What are common mistakes made when people follow up a news release? A few things.

1. They focus too much on them, and not enough on the story. That would be what I'd call focusing on the advertising, and not on the publicity. The focus is not on you and your story. The focus is how the story helps the reader and the viewer. That's a pretty common mistake.
2. They also either talk too fast or they're just not even pleasant enough to talk to, so that the reporter can't even really get what they're really saying.
3. They don't have their message clear enough-a strong enough focused pitch that's a one- to two-liner, and it's done. When I was interviewing for Gorilla Publicity on what journalists love and hate, one gentleman out of NBC in Denver said he's been in the business for 20 years, producing television, three times a day-and oh, I wish I could do his voice!-but what he said to me was, they have 10 seconds to tell him why they're news and why they're a good story. If they can't do it, he's off the air.
For more follow up mistakes and how to avoid them, read "Failproof Ways to Follow Up After Sending a News Release or Pitch Letter."
http://101publicrelations.com/failprooffollowup.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=fail-proof_follow-up