11 things you need to know when pitching to bloggers
By Pat Law • Aug 17th, 2008 • Category: The Digital StrategistHerewith lies in your shaking sweaty palms, a new product your company is about to launch in the MP3 Player market. Deep in the darkness of your evil mercenary heart, you know that the features of this new product surpass the iPod anytime and any day. Alas, the rest of the world remains blinded by their love for Apple’s iPod.
Such silly fools, you scoff.
I need to educate them immediately about my product.
You recognize the growing importance of Social Media, and besides, you’re sick of people treating your extremely expensive personalized direct mailer as junk mail. A full-page-full-color advertisement in the newspaper is dramatic, but it sets you back by fifty grand each time. It doesn’t help that you’d probably need to run 2 consecutive weeks of insertions before half of them remember your award-winning advertisement. And good grief, the egoistic Agencies! You’re not in the mood to hear the melodramatic Suits wax lyrical over the completely irrelevant big idea that conveniently misses the business objectives (but conceptually strong enough to win a truckload of ego-stroking awards for the self-absorbed Agency), and you’re annoyed at how even your own mother takes the time to which your expensive TV spot is aired to release the afternoon’s chicken pie and English Breakfast tea.
scary bloggers
My investment is minimal, if I do it right.
My return on investment is high if I seed to the right bloggers.
Those bloggers are so unsophisticated and naïve. I bet if I give them a free product, they’ll even include my big fat logo on their blogs for the rest of the year!
Oh yes, better tell them EXACTLY what to write about my product. I’m sure they will appreciate my kind assistance!
I wonder if I can force them to abandon their iPods for good?
poser marketing | tim fishburne
Oh you bloody idiot.
You are smart enough to notice the emerging importance of Social Media, and yet, you fail to understand the reason why. Did you even bother asking yourself why? Why do you think Social Media is growing as rapidly as your beer gut? To put it simply, it is because people like expressing themselves. Period. In the past, we had journals, photo albums, and video tapes. Today, we have WordPress, Flickr, and YouTube. Nothing changed, really. People like expressing themselves, in their own words, on their own terms. So how do you exactly reach out to these people online, and hopefully influence them to talk about your product positively?
how we expressed ourselves then
how we express ourselves now
I write here, not just as a professional in the communications industry but more importantly, as a blogger with a dangerous creative license you wish I never had. Here goes nothing – 11 things you need to know when pitching to bloggers.
1. Bloggers don’t owe you a living
It is true that you should treat a blogger like a journalist, and his or her blog as the medium for communication. That said, unlike the latter who is often a salaried employee on the same media that you invest your advertising budget in, the blogger doesn’t owe you a fucking living.
While you can flex your pathetic muscles and pull out half a million dollars worth of advertisements from a magazine because the editor pissed you off with a bad review of your product, you can’t do the same for the former. You’re not the client anymore. They are.
2. Find out who they are.
What do they write about? What do they like? What are they like? How relevant are they to your product? Most recently, I had the unfortunate privilege of meeting a US-based Public Relations company on the premise of a possible partnership with my Agency. They were disturbingly proud of having seed into well-known triathlete cum brand manager of adidas Singapore, Janice Fang… for a technology-based product.
Don’t get me wrong, I like her blog and I’m sure she appreciates sports technology (adizero yo!) but mate, let’s be honest here. I don’t read her blog to find out more about cutting-edge consumer electronics. As desperate as you may be, avoid seeding into bloggers who aren’t relevant to your brand or product.
3. Find out who their readers are.
It’s hard to gauge, I realise, but you attract who you are. Don’t expect the president of a bank whom you’d like to sell your $2 million luxury sports car to be reading a whiny narcissistic female’s blog about manicures, hair extensions and her boyfriend.
4. Size matters. And sometimes doesn’t.
Any tabloid will command a decent circulation rate at very least. Try having a headline that says “The President’s Wife Caught In Kinky Lesbian Act!” and not run out of print without minutes. 50,000 unique visitors a day does help with brand awareness tremendously but don’t forget about brand perception. How do you want your brand to be perceived? Sponsor a trashy blogger who strives on gossip long enough, and I promise you your brand will be perceived trashy too.
5. Want beautiful Shakespeare-worthy reviews? Hire a professional writer.
willy | toonpool
DK from BLOG2U and I spoke of this yesterday, at Social Media Breakfast: Singapore 3. Often or not, we face unrealistic clients who expect Shakespeare-worthy reviews highlighting each product benefit from bloggers. I’m going back to point number 1 here – Bloggers don’t owe you a living. You may feed bloggers with information and guidelines even, but don’t expect to dictate what they get to blog about. If you’re that much of a control freak, hire a professional writer and start your own blog. We’ll see if anyone can be arsed to visit your theatre of pretense.
Good writing compliments a brand and product, but don’t expect the literacy performance of a novelist with most bloggers. Not everyone is capable of writing like Popagandhi unfortunately. And she writes for a living for crying out loud.
6. Bloggers are not cheap.
Unless you’re giving away a $150 million mansion on Beverly Hills, don’t assume that bloggers are hard up for free products. What happened to our famous devil-may-care Cowboy Caleb is a classic example.
Read about how LG screwed up and how Blackberry swiftly reacted, in a mere 2 days. 2 days. Try beating that turnaround rate. Well done, Blackberry.
7. Join them online.
Subscribe to their blogs’ RSS feed. Join them on their micro-blogs, be it Delicious, Plurk, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Tumblr and what not. Ask to add as a friend on Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, and Myspace. Better yet, try to add them on MSN. Before you try to get bloggers to know you, you should try to know them first.
8. Join them offline.
It’s nice to put a face to a name. The next time you hear of a blogger outreach programme, make sure you ‘show face’. Better yet, invest the money and organize a blogger outreach programme for them. Don’t spend too much time promoting yourself to them during the programme though. Not everyone is as interested as you are in your brand. And I say this with utmost honesty.
9. Be transparent and honest.
fish bowl | tim fishburne
If you need reasons for this, you should quit your job. Join the Communist Party instead.
10. Don’t be too eagerly defensive.
Some bloggers criticize based on inaccurate hearsay, unfortunately. Some bloggers are so emotionally charged up, they should be hooked up with Valium. Don’t be disheartened. Your function for your brand within the Social Media realm is not to defend, but to educate and influence eventually.
Treat your bloggers as participants of a complimentary focus group discussion. Truth is, those who bother to talk about you, even if it’s in negative light, are your potential brand evangelists. Those who don’t care about your brand won’t be arsed to even talk about you in the first place.
Listen to what they have to say, address the concerns accordingly, and before you know it, you’ve converted a skeptic.
11. Maintain that relationship.
Sending an email once a year like LG did doesn’t count.
I think this has to be one of my favourite posts on blogger outreach ever. I especially like point #1 and #8, but they’re all spot on. I wish more people understood this!
Hi Pat,
Saw you at SMB3 but didn’t have a chance to introduce. But we managed to wave goodbye thou! Ha! I’m sure we’ll have a chance to intro soon.
Have to agree that the list is just spot on! I’ve been bookmarking quite a number of posts to collect content for one of the posts I’m working on. And this is sure one of the best thus far!
Thank you for getting it
I’ve put in my $0.02 post on The Open Room.
Very nice one Pat, and really addresses the crux of the matter – it isn’t just eyeballs silly, but qualified and interested eyeballs that one should be after. Bloggers are more idiosyncratic (one must be to spend a good part of the day writing after a whole day of work!) and thus need to be understood differently from journos.
Other than the points above, may I add that you also need to have a long-term strategy in engaging bloggers. Think of a partnership approach and get them to be a part of the action rather than just being your mouthpiece. In fact, I would dare say that the best companies would even include bloggers as part of their focus groups or product development teams.
I agree that its high time bloggers get their fair share of recognition for the mileage they give to the advertisers and PR agencies. Point 1 and Point 6 highlights the situation that advertisers and PR agencies still view bloggers as cheapos who are prowling for freebies. They often forget that many bloggers themselves are professionals, who blog because they are passionate on a certain topic or interest in their life, and can jolly well afford to pay for these “freebies”.
Well written piece, the message to the advertisers are spot on too….
Nice article, Pat. It highlights some issues which are already evident in the engagement between big companies and social media users. The big companies need better focus to channel their products to the correct group of audience, while the social media users need to work on their credibility such that the industry and community can grow and mature. There needs to be some evolution in the present approach of companies asking PR companies to get bloggers turn up (no matter who they are) and not sure if they really know the product.
Great post, Pat! I think many Suits just don’t realise that bloggers are in a different league of their own, and cannot be forced to write what you want them to write. From a larger perspective, I think it’s very interesting to see how the blogosphere is really maturing in Singapore and other SEA countries, don’t you think?
Social Media Pimp Daryl, thanks for your kind words. People fear change and people need time. All we can do is to keep on pushing.
claudia, yeah pity we didn’t get the chance to speak although I’m sure the time would come! Were you at last night’s Blogger Hour at Ogilvy Centre? It was plain unfortunate how I couldn’t make it… Grrrrr. See you around soon!
Maybe I should organise a Social Media drinking session. FREE FLOW WHILE BLOGGING LIVE! Hahaha.
Big hug of gratitude, Tania!
Free flow while blogging live seems quite a challenging session! Ha!
Ya I was there. Rohit shared quite a lot of valuable tips during the session. The PNI book rocks too.
Walter, thanks for your great input. Now, if only all clients sing the same song as you do. You’re right, it isn’t just about quantity, it is about the quality of the traffic. I agree we need a long term strategy alongside with short term achievable goals, but reality is such that often or not, we are too impatient trying to meet monthly ROIs to think for the former.
His Food Blog, when you have a couple of famous ones selling out and bastardizing the blogosphere, you can’t blame the agencies for having that misconception. That said, it is indeed silly for agencies themselves to be so narrow minded.
Thank you, JF.
Bernard Leong, ditto.
Hey Debbie.
Nice chatting with you the other time. Thanks for your kind words. Now, how do you think the blogosphere is maturing in SEA and Asia? You’re the expert here. Got numbers to share?
And oh yes, I’m a cheapskate.
claudia, don’t dare me. I go hook us up on free flow with strippers. Hah.
I [heart] brand camp and love the way you’ve hit on the key points (with examples). I’ll be sharing this with our team in the region…thanks!.
Supriya, why, I’m extremely honoured. Was nice meeting you the other time.
Did I hear free flow plus strippers? o.O Great piece Pat! My favourite is #1!
i need a new phone! my phone was stolen recently….
oh well out of topic.
nadnut, thanks! and to your question about men vs women…. I’ll rather be a woman anytime. I get away with many many many things. Heh.
yongwei… uh huh.
Great advice, Pat. I’m glad you raised Point No. 8. A lot of brands make the mistake of treating bloggers like spam bots, but we also have lives! It’s sad that most bloggers are only contacted for their brand-whoring skills.
Hi Pat, correct me if I’m wrong, but I seem to be seeing more advertisement and sponsorship deals for the top bloggers in the region, compared to, say, 1-2 years ago. More companies are also actively engaging bloggers as part of their PR efforts. I’ve seen more than a handful of IT companies hosting blogger sessions for their new product launches.
Debbie, oh yes definitely. We are evolving as a market… from that of uncharted media to that of a potentially profitable one. What do you think will happen to the Social Media space in the next 5 years?
Thanks, Suffian. Actually, we can’t discount those bloggers who are indeed whores, can we?
Hey Pat, nice to see u at SMB3 and wonderful article. I’m giving a talk on Coporate and the New media and would like to invite you to be in the panel discussion. Your insights would be great!!
Hi Willy, that would be my pleasure as long as insurance is covered. Hah. Holler me back with the details would you?
[...] 11 Things You Need To Know When Pitching to Bloggers From Blank Canvas: Pat Law outlines 11 things to keep in mind when pitching your company, product, service, ideas, etc. to bloggers- from “finding out who their readers are” to “joining them online (subscribe to their RSS feeds, connect with them on Twitter)” to “joining them offline” and more. [...]