"Stalker Research"

We were speaking with a subscriber of ours recently, discussing how PR folks can get an edge with busy reporters. "We do the usual stalker research," she said, referring to Bacon's profiles, Google, whether the reporters have their own blog, etc.

I got a kick out of the "stalking" part. Reporters have no idea just how much their work is scrutinized by PR people. In my experience, PR people never let on how much they know about you. They don't want you to know how important you are to them, lest you play hard to get -- or harder to get, as the case may be.