I've been reaching out to bloggers to promote things for my clients for a few years now. One of the biggest changes I've seen in the last two years is that it is more common find bloggers who are contacted regularly by companies than when I started. In early 2007, a lot of bloggers I was talking to weren't hearing from other brands. That's not the case anymore. In fact, the FTC recently made a change about bloggers disclosing their affiliations with companies.
The bloggers that brands want to talk to are getting more attention now than ever. I talked about how to pitch bloggers on a recent episode of The New Mediology, but here are three things to keep in mind when pitching bloggers:
- Offer something unique. In 2007, it was enough for me to send a blogger a copy of a book and they would read it and write a post about it. That's usually not the case anymore. Just getting something of marginal value like a book doesn't cut it for bloggers who get them on a regular basis. If you want to have a chance with the blogger, you need to provide them with something that won't be available to the general blogging public. One great thing to consider is interviews and/or access to important people. If a blogger gets an interview opportunity with someone, you're giving them something that's not readily available to the average person, and therefore providing some benefit to the blogger him/herself.
- Make sure they care. A lot of bloggers talk about a few things. A few bloggers talk about a lot of things. Bloggers tend to have a handful of things that interest them, so make sure whatever you're pitching is something they would find interesting. If you're not sure from spending time on their blog, there's a good chance they're not going to be interested.
- Consider the blogger's needs. The worst mistake you can make when pitching a blogger is thinking about yourself first. Consider the blogger's needs and then tweak your pitch to fulfill a need. Bloggers need content, credibility, confirmation, and authority. Ask yourself how you can provide some of those to them in a way that serves both of you.