8 Comments

Sounds like a knee-jerk reaction from a boss that doesn't understand the importance of staying connected. I hope the account person you work with frequently moves on to a different firm!

Expand full comment

Yah really bizarre....there's gotta be some other reason why. I agree with you - doesn't make sense to me. It would make sense if they were using a paid option and budget was an issue. Anyways, hope you have a great weekend! Happy FriYAY!

Expand full comment

That’s pretty bone-headed, Aly! That’s like saying, “I once had a problem with the Internet, and I decided never to use it again.” Substack is as varied as any other platform. Basically, you learned that the company is run by a luddite who doesn’t understand current media modalities.

Expand full comment

Wondering if perhaps that's not the true reason. Perhaps they're cutting costs or headcount or realigning duties. The person who pitched you - did you ever use any of the content in their pitch (or maybe they didn't have success with ANY of the pitches sent via substack? Maybe after X months of that employee following substacks the company did not find value in them continuing to read/respond to them and they're going to try other tactics. Some places like to micromange an employee's day to day task list - and perhaps this is a case of that - and they didn't want to articulate that, so they placed blame elsewhere. Either way - I wouldn't want them doing my PR as regardless of the true reason, you usually want a vague, not overly negative response - like "We are currently reevaluating our daily duties and tasks to better streamline pitch efforts" or something.

Expand full comment

That is the weirdest thing! It sounds like their boss does not understand what Substack is. Would you get rid of Facebook entirely because you didn’t like your neighbor's post? (Well, actually, maybe I would given my crazy neighbor.) Regardless, it sounds like the wrong solution to an entirely different problem which was likely around the results they weren't getting and unfortunately this will only make it worse.

Expand full comment

This is just my opinion. PR firms very often have a negative atmosphere. Earning press placements is something that's not tangible and there's often "Client isn't happy / What are you doing to make them happy / (blame)." To me, it seems like the blame happens faster than trying to ask the right questions and finding a solution that's more positive. In your case, without having more information, this seems like a case of "we need to do something fast." Time was not taken to focus on a more positive solution and ask more questions. You are part of that knee-jerk negativity. It's truly their loss! Since it's not permanent, I am sure they will be back.

Expand full comment