Never do anything by email that can be done with a phone call.

Every morning there are emails. For some staff an entire day can be spent replying and sorting emails. Even me, as the lowly work experience kid gets heaps for everything under the sun…‘coffee van is here’...ranger out the front’...Just thought you should be kept in the loop…

One of my tasks was to contact over 60 organisations requesting their co-operation in an advertorial, my initial idea was an email, mail merged of course so that everybody felt special, and I was told…’never do anything by email that can be done by a phonecall…’
I was overwhelmed by the speediness of the response of people who I called first before sending them the details in an email. I had built a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with them. They knew my voice, we had had a chuckle over the cricket/tennis/weather…and they felt compelled to follow up.
A faceless email however doesn’t inspire the same pull…
But there were exceptions to the rule…big organisations where I seemed to constantly be talking to the receptionists receptionist didn’t care for the phonecall.
They were busy.,
They had meeting to attend about meetings,
These people just want a quick email with dot points outlining exactly what you need from them and how they benefit from helping you and that is all.
I guess in public relations where a major part of it is building a relationship in these organisations you need to prove that you will always be punctual and professional with them and know when to stop asking, stop emailing and leave the idea for the time being.
I think the exercise highlighted to me the need to personalise a response depending on the target market and company, because even though they might all be stakeholders under the same umbrella, at the end of the day you are dealing with an individual human being, a real life person-not an organisation, and it is important to tailor the communication of the message to each individual.