On July 27th, 2011, I attended and moderated a panel at the PR Summit in San Francisco. This blog post is a report being submitted for Intertainment Media, makers of desktop communications and content app, KNCTR, and real-time chat translation tool, Ortsbo.
Pestering bloggers. It’s a PR rep’s time-honored tradition. A client has something to announce or show off, and PR reps go out of their way to get attention of bloggers. But what’s the best way to approach them?
At the PR Summit in San Francisco, myself and four bloggers tried to answer that very question:
- Ryan Singel (Wired.com)
- Jolie O’Dell (Venturebeat)
- Beth Spotswood (SFGate, Huffington Post, and CBS)
- Michael Leifer (Guerilla PR)

David Spark, Ryan Singel, Jolie O'Dell, Beth Spotswood, Michael Leifer
Here are 12 tips and arguments that came up on the discussion of “How to approach bloggers:”
1. Keep it short and sweet – Far too many email pitches have endless copy. Ryan Singel was really impressed with a particular five line pitch. It’s OK if you have more information. Just send it once the blogger expresses interest.
2. Avoid ALL CAPS, jargon, and the term “Press Release” in the subject line – Universally all the bloggers said they delete any emails that have “Press Release” in the subject line. Plus they get annoyed with all caps and industry jargon.
3. Personal is best, but bloggers will accept mass mailed requests – All the bloggers definitely appreciate the personal approach where the PR rep knows the bloggers, what they cover, and what they’re interested in. While they understand the problems with “spray and pray” they are still receptive to mass mailed requests, if they’re on target.
4. Getting on a blogger’s radar is a win – Just because someone wrote about your competitor, doesn’t mean they want to write about you right away. In most cases they won’t, but it’s still really valuable to get a competitive product on a blogger’s radar. Even though it’s not published right away, you need to count that as a win for your client.
5. “Me too” or “not me too” comments on blogs? – The bloggers showed annoyance for people who left “me too” comments on a blog post, a.k.a. a comment that says, “Oh, we do that too” with a link to the business. They find the practice annoying and I agree that blatant self-promotional without additional insight is irritating. But I believe if someone is writing about a competitor in your space and you don’t leave a comment, it’s a missed opportunity. Realize that anyone that reads that post is pre-qualified to being interested in that subject. Take advantage of that real estate and place yourself in the conversation.
6. Don’t call. Seriously, don’t call – Once again, all the journalists agreed that they hated when PR reps call to make a pitch. Their biggest pet peeve is the call to ask if they received the email they sent. One PR rep, Ken Shuman from Trulia, asked, “Why are bloggers so allergic to phone calls? You call us when you need something.”
Ryan Singel responded, “You’re right, it’s not fair.”
7. Urgent requests are OK, but use them sparingly – Bloggers are receptive to urgent requests and respond to words like “Urgent,” “Quick Fix,” or “Time Sensitive” in the subject line. But be judicious of your urgent announcements and requests. Bloggers admitted that some PR reps took liberal advantage of the urgent requests and as a result been filed under “cry wolf” reps for which all future requests are ignored.
8. If a blogger writes your story, a “thank you” is enough – Don’t do anything overly effusive as that will break journalist policies at the outlet. A generous gift, even a fruit basket, and then the blogger feels like they’re doing you a favor and that’s not their job.
9. Media requests can come from anyone – The bloggers don’t care if it comes from a PR person or an executive of the company.
10. Email is the preferred means of communications…but not always – On this panel there was a lot of disagreement as to whether you should use Facebook, Twitter, or some other social avenue to pitch a journalist. All the bloggers argued to not invade their social space and stick to email. Although that decision should be made individual by individual.
In my interviews with people on how they manage their social networks is that each person has a very clear definition, which stays in their own head, as to what each social network should and shouldn’t be used for. If you cross that individual’s unknown line as to what’s right or wrong, then you will definitely offend and possibly get unfriended. So tread carefully in social spheres.
Some are more responsive in the social space. I do know of cases where Twitter is the preferred form of communications. For example, members of the IT security industry have embraced Twitter and appreciate using the microblogging platform over email, explained Matt Hixson, formerly of Tripwire, an IT security company. A message sent to a security journalist via email might take days to get a response. That same request sent via Twitter will probably get a response in minutes. For more on this, read my article, “How to Become One of the Most Respected Companies in Your Industry.”
11. Follow up emails are OK – Bloggers admit that they do sometimes miss emails that they’re interested in, but it doesn’t happen often. They will accept a follow up email, but if they don’t respond, then accept that as a “no.” Bloggers don’t have time to reply to every email with “I’m not interested.”
12. Act like a journalist if you want to talk to a journalist – Marketing speak definitely doesn’t win journalists over. If you write and talk like a journalist, then you’ll be read by a journalist.
Photo credits to Paul Philleo.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Great summary David. Thanks again for running the panel.
Many of
the post session discussions I overheard revolved around these 3 main “aha”
insights:
1.
No
phone. Blog Relations email-only outreach and netiquette is
different than traditional PR pick up the phone, introduce yourself, connect and
try to build a relationship.
2.
Bloggers don't have
time. They didn't realize how overworked and overwhelmed top
level bloggers are due to limited staff and decreasing
budgets.
3.
Lead with the Social
Currency. Relationships are built once you've proven yourself.
Send a great social currency offer first, allowing that to be your entre vs who
you are.
-Michael
Great insights as always David. As a PR rep, it's always beneficial to learn from the journalists and bloggers on how they would prefer to be pitched to help in future outreach. Personal helps, but do you feel bloggers/journalists value a pitch from someone who takes the time to build a relationship first, or do you think in the end it really doesn't matter?
The journalists claim that they didn't want friendships and just professionalism, but honestly, I don't believe it. It's impossible not to create friendships and give preference, at least to listening, to people you've built relationships with.
Excellent Panel David. Glad I could participate and add some value.
Many of the post session discussions I overheard revolved around these 3 main “aha” insights:
1. No phone. Blog Relations email-only outreach and netiquette is different than traditional PR pick up the phone, introduce yourself, connect and try to build a relationship.
2. Bloggers don't have time. They didn't realize how overworked and overwhelmed top level bloggers are due to limited staff and decreasing budgets.
3. Lead with the Social Currency. Relationships are built once you've proven yourself. Send a great social currency offer first, allowing that to be your entre vs who you are. It seems a lot of bloggers want to build relationships but have to be discerning of the method and selection of with whom they engage and invest time.
Another observation that I'd like to make revolves around context. The bloggers on the panel only represented a set of verticals, which were predominately tech or tech investment in focus vs being across a broad spectrum of sectors. Each sector has different cultural incentives, motivations and values, with unique netiquette, manners and dynamics for interaction, opportunity consideration and story sharing.
@dspark:disqus this was an enlightening panel, thanks for being a great moderator. It was great to see you highlight each blogger and his/her personality (Ryan takes time to go more in-depth and likes to make friends, Jolie is antisocial =P, and Beth likes humor). This will help us connect with them better as people.
Well, that only got you insight to four different bloggers. There are lots more out there. :)
These are the useful tps for each blogger. Most of the readers want to give their views about attractive blog post.So each blog requires a commenting system. If anyone is creating blog for expanding the business with the help of business site without the blog commenting option would not be beneficial for e-business. zigseoservices always suggest to use blog commenting option during blog creation. Blog comment helps to get the backlinks.
blog commenting
There are so useful and important 12 tips for bloggers. I have my own blog site. I also visited so many blogs everyday. The main thing is that your comment must be small and sweet.
top gifts
Journalists claim they do not just want friendships and professional, but I honestly do not think. It is impossible not to make friends and priorities at least listen to people, you have established relationships with.
SEO Company
I've just read through various tips on how to approach bloggers and this definitely hit the home-run. I thought I should know it already since I'm a blogger myself but it sure help to get some confirmation. Thank you for putting this together. Ah, yes – seriously, don't call.
I am thoroughly convinced in this said post. I am currently searching for ways in which I could enhance my knowledge in this said topic you have posted here.
I am thoroughly convinced in this said post. I am currently searching for ways in which I could enhance my knowledge in this said topic you have posted here.
the seminar was really awesome, as it really gave a gr8 idea….
gr8 seminar to atten, as they have given some brilliant info about blogging…
Thank you David. Once again your insights are very helpful. I have one question related to the email approach. With our marketing eblast, we are told to put a lot of thought into a concise and direct subject line. What else might we consider when we compete for blogger’s attention?
Barbara, I actually obsess over this as well. For example, the newsletter that had this article didn’t do nearly as well as last week’s article. What I’ve essentially found is that a creative thought provoking headline does the best. So for example, the newsletter I wrote last week had the headline, “Great News! Nobody Wants to Hear Your Story,” did really well. And this week’s headline, “5 Video Strategies That Are Totally Worth Your Effort,” didn’t do nearly as well, I chalk that up the failure of the second one is that you’ve seen those types of headlines before and it’s nothing new. So like everything, more work on creative headlines is what works.
{ 3 trackbacks }