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Most tech press releases are merely boring or irrelevant. But it takes an especially poorly crafted pitch to offend a journo or blogger. Shannon Allen, today's nominee for the Valleywag Flacky Awards managed to write one. Tips for flacks:

  • The pitch e-mail should mention what's being pitched. This isn't a forwarded YouTube clip. It's your job.
  • Don't call the e-mail confidential. It's PR and your whole point is to get written up.
  • When someone actually clicks through, they don't want to hear an autoplay video. Especially if it has nothing to do with the press release.
  • Don't put inspirational quotes at the end. That's asinine.
  • Maybe have a stronger message than "We beat Google to this space." Because a week after its launch, Google's version will outclass yours, and it'll have a bigger user base.
  • Did I say "a week"? I meant "four hours, after which Google's server is crippled by the unexpected popularity."

After the jump, the offending release.

Please check out our latest press release. We are trying to get it in the hands of experts like yourself.

CLICK HERE:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/…

Hope to talk more soon...

Shannon Allen

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Shannon Allen
CEO / Founder
MARQI.com

"Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great, make you feel that you too can become great." - Mark Twain

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