Like (I’m sure) every publicist (at this point), I have Google Alerts set up for my clients. I’m not sure I’ve said it on this blog, but I tell people all the time that I simply couldn’t have afforded to be a freelance publicist even five years ago. Clipping services (digital and otherwise), contact databases, CD mailings, press kit mailings, press kit reproduction, ink cartridges…it just would have been too expensive to do it on my own.
So I get a lot of Google Alerts, which is annoying until I remember that receiving Google Alerts means I’m doing my job. But sometimes they’re just not even close to being about my clients. Here are the two that popped up this morning:
Google News Alert for: “Michael Gordon“
Bytes bus launched
The Western Weekender – Penrith,New South Wales,Australia
Students who take part in the Panthers on the Prowl program are used to having the likes of Michael Gordon around, but they were also paid a special visit …
Google News Alert for: “David Lang“
Savings in Long Island City
New York Daily News – New York,NY,USA
David Lang, the owner of Pet Chauffer, here with “Gozu” a Shibu Uno, who is staying at the facility. Even with swanky condos and glamorous riverside ..
Panthers on the Prowl and a Shibu Uno; wow, I really do represent some stars. Of course the silly thing is that now I’ll get two more Google Alerts for this blog entry, but so it goes.
When I was reading about David-Lang-owner-of-Pet-Chauffer (because sometimes I can’t not click on these things), the Related Articles box on the Daily News website caught my eye:
Ah! An article about unemployed PR people picking coffee beans? That seems ripe for the blog! Unfortunately, when I clicked I saw the URL – http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2009/04/07/2009-04-07_puerto_rican_unemployed_urged_to_pick_co-1.html.
You can reduce drastically the number of inappropriate Google Alerts by qualifying your Alerts specification to include not only your client’s name, but another word (coupled with your client’s name by the all caps Boolean operator AND) that’s sure to be in any article about that client.
ACD