Quote: (03-15-2014 10:35 AM)Vaun Wrote:
Quote: (03-15-2014 10:25 AM)Ice Wrote:
Quote: (03-15-2014 09:36 AM)Vaun Wrote:
Unfortunately she probably didnt like your work, or, she has a friend/vendor/cousin that does what you do and she wants to hire them. PR people are a weird lot, they think they are doing gods work, and that their work is 'earned media', even though they are being paid a stupid retainer. Have often found them ignorant, besides connecting with the press or having them ghost write an article for you, which essentially is their core job. But of course they think they are branding, design, marketing, video, advertising, experts...
Sorry to tell you man, she probably didnt like your stuff, but I would keep reaching out every two weeks, with more examples of your work. And since you are a proven entity, and that PR people usually wreck all of their relationships, her friend might not come through and you will be tee'd up nicely to get more work. But dont put your eggs in this basket.
Vaun, thanks for the answer.
Maybe she didn't like the work - who knows. I can only say that the magazine was on a topic I have a lot of expertise in, and written a lot about in the past - and that's also the reason why they hired me to write it in the first place.
I also sent her first drafts of all the articles way before the deadline so that she has time to ask me for any amendments if necessary. Based on her emails she was happy with the content - at least she didn't want to have any corrections made.
But anyway - what do you think is the best course of action?
Sending her new stuff doesn't really make much sense in my opinion - I have already written the whole magazine so she knows my work. I think the content I provided was on a high level, so I won't have any "better" stuff in the nearer future.
Should I call her?
Or should I get in touch with the business development guy again and tell him that I'm not getting any answers back from her?
I dont know, most of the time I have found when you provide excellent service and a product as a contractor, and they mysteriously go cold on you, it usually means they have no money, or have someone else waiting in the wings. So she could have very well liked your work, but may have a friends husband who is also a designer lined up to take your spot. Didnt you say the pr person you originally contracted with went on maternity? Being in your spot isnt ideal, but not entirely bad, if they do in fact have someone else, if they fail to deliver, your up next. Maybe sending her stuff is annoying, I hear you, but I would keep the lines open and find other work in the meantime while this is on a slow burner. Keep the BD connection open too, lunch or coffee/drinks works well for getting candid advice.
Vaun, yeah, the PR person I originally contracted with went on maternity. I just for some reason suspect that she didn't like me and maybe talked with the new PR person about me - but maybe that's only paranoia - I don't know.
But yeah, I will definitely try to get other work in the meantime.
The company is based in another city, so it's not that easy to just meet the BD person for a drink. But yeah, I could travel there for a day, it's not really that big of a deal.
But my question is: should I tell the BD guy that the PR person is not answering my emails? Or will that make me look bad?