This is a guest post written by Christine Gilbert, author of the almostfearless.com travel blog.
Shameless Companies Trying to Tap the “Blogging Community”
Since the New Year, seems like every Marketing Associate, PR Manager and Community Relationship Builder has been emailing me. Is everyone’s New Year resolution to finally “get into” that whole “blogging” thing?
So I get these emails. They just *love* my site. And they would *love* it, if I would take a look at their site and talk about it on my blog.
Yes, I’m sure you would *love* that. Ain’t happening.
Don’t be Stupid. What Not to Do:
1. Your product has nothing to do with my audience or it’s so similar to an already well known and established service that there is nothing to talk about. What do you think I’m actually going bore my audience (and watch them flee never to return) with your mediocre product? And you can’t work the numbers on this one. If you send it to 10,000 bloggers, you’re not increasing your odds, you’re just wasting everyone’s time.
2. You addressed me as “Dear Blogger”. Or worse your mail merge failed and it literally says: {insert name}. Listen I get that you’re busy, but YOU ARE ASKING ME TO DO SEVERAL THINGS: read your email, review your product, and write something winning about it. If you can’t be bothered to write a personal email to me, then why on earth would I spend my valuable time doing you favors? Because I’m a dedicated journalist who can’t pass up a scoop? First I’m not, and second if it was news, I would have written about it already.
3. Offering to write a post for me, is like offering to act in your own movie, if only someone would greenlight it. It’s not that I can’t be bothered to write my own content– it’s that your product sucks. So instead of fixing that problem, let’s hire some freelance writers to churn out cookie cutter posts, and then I can put my name on it. Are you following this yet? See why this is not only NOT HELPFUL but the most retarded suggestion you could make? (Also, if your content is so good, why don’t you just start your own blog?)
4. Don’t tell me you want a partnership, if you really just want me to shill your product. Since when is a partnership defined as you paying me $100 to write a glowing review of your product? We’re not partners. You want to buy advertising. Just say that. It’s not dirty. We’re adults. Just spit it out and get it over with. What you think I haven’t been approached by other companies? Think you’re get me into bed with a little partnership-talk foreplay? Ha. Just be honest. I still won’t do it, but at least I’ll respect you in the morning.
5. Don’t contact me asking me to contact you. What is this 3rd grade? Don’t want to get rejected? Too late, just deleted your email. I have never had anyone use this approach and then respond with something earth shattering. It’s always, “Thanks for responding, can you review our product?” Um, no and you haven’t hooked me by being vague, you’ve just annoyed me. Good job.
I have done reviews for certain products. Usually I find them on my own, but there have been a handful of PR folks who got my attention.
Be Smart. Here’s What to Do:
1. Read my blog and become a commenter who adds value. One PR Director and I still email each other a year after he left the PR world. He wasn’t just spamming me with links to his content or worse mindlessly gushing over my writing. He read my stuff and left interesting comments over several weeks before approaching me.
2. When you do approach me, give me an idea of why you think your product is a good fit for my audience. Don’t give me boring PR copy. Don’t use superlatives. Relate it back to things I’ve already written. Know my niche well enough to give examples of what my competition is doing. Think like me– I want the best possible blog and to write about things that will get lots of traffic. If you can tell me how your product will help me do this, you’re in.
3. If it’s a tangible product, send me a sample. I’m not going to buy it just to test it. If it’s a service, give me a free account (if applicable) so that I can kick the wheels. Make it easy for me. Bloggers don’t make a ton of money, but we have plenty of influence. Seems like a fair swap for potential coverage to me.
4. Sweeten the pot. Flat out bribing me with cash isn’t going to do it. If I don’t want to write about it, a $100 bucks or even $500 isn’t going to do it. But sponsoring a contest on my blog, where you supply prizes could get you some free positive coverage. Paying my way to an industry event (which I’ll end up talking about and referencing who paid for me) could get you weeks of mentions. Give me interview access with your CEO. Invite me to the HQ. Anything you can do to give me something special to write about–well you’re that much closer to getting a “yes”.
Ugh. I’m exhausted just writing this– because the fact is, 1 out a 100 emails do it the friendly, helpful way. The rest are of varying levels of spam. Time to go clear out the 200 emails I’ve gotten overnight. Yes, PR folks, I’m about to delete your crap… aren’t you glad you paid for that email list?
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Wow - nice and blunt. You're absolutely right, most PR people don't have time to pitch bloggers the "right" way -- cultivating a relationship, commenting regularly and building a presence before actually reaching out.
I used to be that guy, somewhat at least. I couldn't possibly read every blog I pitched. My lists were generated in Cision and my pitches were usually templates. But here's what I did do: I made sure every blog was specifically on target with what I was pitching, spending 5 minutes or so skimming recent posts and the about page before pitching. If a blog didn't fit, it was removed from the list.
It's a grueling, frustrating and rarely rewarding job. And I'm glad I'm not doing it anymore. And I do 100% see where you're coming from.
But here's the question:
If the product/pitch really does fit the blogger's audience and provide value, does it matter that the pitch is generic and there is no prior relationship?
Best,
David Reich
SixEstate Communications
http://SixEstate.com/blog
Posted by: David Reich | January 06, 2010 at 07:38 PM