Comments on: Does Blogger Outreach Still Work?

By: Vikki

Vikki — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 10:38:07 +0000

What if the PR people don’t pitch? What if there’s a place that the bloggers can just go at their own free will to search for post ideas?

By: Andy Hayes

Andy Hayes — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:27:50 +0000

Interesting post! I'm surprised at the low response rate actually. As a blogger whose sites are entirely commercial businesses, I am always working to improve my relationships with PR professionals, so it is a shame to hear that the majority of bloggers fail to see the usefulness of this type of relationship.

Though to echo Cat's sentiments, if you send me emails that are addressed to the wrong person, or worse, to a website other than ours, or a clear complete lack of understanding what our USP is, then yes, you won't be getting a response. :)

Andy

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:21:48 +0000

Blogging is the cornerstone of SOCIAL media. As such, it should be no surprise that the best way to approach a blogger is to make sure that you've got your facts right. The whole point of a blog is to SHARE things you like, your opinions, etc. Why would you share something with somebody if they're not interested in it?

The fact of the matter is that when social media fell on old media's radar, they saw it as something that they could take over and mold to their standards. They were wrong. They didn't realise that they would have to answer to the people. That's why so many huge brands can be found on Twitter, Facebook, et al but only a handful of them are doing it right.

By: Cat Davis

Cat Davis — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:00:20 +0000

As someone on the receiving end of those pitches, I find that most are off topic, mass distributed and completely impersonal. Those pitches go straight to my "no contact" folder before even being read completely.

By: @ehood

@ehood — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:00:14 +0000

Insightful post and a good read for marketers. As someone on the marketing side, I'm finding that more bloggers are actually coming to me to request brand partnerships. However, I feel that a deeper connection with bloggers is essential to truly engaging our target audience - agree with the tips you give here.

By: Tracy in WS

Tracy in WS — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:51:20 +0000

As a journalist who edits a news website that unfortunately still has “blog” in its name, we get some pitches addressing us as “bloggers.” Since we are NOT “bloggers” and don’t believe anyone should be called a “blogger” – if you are a writer, you are a writer, for heaven’s sake, or a photographer, or an advocate, or a humorist, or whatever – we have a unique take on your topic. What I have tended to notice is that the “blogger” pitches tend to be more casual, with a fake tone, an intimation that it’s less serious, just funsies, hey, whaddaya think? wanna help us out? etc. Unless you ARE extremely casual about your writing, this seems to be something of a talk-down, even an insult. My usual response is “excuse me, we are journalists, please take us off your ‘blogger’ list and put us on your ‘news media’ list.” Funny thing, those pitches are full of respect, seriousness, and helpful information. If you are pitching “bloggers,” consider whether you are unintentionally insulting the writers by trying to be chummy instead of professional. My .01999999. Oh, and PS – If you are pitching a geographic-area-focused site (like mine), do some research about the area they cover. We’ve received an increasing amount of pitches, event calendar items, etc., for other parts of the city or region. If you’re pitching a neighborhood-focused site, please stick to the neighborhood. /soapbox

By: Pop and Ice

Pop and Ice — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:46:55 +0000

My blog is obviously personal, has no ads whatsoever, I'm a terrible poster and yet I still get email asking for me to blog about something in exchange for something (not usually money) or they want to place an ad. I don't do reviews and I don't want ads, yet, so I just ignore.

Only one company has even come close to possibly being appropriate (I LOVE shoes! But, still no.), so most of the companies are not looking at my blog even remotely closely which bugs me. Delete, delete, delete.

By: Matt Simmons

Matt Simmons — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:53:37 +0000

I'm certainly not a professional blogger, but I do receive offers like this pretty frequently. What really catches my eye is when the person pitching the whatever doesn't just target me, but knows my audience and appeals to them. That, in addition to altruism, goes far in my book (even if it's not pure altruism, but a symbiosis of sorts).

An example: Nathan Burke, from Aprigo, won high praise from me by the examples he has set for helping the sysadmin community. He gives away a free version of the NINJA software for small organizations when he doesn't have to, he has spent resources promoting sysadmin awareness and doing things for sysadmin appreciation day, and he has highlighted at least one out-of-work sysadmin who came to his attention through a comment on his blog.

So when Nathan Burke asks me to mention something that he's doing, I'm much more likely to help, both because he has a history of helping the types of people who read my blog, and because he has a history of being involved with efforts that sysadmins find interesting and relevant.

That kind of history and reputation goes far in the online world.

By: Smurftips — Doktor Spinn

Smurftips — Doktor Spinn — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:10:59 +0000

[...] Does Blogger Outreach Still Work? – WebWorkerDailyIn my opinion, the problem is that so many approach bloggers as if the were journalist. They are not – even when they actually are both. Bloggers responds to another type of media logic, so let’s start there instead. [...]

By: How To: Get The “Ink” « Mike Lizun

How To: Get The “Ink” « Mike Lizun — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:28:33 +0000

[...] across this blog post yesterday from Aliza Sherman on Web Worker Daily. The post titled, “Does Blogger [...]