There's an interesting phenomenon I've noticed on social media. It's happened more and more as I put myself out there with posts, articles, podcasts, etc.

People spontaneously want to get to know me - become friends even! - right at the moment they have a link they need shared with as many people as possible.

😀😀😀

(I'm sure several people reading this who lead large companies experience this at a far greater level, but I'll just share my unique experience here...)

Believe it or not, this email is not intended to be a rant - but an actual lesson, based on experience, of how to properly do PR for any initiative, whether it's a business, an event, a campaign, or a school bake sale.

First, a few caveats:

1. I'm not against people reaching out to pitch their product or services cold. That, in fact, is how I've connected with most of my favorite clients I've had the blessing of working with.
2. I'm not against people reaching out cold to tell me about their new announcement, contest, or campaign, and asking if there's anyone I know who might be interested in int.
3. I AM AGAINST people reaching out cold to get me to share their thing.

Here's the difference:

If you reach out to pitch a product or service, there is a chance that this is the exact thing I need right now but haven't been able to find yet. Or the thing I'm putting off, but will happily talk to you about now that you've proactively reached out about it.

AND

If you reach out to tell me about the launch of your new thing, especially if you reached out because it has to do with, say, teaching English or podcasting, then I appreciate you checking out who I am online and reaching out because it looks like a good fit.

But just consider these types of Sneaky Stranger Best Friend Asks (these are all on the first interaction I've had with the person...):

I thought of you as we're currently conducting a trend report survey...

Would you be perhaps interested in helping us spread the word in your network?

Or this one:

I loved the recent content you posted. I started my teaching career as a professor at your Alma matter so it’s especially nice to see you post this.

...

Are you able to help post some info about our tool? It’s free for students.

I actually find the Alma matter one worse because it attempts to create some sort of goodwill and then immediately take advantage of it.

The goal here is to transact quickly on any perceived attention I may be able to point towards their link, with nary an attempt to communicate a benefit to me.

This involves:

1. Checking out the person and evaluating their trustworthiness, competency, and credibility
2. Evaluating the tool, and checking to see if it's useful, or if it even exists yet
3. Attaching my name to this thing, blindly trusting that I've been able to accurate assess #s 1 and 2 accurately

This is why I prefer the pitch over the Sneaky Stranger Best Friend Ask.

Have you encountered this phenomenon? How do you deal with it?

PS - I've noticed this happens often with new education companies who are reaching out to me as a teacher, or scrambling to get attention for a launch. The short solution for all of this is to build genuine relationships in advance, so that when the time to launch your thing does come, people (1) already know what you're doing and (2) are excited to share it for you. Smart people I interact with on this list play the game this way.

Thanks for reading,

Gerard Dawson