Pitching to Bloggers

The expansion of the blogosphere has certainly begun to de-value the role of newspapers and magazines in PR and Marketing Communications. PerezHilton.com has replaced OK! magazine for the place to go to get the latest celebrity gossip. Adelaidenow.com has replaced the print version of The Advertiser and you can read the news from all other the world with the click of a mouse button.

The reach is endless and what’s more it’s free. It’s local. It’s worldwide. It’s honest.

In everything that I have read on Web 2.0 and PR 2.0, in my role as Chief Storyteller, PR people see approaching bloggers as too risky and executives are even more worried about bad publicity that could be created by using user-generated sites. However, just because you pitch to, say, a print journo about your product and they take you up on the offer, you can’t guarantee a good write up. And quite often you won’t know what they think until you pick up a copy of it at the news stand.

So what’s the difference? The web is better. It’s an instant review of your product from more than a journo. Even if the feedback is bad, your client can learn how to make it/be better from what is being said…and be proactive and interested in what the consumers think.

It’s about getting to know the demographic and making them a fan of your product who will spread the word to the world. So how do you get your products on a blog site? This is what I have learned:

Finding the blogs is first up:

• Search Google for keywords, set up Google Alerts which searches sites for keywords you enter, check newspaper sites as they often have blogs on specific topics such as health, food, business etc, Technorati is also a good place to find blogs, when you go to a blog look at the blogcall for other related blogs

Sign up to Help A Reporter Out (www.helpareporter.com): these are bloggers (and other mediums) that want to be pitched too Research the blogs before you pitch:

• Ask what is the site/blogger about? Do they do reviews? What type of products do they review? Who’s the demographic?
• It’s worth spending the time researching the blog and trying to find out more: Use alexa.com to get a site ranking

Once you have found a blog you need to think whether they are worthwhile pitching to:

• Check the comments, if there are none or none in a while this might mean no one is reading it

Don’t be too advertorial. Write as though you would to a newspaper journalist. Be personable and honest.

Using these concepts I have had success in getting bloggers enthused about the product and wanting to trial the products. Currently have several bloggers trialling a client’s product – Cheeky Chewz (www.freshattitude.com.au) in the US. When the reviews are up (and hopefully they will be), I’ll let you know.

~ by Nikki Carter on April 20, 2009.