Press releases

[Rhys]

I just discovered an interesting thing - a place where you can issue free press releases. I have no idea whether it's going to be any good at all but it sure can't hurt if you run a business to get some publicity...

Here's my 1st attempt at a press release:
http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200906/1245094860.html

[AdamW]

Let us know how many news organizations run a story based on your press release.

[D Thompson]

Quote from the release - "At the same time, the quantity of genuine emails has reduced dramatically as people slowly abandon email in favor of the telephone and face-to-face meetings."

LMAO. While you may not be getting genuine emails, which I have my suspicions as to why, I doubt very seriously that people are abandoning emails in favor of telephone and face-to-face meetings and am guessing the opposite is true. Still LMAO.

[Rhys]

All the emails I ever received via my photo website were spam - aside from a few nonsensical queries. I recall somebody wanting me to drive 50 miles (each way) to do a wedding and that they only wanted to pay $100. Heck, logistically that would be impossible. If you reckon at about $1 per mile for fuel and wear and tear on your vehicle plus overheads such as insurance etc it's not even going to make a profit!

I just find email is such a pain in the backside that I don't waste my time with it any more. In fact, I don't even remember the last time I sent or received an email.

[Rooz]

lol you;re nothing if not consistently funny rhys.

"We have therefore closed our email box permanently. source: FPR" (http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200906/1245094860.html)

the source referened is actually the article itself. lol great stuff

[Mark_48]

I just discovered an interesting thing - a place where you can issue free press releases.............

"Free cheese comes only in mousetraps"

I suspect you'll pay for it in one way or another. Did you carefully read the fine print of any user agreement or terms of service when you signed up on this. An excerpt something like, " I hereby agree to recieve by email or other means of distribution, marketing and advertisements from various retail entities or services which may be deemed of interest to you by our organization - Click "Yes" to accept these terms". The exact wording of this may be may vague and cloudy and you may not even have to click "Yes" to agree.

Where would one expect to see these "press releases"? Neither my local newspaper nor my Google homepage had this show up.

By the way, when you purchased your DIY project parts from Asia, was this a face to face meeting or telephone call for the purchase. Or did you use the web (ebay store included) to search for the parts and purchase them from a website without actually seeing the seller in person? Any use of email correspondence in the transaction?

Have a nice day and use your time wisely and productively.......

[Rhys]

Lol. Well, if it does end up being a junkemail run, how many of you think I actually *read* my email or even open my email box to look through it?

As far as appearing in the newspaper or Google homepage, it's a long shot but since it's *free*....

[Csae]

If anything people text each other or Instant message, alot more then e-mails or phone calls.

At least my generation anyways.

I liked your use of the word "we" :D

[Rhys]

If anything people text each other or Instant message, alot more then e-mails or phone calls.

At least my generation anyways.

I liked your use of the word "we" :D

I used to use text a lot until I found it was more expensive to send a text than to make a 2-minute phonecall. In Britain we also used to get a lot of phone scams via text message - things like "sorry I missed you. I left a voice mail for you on this number" where the number was invariably a premium rate number. The rule of thumb was never to call any number that didn't start with 01 or 02.

Maybe I'm getting older and that makes a difference but I just don't have any use for text messages. I do admit to using Yahoo messenger to talk to friends in other countries and Skype to phone friends in other countries.

As far as email - I only ever receive spam these days and thus don't bother to check my email any more. Businesswise, if somebody is going to make contact then it'll be by phone. Email gets so badly filtered by spam filters that it's worthless even before we talk about spam. My sister-in-law for example has a wacky ISP that demands you respond to an authorisation email before it'll even let her receive your emails. That, by the way, is very finicky and I've never managed to get it to authorise my emails - mind after the first half dozen attempts at the wacky authorisation I just said "fiddlesticks" or words to that effect and just saved what I wanted to show her until she next visited. Now imagine a busy manager at a company having to spend half an hour trying to get an email address to work and then multiply that by the number of ISPs that use that system.

Then there's the content of emails. If the sender cannot fill in their telephone number on a form then clearly they're not serious about doing business. Similarly if an enquirer seeks to hide behind email with no phone or face-to-face contact then clearly they're going to be little better than the 411 scammers. I know people are going to say "but there's always a chance it'll be genuine". To be quite honest though in terms of business, I'd rather sum somebody up over the phone where I can listen to the nuances of their speech and work out what they're up to or even better meet them.

I'll give my classic example...

I had an email. A guy wanted photos of a funeral. I quoted a price.
He thought it was expensive and just wanted a photo of the burial. I quoted a price. He thought it was expensive and just wanted a photo of the corpse in the casket. I'd have to make my own arrangements to go to the funeral home (he gave the wrong address and a mangled version of the name of the funeral home). Then he said the guy hadn't yet died but was expected to. Ok fishier and fishier. Then he wanted photos of his daughter's wedding so I quoted a price. Then it was suddenly his niece's wedding and suddenly it was in another state. Then he wanted to to save time and effort by sending a digital copy of my portfolio including photos of brides and corpses to him to forward to his niece. I offered him a face-to-face meeting an physical viewing of my portfolio (while trying not to split my sides laughing at the idiocy of the moron) which he declined (understandably as it was clearly some wacko getting his jollies by being weird). That was an entertaining email exchange over a couple of weeks.

[D Thompson]

lol you;re nothing if not consistently funny rhys.
The cheapest entertainment I can find :D:D:D

[Mark_48]

The cheapest entertainment I can find :D:D:D

A few of my PBS TV favourites.......
Mr. Bean
Monty Python
Fawlty Towers
Wallace and Gromit
Blackadder

It's in the genes or the drinking water :)