US tech start-up wordnik made a couple of school boy errors with its  PR this week and were on the recieving end of a well deserved slap down from leading tech blog Techcrunch.  This was probably thequote in the New York Times that did the damage:

Hammerling, while popping green apple Jolly Ranchers into her mouth, suggests a press tour that includes briefing bloggers at influential geek sites like TechCrunch, All Things Digital and GigaOM.

But Roger McNamee, a prominent tech investor who is backing Wordnik, is also in the room, and a look of exasperation passes across his face at the mere mention of the sites.

“Why shouldn’t we avoid them? They’re cynical,” he says, also noting his concern that Wordnik would probably appeal more to wordsmiths than followers of tech blogs. “That’s where I would be most uncomfortable. They don’t know the difference between ‘they’re’ and ‘there.’ ”

Without missing a beat, Ms. Hammerling changes course, instantly agreeing with Mr. McNamee’s take. “I love you for that,” she intones. “I’ll leave the tech blogs out. Let them come to me.” New York Times, Spinning The Web

Oops. Two counts of epic failness here:

1: discussing PR strategy in front of a New York Times journalist is asking for trouble

2: ignoring an influential audience just because they might be cynical about your story. If they’re going to potentially have a public opinion then surely they’re worth talking to.? Avoiding talking to an audience reeks of fear and having a crap product.

The article is worth a read as the discussion of the relevance of influncers and bloggers is certainly relevant in South Africa.