that this blog is not about shopping or eating.
I’m not complaining about the blind pitch. Unfortunately, I get them all the time but that is why the delete button was invented. What bothers me is that this pitch came from a firm that has been at it for eight years and one that promotes their PR 2.0 expertise. Eight years is plenty enough time to learn Blogger Relations 101.
Beyond the obvious disservice done to the client in the present case, I guess I find it a little breathtaking that anyone with a few years of experience would not know the fundamentals.