Working with bloggers is an area RL&A specializes in, and it continues to amaze me that the one thing we always hear from bloggers is that companies and agencies often put little to no effort into their outreach. This is an area we have been looking to perfect, for some time now. We know that many of the bloggers receiving our pitches are getting tons of requests from other firms, yet we hear that many are not succeeding because they are approaching them the wrong way. In the blogosphere, not succeeding can mean getting a negative post – about the product or even the agency or person doing the pitching, which can have dire consequences and remain online for a long, long, time.
- Don’t mass pitch bloggers – they can detect a canned group pitch every time
- Always take the time to personalize your email, which gets back to relationship building and putting in the time to get to know the blogger
- Respect the blogger’s blog, time and intelligence
- Remember the blog is about the blogger, so make sure the product or service being pitched relates to the blogger and his/her audience
- Be completely transparent about who you work for and/or represent
- Don’t try to influence a blogger’s review
When all checks and balances are accounted for, a good, thorough product review is the result and a lasting relationship is established. Here’s a perfect example -http://thedirtytshirt.com/certain-dri-review-and-giveaway