l-r: Suzanne Kantra, Rebecca Levey, Nancy Friedman, Amy Oztan. Picture courtesy of Heidi Leder.
Three-fourths of the Blogging Angels had the opportunity during CE Week in NY to speak on a panel about how brands can better work with bloggers. It was moderated by Suzanne Kantra, founder and editor-in-chief of Techlicious.com. (We sorely missed our fourth Angel, Heidi, who was working behind the scenes in her role as Techlicious’ Head of Blogger Community Outreach.)
The panel was amazing, thanks in large part to Suzanne’s preparation. As part of that she had each of us come up with our most important tips to help brands work better with bloggers. While the room was packed, most of you did not have the opportunity to be there, so I’m reprinting our tips here. This is the “tip” of the iceberg, but if you pay attention to these things you will go a long way towards having a mutually-beneficial relationship with bloggers.
Check the blogger out before asking to work with her. Look at her tweet stream (not just the last few, but the last few days or weeks), read her entire “about” page, read any pages she’s posted about PR or advertising. If she’s cared enough to put something in her about page, it means that she expects you to know that about her before you start negotiating. If you don’t have time to do this then you should really be hiring a company that knows bloggers to find them for you.
Figure out if the site is informational or personal. (For example, my youngest is seven and my blog is a personal blog – why would you want me at your baby food event?). Otherwise, you’re wasting the blogger’s time, as well as your own.
Look beyond a blogger’s stats. If you see that a blogger has a lot of Twitter activity, or that she’s on the PTA board at her kids’ school, or that she’s very active within her IRL community — those things count, too. The whole idea of working with mom bloggers is to get a grass-roots buzz going. That means that a blogger’s entire community – both online and off – is part of her ability to get people talking.
Pick bloggers who are genuine fans of your brand and listen to them. They will be your biggest source of ideas and authentic amplification. Build on that instead of trying to get masses of links around the web with no context and no thought.
This is a business relationship. Be upfront about what you expect or want from the blogger and expect to pay accordingly.
A diaper bag is not payment. Sure, sometimes product can count as compensation. But if you’re asking a blogger to attend an event, give you a list of their blogger contacts to invite, tweet about it while they’re there, promote it on their Facebook page, write a post about it, and post to you own website about it as well…well, then a 20% coupon off whatever it is you’re selling isn’t gonna cut it. That’s what coupons.com is for.
Don’t negotiate with what you’re paying other bloggers. If a blogger turns down your offer, whatever it is, don’t come back with “But so-and-so is doing it for XXX.” If the blogger was willing to do it for XXX she would’ve said yes. Telling her what other people are doing it for makes you look unprofessional, and if that other blogger knew you were sharing her rates she’d be pissed that you were giving that info to other bloggers.
Consider the timing. Don’t hold an event you want moms to bring their elementary school kids to at 11am on a Tuesday. Kids are in school. Sounds ridiculous, but it happens all the time. In the same vein, don’t hold a no-kids-allowed event at 4pm on a weekday afternoon. You want Moms because they’re Moms, that usually means they’re “momming” at 4pm on a weekday.
Don’t ever expect a blogger to pay out of her own pocket to promote your product. If you’re holding an event, consider offering a car service or money for a sitter. If you’re inviting a blogger on a trip make sure all of her costs are taken care of. If you’re giving away a product on someone’s blog make sure you take care of sending the product out – do not send it to the blogger and then expect her to go to the post office. This is not “the cost of doing business.” Many bloggers don’t have a steady paycheck – they look at event invitations and opportunities one at a time and consider whether or not the time and money they will cost will be worth it. Consider offering to pay for these expenses before wasting money on more Flip Cameras or pedicures.
Don’t ever tell a mom blogger that being a mom is hardest job in the world. It’s not empathy, it’s a cliché and it’s condescending.
And don’t ever, ever start an email with Dear Mommy Blogger!
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
WOO HOO, I am clapping and bowing at the same time here! Though not a ‘mom’ blogger, I find all these points really useful. (Not sure whether to laugh or cry about the diaper bag point.) Recently I had a potential client send me a link to check out some ‘new info’ on their site. As it happened, I had done a feature post about that specific info about two months ago. When a potential client doesn’t check out your blog before approaching you, it makes them look dumb.
(Your post should be a must-read for all potential clients BEFORE any discussion!)
OK, I’m adding that as an unofficial #12: Before you pitch a blogger, check her blog to see if she’s ALREADY WRITTEN about the thing you’re pitching her about!
And the last line of your comment? Going right into our media kit!
what a thrill it was to see you all on the panel. I found myself nodding through nearly the entire session and loved the information and ideas you shared. Crossing all my fingers, toes and limbs that you were heard. Because what a difference it will make.
Great to see you all! See you again soon!
So glad you were there and got something out of it!
Aside from the fact that I love the Blogging Angels – I opened this link with trepidation. There’s been alot of conversation in the twitterverse about the often antagonistic relationship bw PR pros and bloggers – mom bloggers and otherwise.
What the PR industry is slooooowly learning is: a one size fits all approach doesn’t suit pitching bloggers. You actually need to do your homework.
The points above and not only great – but useful – no matter how long you’ve been in the industry.
Now, Angels…for your next assignment: what are the rules newbie mom bloggers need to understand when learning how to work with PR pros???
Thank you SO MUCH for your comments! I knew we’d get a lot of appreciative nods from bloggers, but I’m glad to hear praise from a PR person. Phew!
As for our assignment, I love it! I’ll get to work. I’d love your input, if you have any pet peeves, not just about new bloggers but also the seasoned ones.
Love to! Let me put on my thinking cap…
Also, here’s another two to add to the list above:
1. Treat a blogger the same way you would a journalist. TOnce I determine the ‘seriousness’ of a blogger – I pursue him/her as a potential influencer. The issue here is bloggers operate by a non-existant code of ethics – yes there is disclosure, but there’s also fact-checking too. Unlike journalists, bloggers do not have to adhere to an industry-wide set of ethics…so, there is a wide-range of skill-sets out there. And many are flying by the seat of their pants…
Ooh, I don’t know about that one – at least the wording. I run from the word “journalist” until I’m out of breath. I’m definitely a blogger. In fact, I cringe every time I see the term “citizen journalist.” If I were a real journalist I would be so insulted!
But I totally agree about fact checking and ethics. I run into it all the time with sponsored posts and ambassadorships. Is it my job to independently research the info company X is giving me? Does Catherine Zeta Jones make sure the phone company can back up all of its claims?
Let me clarify: PR pros have a particular rigour when working with journalists. They take them seriously, they would never send a mass email addressed “Dear Journalist”…a PR pro will do their homework on the journo’s beat, what they write about, their POV, what kind of pitch would interest them…
So when I say “treat a blogger like a journalist” I mean the same professional rigour should apply to this group of writers/influencers..
Gotcha! Totally agree and wish it were so. On the other hand I have to admit that I’ve had some trouble switching from doing this as a part-time hobby to running it as a business. I still slip too easily into excuse mode, especially when I get really busy with family stuff. But then at Blissdom Shelly Kramer made the point that you should never let personal stuff get in the way of doing the job you said you could do, and that hit me like a ton of bricks. When I worked in an office or a hotel I never had that excuse, but somehow when I’m working from my couch it’s so much easier to let the other stuff seep in and make me act unprofessionally.
Well, Shelly Kramer is one smart cookie. And yes, if you were sitting in a business office environment, you’d would be a lot less likely to think,”hmmm I need to go grocery shopping now, I’ll do this task later.” Basically, you order take-out and get the work done.
Found myself nodding throughout this. An addition, addressing the email with my correct name is always a plus too! I get at least one pitch a day where they use a form letter and don’t change the name on top.
I love those. Sometimes I sign my name as the name they used, but I doubt if they notice.
That really highlights what Nancy said in the panel, though. If you’re not going to send a personal message, just make it as anonymous as possible. I would rather just have a press release than a form letter.
I got an email from a PR rep that said “Dear Kevin”
Yeah, my name is Kerri.
Thanks.
Ohhh and high resolution photos are not compensation. And if I just got your product today, your review is not going to be up by Friday.
“Don’t ever expect a blogger to pay out of her own pocket to promote your product.” is my favorite! So often I would spend over $40 in travel costs to go to an event where I felt wasn’t a good fit for my blog. Now I request a reimbursement whenever i attend an event b/c if they have enough cash to host events at posh hotels and have it catered, I know they can afford $40 to have me at their event and blog about it on my site. I think it’s fair.
One of the first events I ever went to was for a tooth product. They picked me and my kids up in a car, and had the car wait during the three-hour event, which was held at a swanky kids’ gym. When I had to sign for the car I almost fell over – it was $450! For (at that time) one-ninth of that I would’ve taken the subway and given the product a nice write-up, because it was a good product. But honestly there was nothing at the event that I couldn’t have learned in an email.
I’m not a blogger, but this made me laugh! Sounds like a great list—but I am wondering why telling someone being a mom is the hardest job is condescending? Sure, you’re right about the cliche part, but I don’t know about the rest…
It’s not the phrase itself that’s condescending, it’s the context. It’s always followed by how their product is going to make your job so much easier and solve your problems. It’s not, and it’s a bad approach. But maybe Rebecca can jump in – she’s the one who absolutely HATES it!
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