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	Phil's Blogservations Tuesday, April 12, 2005 Posted by philgomes 7:00 PM It's Not Who You Know, It's What You Know It's Not Who You Know, It's What You Know Bravo to Mike Manuel, who pointed out one of my least favorite questions to be asked: "Who are your media references?" There are only two things in this world that annoy me and one is a prospective client asking for my media references. I know some folks will disagree with me on this, but I just can’t help but think that media references are an antiquated and quite frankly, ineffective way of measuring a firm’s ability to work intelligently with the media. I remember first getting asked that question in 1997 during a new business pitch. Yes, I was less than one year into my career at the time. The VP of marketing actually asked me "Which reporters can you phone up today and have a drink with by tomorrow?" I wish I was kidding. Is this what this job is about? Yuck!, I thought to myself. At that point in my career, I think I remember having pretty good rapport with the assistant editor of AS/400 Systems Journal — a very important trade publication for one of my clients, but not likely to impress a sure-to-be-flamed-out Internet startup with Anna-Nicole-Smith-sized notions of entitlement. I'll go an additional step... Even worse is when a client believes that your "relationships" (I hate that term in the PR context) are now his or her own by some sort of bizarre Friendster-osmosis. This is always a recipe for disaster. If I can be considered "successful," it's not because I'm a nudge-nudge-wink-wink, shoulder-rubbing kind of PR person with a drool-worthy Outlook Contacts database that's ready to be mined for a fee. Upon meeting me, in fact, "You're a PR person?" is a question I've gotten more than once from reporters, analysts, party acquaintances, other PR people, and so on. I choose to take it as a compliment. The PR person you want is one that is credible to the audiences you wish to interface with and/or has the ability to become credible quickly. HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.