Blogger outreach is still a relatively new concept for many marketing and public relations agencies. Some are for, some are against, and some- like Abraham Harrison- believe it needs to be done correctly in order for it to work. Actually, President Chris Abraham is famous this week as Global Neighborhoods profiles Abraham for doing it right.
“Chris Abraham is one of a large handful of PR professionals, who in my view, gets it about social media and PR. Yesterday , he had a decent post on tips for PR operatives trying “blogger outreach.”
What he wrote, makes sense and is good advice for swimmers in the ocean of clueless smilers and dialers who seem to plague those of us who write about topics of interest.”
-Shel Israel
Rule number 1. And 2 and 3 and 4. READ and RESEARCH editors that you pitch. My blogging gig is part time for Abraham Harrison and I still receive ten-plus pitches a day from companies who refer to me as “Abraham,” “Abraham and Harrison” “Abraham and Harisson MISPELLED,” “Jonathan,” “Sir (I am a Madame for future reference…or Princess Jenna preferably),” and many, many other general greetings which make no sense whatsoever.
That’s an immediate turn-off but if I deign to continue reading the pitches I’m often astounded as to what people are sending my way. Given my age and interests, yes personally I may read about whatever music star you’re launching in LA or who’s the next it-kid in the art scene, but Marketing Conversation readers probably won’t. And that’s who I cater to. I want to let them know what Abraham Harrison is up to, what Mark Zuckerberg is up to (that’s a full time job), what the technology world is up to.
Convince and Convert wrote a really cool article recently about what separates bloggers from reporters. Here are some highlights-
- As previously stated, we are generally not full time. Our time is valuable and if your pitch is not eye-catching, I’m sorry to say, I generally don’t read it.
- We don’t want to regurgitate your news release.
- We will scratch your back if you scratch ours. If your event is in three months, talk to us now, not a week before. Build a relationship with us and we’ll return favors a lot easier.
- We want to assume you actually read our blogs. Leave comments. Not just “nice post,” something of value.
Isn’t the whole goal of blogging and online writing in general to create conversations?
Related articles
- Agencies are too afraid of bloggers to do their job (chrisabraham.com)
- Free ‘Twitter for Business’ Webinar on April 30 (socialmedia.biz)
- Write your blog to be taken completely out of context (chrisabraham.com)
- How to pitch bloggers so they’ll post about you (socialmedia.biz)
- How not to treat bloggers and how not to pitch blogs (socialmedia.biz)
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