If you’re running your own business and
not harnessing the power of working with bloggers then you’re missing a
seriously big trick! With thousands (or for some people hundreds of
thousands) of loyal monthly readers, getting your product or service in
front of all those eager eyeballs has got to be a no-brainer. But
bloggers are overrun with submissions so just how do you go about
getting them to not only notice your pitch but actually want to write
about you too?
1. Contact them correctly
The “Dear Blogger” email is probably the bane of every blogger’s
life. Not addressing someone by name when you email them is not only
lazy, it’s darn right rude. Why would someone then want to go on to
promote or help you if you can’t even be bothered to find out their name
or personalise your email?
It’s pretty easy to decipher what
a working relationship might be like with a brand through that very
first email. When you write to a blogger without using their name (or using someone
else’s name – whoops!) what you’re really saying is “I want to work
with a blogger… any blogger… I actually don’t really care who they are
or what they do, I just want to get featured on some blogs”. First
impressions are of the utmost importance, and if you’re sending out
these kinds of emails, it will just appear that your strategy is nothing
more than ‘spray and pray’… spray everyone you can and pray that someone is bored enough to want to write about you.
2. Get to know them
It’s important to get to know the bloggers before you contact them.
Follow their blogs, read what they publish and interact with them on
social media. Reply to their tweets and leave (non spammy) comments on
their blog. Get to know them and try and get them to know you. That way,
when it comes to pitching something to them you’re not just hitting
them with a cold call, they might recognise your name or feel like they
already know who you are. If they do they’re much less likely to just
delete your email.
Similarly, if you’re actually reading and engaging with their blogs before you contact them, you can make your pitch much more personal and effective. Keep an eye on what they like, what they don’t like and the kind of things they’re already writing about. It would be a pretty embarrassing to pitch an idea to someone who’d just written about the very same thing last week wouldn’t it?!
It’s also vital that you’re pitching ideas that suit each blogger’s
niche. There’s absolutely no point sending someone that loves high fashion and luxury a pitch about your new line budget sweats.
3. Don’t expect them to work for free
What?! You mean bloggers don’t just survive on freebies and the promise of ‘exposure’? I know, right, crazy – bloggers actually expect to earn money from doing their job, who would have thunk it?!
This seems to be a sticking point for a lot of brands and the amount
of compensation many of them offer bloggers is laughable and often
borderline offensive. Each blogger will have their own set of rules as
to when a post or collaboration is paid for or not, but don’t start the
proceedings by assuming that they’re going to want to write about you
for free… or for a voucher… or a free gift. Some will, but most of the
bigger and more established bloggers will not. You’ll be getting
something out of an association with them so it’s only right and fair
that they get something for their time and the exposure they can provide
your brand too.
4. Don’t disregard newer or smaller blogs
A lot of brands or businesses will instinctively go for the bigger,
higher trafficked blogs for their promotional efforts, but don’t
disregard the smaller ones. In many cases it’s actually much more
beneficial to have a really targeted and engaged audience (who are more
likely to be invested in what the blogger actually has to say) rather
than always going for the one with the most impressive numbers.
Also,
let’s not forget that the smaller blogs will also be a lot cheaper to
advertise on and will probably be more willing to throw extra promotion
your way. While the
bigger blogs are overrun with content submissions, the smaller ones will
be much more excited to receive yours and therefore be much more likely
to feature you.
5. Think about time frames
If you’re working on a seasonal campaign, don’t email a blogger right
at the last minute and expect them to be able to squeeze you in! Most
bloggers work with an editorial calender and have limited spaces for
sponsored content. Most get booked up at least a month in advance and
for any non-paid for content they have a 2-6 week waiting time between
receiving everything what they need for a post and actually blogging it. If you have a very seasonal item or an event you want them to
attend or promote, don’t submit it and expect it to go up the next day!
6. Offer them something new, unique or exciting
It sounds so obvious to me, but so many companies send bloggers the
same old boring, re-hashed ideas and pitches. This just won’t fly!
Bloggers a trend-setters, style-spotters and want to be seen to be
sharing the next big thing.
Have a think about what might entice a blog reader to convert to a
customer. What do they already enjoy about the blog? What kinds of posts
get the most reader engagement?
7. Think about what you want
You need to have an end goal in mind when it comes to working with a
blogger so you can properly determine if the collaboration has been
worthwhile. Similarly, it will enable you to voice this beforehand so
you can work together to try and make this happen. A wishy-washy “yeah
maybe I want to get some enquires” is not going to cut it. Be really
specific and then come up with some ideas as to how you can make it a
reality.
Don’t be afraid to suggest ideas or things that you think might work.
A unique campaign will always go down a lot better with the readers and
be much more exciting to work on for the blogger. Also listen to their
ideas. The best bloggers know their readers back to front, they know
what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t and they’ll likely be able to
suggest ideas or angles that you’ve never thought of.
8. Be personable, but professional
It’s time to kick off those shoes and relax a little. Bloggers are
generally very laid back and most are running this thing, on their
own, from their bedroom or home office. Working with bloggers should be fun, so loosen up a bit.
Some of my favourite bloggers to work with are those that speak to me
like a human being and so we talk like we’re old friends rather than
trying to be all stuffy or hyper-professional. Of course don’t be
over-familiar with your first email but keep things light, peppy and,
most of all, fun. Ditch the generic press release and always keep it real.
It’s funny because as I was working on this post I saw a link to this article by Ash of The Middle Finger Project about how NOT to pitch to bloggers. I
actually chuckled the whole way true because, oh lordy, she hit so many
nails on the head. Before you even think about contacting bloggers to
promote you, do yourself a favour and read it!
9. Present your ideas beautifully
As well as great stories and offers for their readers, bloggers
always want great imagery to accompany their posts. Invest some time in
making sure your ideas are presented in the best way. The most exciting
campaign idea ever will probably fall flat on it’s face if the images
used alongside it are dated, badly composed or just plain ugly. Online,
people’s attention spans are short and a really strong image will always
catch a blogger’s (and in turn their reader’s) attention before
anything you have to say.
In a similar vein, make sure your email pitch looks good. Double and
triple check for spelling and grammar errors and don’t embed high res
images that will take forever to download. I also personally don’t like
those image-heavy, template style emails as, to me, they always looks
like a genetic newsletter or spam.
10. Think about an ongoing relationship
Some of the best blogger campaigns are not ones that are just one
post, or one tweet, or one month of banner advertising. They are an
ongoing drive that builds and gets into the reader’s psyche so they then
want to buy. Instead of just looking for a quick fix, think about
working on an ongoing relationship. Maybe you do a banner advert for a
few months, then a sponsored post or giveaway. A few weeks later you
could throw in some social media love and then wrap it all up with a
post about how the collaboration worked out.
Bloggers that I regularly work with are always going to be my
favourites because they’re loyal and a I ‘get’ what they’re about. It’s
easier for us to come up with fun concepts because I know their blog
inside out and I know what kind of reaction we get from their readers.
So here’s the cliff notes: If you want to work with bloggers think
about a campaign idea that will engage their readers, excite them and
ultimately get your product or service in front of as many pairs of eyes
as possible. Come up with a new idea and pitch it beautifully. Ditch
the generic press release and be personable but professional. A spray
and pray email or an unoriginal styled shoot idea is never going to cut
it and, ultimately, always keep it real.
