what bloggers should know about PR
By Pat Law • Jan 27th, 2009 • Category: Lead Story, The Digital StrategistRohit Bhargava, a founding member of the pioneering 360º Digital Influence team at Ogilvy wrote a lovely, and may I say daring, article about what journalists should know about PR people.
I echo similar views about bloggers. I am in a unique place where I am both a blogger as well as a PR practitioner. As a matter of fact, I was the former before I became the latter.
In my blogger-only voice, I have dissed some irritating bloggers as well as educate marketers about what they should know before they start pitching to one.
Today, in my newfound bisexual voice, let me tell you what you should know as a blogger, about PR.
• I won’t pay you. Period.
Some dubious boutique PR agencies are offering cold hard cash to bloggers to write fabricated reviews of lies for clients. Rumour has it that the individuals from these boutique PR agencies are even offering bloggers guaranteed review jobs from clients in return for a commission cut.
I’m glad I don’t belong to an organization like that.
The idea of paying bloggers to influence their readers is so unethical I don’t know where to begin. Don’t get me wrong, I recognize a good writer when I see one, and I will pay top dollar to engage one for my client’s marketing collaterals. But I will not ever, attempt to sneak a wad of money under the table so as to have some blogger singing false praises about my brands. Blogging was born on the values of authenticity and credibility, and grew popular as such. By diluting the values with bribes, we are killing the blogosphere, no?
• It hurts me too, when I have to change dates and timings.
I know how annoying it is, when dates and timings are changed. As Rohit has mentioned, we probably hate it even more than you. Like the weather, not everything is within our control. When we apologize for it, we do mean it sincerely. We hate having our credibility with you reduced and doing twice the amount of work just to re-RSVP everyone again.
• I didn’t invite you the last time because you were irrelevant to the brand.
Please don’t take this personally. We do have a job to marry the right bloggers to the right brands. Relevance does matter in this ROI-driven world. I love you, your hair extensions and manicured nails, but you don’t make a very convincing spokesperson for erectile dysfunction.
• Invitations are limited.
Having company is nice we know. When we can afford it, we will extend a plus one option. Or sometimes, a plus the entire family option. But it doesn’t happen all the time. There are limits to venue space, catering budget, and invitations slots. Invitation management doesn’t just apply to bloggers, for the record.
• Your promise to me is my promise to the client.
Don’t promise us anything at all, if you plan to break it. While you may not care about your reputation with us, we do care about our reputation with the clients. Your promise to us does turn into our promise to the client, especially if we trusted you enough to believe in it. So when you break that promise, we’re the ones who are responsible for damage control. So please, don’t make a promise you don’t plan to keep.
• I won’t brownnose you because you’re bigger than that.
Being treated like royalty is nice, isn’t it? What was once reserved for Media is now extended to bloggers. You get exclusive press invites, fancy mancy goodie bags, and for some, brownnosing has been redefined courtesy of PR practitioners themselves.
I find brownnosing a bit insulting, really. Sure, the blogger in me would certainly want a goodie bag. But I care more about the content you provide for my blog than that helicopter you picked me up in. What can I say about the helicopter ride on my blog beyond “OMG! I was picked up in a helicopter! OMG OMG OMG!”? Does it relate back to the product you were marketing? No, unless of course, you were marketing a helicopter in the first place.
The helicopter ride was just an example for illustration purposes, of course. It does not exist. My point to this is; pampering of bloggers should not be done to a degree when it becomes bribery. There is a reason why the three-martini lunch died long time ago.
The views expressed on this blog are my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or its clients.
Front page image courtesy of gapingvoid.
Pat Law is a Digital Strategist who, in her time in the Adland, has marketed a range of global brands including adidas, Cadbury Schweppes, Chrysler, Harley-Davidson, Hewlett-Packard, Johnnie Walker, L’Oréal, and Royal Salute. Pat is the Boss Lady of GOODSTUPH, a badass social influence studio, and is represented by FLY Entertainment.
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What bloggers should know about PR. http://tinyurl.com/awr6tg
What bloggers should know about PR. http://tinyurl.com/awr6tg
Thought-provoking article on bloggers and PR by Pat Law http://is.gd/hylF
Great advice from @patlaw on what bloggers should know about PR: http://bit.ly/pWaE
“I love you, your hair extensions and manicured nails, but you don’t make a very convincing spokesperson for erectile dysfunction.”
But what if she has a sugar daddy???
Good one!
Here’s something i’ve heard in the past week: “its a long way there (?!) so if you can reimburse me for the petrol and parking, i’ll be there” – please note that ‘there’ is in the center of town.
Thanks Pat – your bisexual voice provides a valuable service =)
Thanks Pat, as always a well written and informative post
We hear so much around the blogosphere about how PR/Marketing folk should approach bloggers; It’s refreshing to read something from the ‘otherside’.
*On a side note, and i just have to get this off my chest*
I fear if i hover over one more ://URLFAN popup… I’m going to go postal. Urgh.
Hallelujah!
That’s what we’re missing here in Malaysia. Bloggers who understand the role of PR agencies and vice versa. Although with regards to Point 1, I think a clear distinction needs to be made between advertising/advertorials and PR.
What you will see happening more often here is that some bloggers don’t even need to be outrightly “paid with cash” as such in return for a review. I find that most of them are all too ready to give out free publicity when invited to glitzy events or put up at posh hotels. It has come to the point where PR agencies nowadays actually *expect* to receive free publicity when they invite bloggers – something not all of us can promise. I think as bloggers, all too often we feel compelled or “pressured” into giving out free publicity after being wined and dined by PR agencies. I have been in that position many times.
Would PR agents talk shit behind our back if we say “no, I don’t plan to write your stuff” after we were wined, dined and given goodie bags?
Bloggers write about their personal lives and for many of us, events that we attend be it a cousin’s wedding or a product launch are a part of our personal experiences. However, if you were to read the blog posts carefully, you will find that while many generously write about the event, not many share their opinions about the product, especially if the product didn’t interest them.
The helicopter ride may even serve as a distraction away from the product that was being launched.
Pat, this is why I love having you on the team. You GET IT.
I love being part of the team too, T.
Spot on, Hillary. The helicopter ride might serve as a distraction indeed. I’ve read plenty of posts from bloggers talking about their helicopter rides, but nothing too positive about the product at all. Which makes me wonder what I’d think if I’m the client. Hmm. My PR agency knows how to throw a kickass party? I’d rather be part of the PR agency that knows how to market a product. Party planners, I can find off Yellow Pages very easily.
Wow. I have the famous kennysia commenting on my blog. I’m extremely flattered.
My team and I do not, and will not, talk shit about anyone who did not blog about our events. I don’t see why we should. The fundamental purpose of us inviting bloggers (aka the key influencers) to our events is to expose them to our brands and hopefully, affect them enough to want to talk about us, either on or offline. Anything else as a result is a bonus.
I do understand what you mean by PR agencies sometimes expecting free publicity with each invite. While we do not expect every blogger invited to talk about our event, I have to admit the blog posts do affect our KPI. For example “For every 10 bloggers, X blogged about the event“. We have reports like that to churn for each event. So yes, it does matter to us.
That is not to say that we demand blog posts. We certainly do not fancy forcing anyone to blog about us, especially if they don’t wish to. We’re sappy romantic mutts, in that sense. We don’t fancy arranged marriages. We like the idea of having someone fall in love with us.
Pleasure’s all mine, Spleep. How do you mean by the ://URLFAN popup though? Do you mean there are popups on my blog? Gosh I hope not!
Hmmm. Good question, tinkertailor. Will any female blogger admit to having a sugar daddy?
Were members of the press ever really treated like royalty? Members of the press that I know call someone on the phone, show up when there is a need, and write with the most mainstream voice that they can muster.
If you don’t entertain the bloggers, they may do the same. The bloggers are liable to show up for five minutes, eat the food, ask a few questions so they can fill in quotes for an article that they’ve already written, earn the bragging rights, and then leave.
If a member of the press does get special treatment, it usually isn’t the one that writes the article. It is the news director, the spouse of the advertising manager, or the GM. None of these people actually create the content that is broadcast.
I think it is kind of dumb when bloggers think they need to be treated like celebrities. Heck, I think it is dumb when celebrities think that they need to be treated like celebrities. But I imagine that stroking the ego of a certain type of blogger ego might help further the aims of the ad agencies. So what if the blog post focuses more on the “helicopter ride” than the product? The end result still made people think about the brand of the helicopter.
Ah Pat dont worry about me…. i was just whinging about the ‘Snap Shot’ thingys interrupting my reading. Just grinds my goat is all :-\
i think kenny just feels the pressure coz he doesnt understand how PR works. and how those expectations dont necessarily HAS TO translate to coverage. (and he’s the type who is too nice to just flatly say NO)
of coz after every event, a PR practitioner (with extra time to follow-up with calls or emails instead of impatiently waiting for mentions and articles to come out somewhere) will spend the same amount of time “checking on/with” a journo (as much as a blogger) to report to the client on event coverage, even as a courtesy call. kenny and any other persons not used to the PR clogs on their backs will see this as pressure to deliver.
“new” or old media reps shld be treated the same: with respect and courtesy.
i believe it’s a mixture of how bloggers demand to be treated “the same/on par” with journos; how they mistake being invited to go to events as being “so cool”; journos being generally skeptical of self-appointed/publically well-received *writers* will be doing as professional a job as they do and how some clients dont place as much emphasis on bloggers etc.. throw a very hard situation for those involved to manoeuvre.
expecting and handing out money are typical habits of lazy ppl who believe in shortcuts in life, esply in PR. let’s leave that to the advertising ppl.
Good points there. I would like to add another, and that is that not all bloggers are equal (just like not all media channels are equal). You cannot expect me to give you an exclusive or sneak peek unless you have a big enough (or influential enough) readership/surfership for my organisation’s purposes.