Cutline Speaks

Spreading the Wealth

posted by The Cutline Team on August 27, 2008

According to quite a few bloggers out there, only a very small group of PR professionals "get it" and "the rest of the folks in this line of work say they get it, but just don't."

We Cutliners take our relationships with bloggers seriously and believe all of these tips are very important. Therefore, I'd like to take this opportunity to point my fellow PR professionals in the direction of some great online resources that advise us on how to successfully pitch bloggers.

The "three R's" are what bloggers say PR professionals should always keep in mind when pitching them. I've personally seen quite a bit of positive results in my blogger outreach by following this advice - and established some great long-term blogger relationships in the process - so I know it works.

Here's a quick intro to the three R's according to David Wescott - and a few of the ways in which I followed them:

Respect - Read their blog. REALLY read their blog before pitching them. Do not blind pitch. Too often they feel PR professionals pitch them without really knowing what they're interested in and what they care about. Also, know their name (and spell it right.) They consider their blogs their personal space and if you can't even get their name right they think you don't know what you're doing.

Relevance - Make sure the product or service you're pitching is relevant to what that blogger is interested in and writes about. If you're not sure, or you have more than one option available - give them choices. According to some bloggers, PR professionals pitch them with irrelevant stories all the time, and this just turns them off to any of your future emails. Also, make sure your story is not only relevant in subject matter, but also geographically. A blogger doesn't have the backing of a huge publication to fly them across the country to cover your story.

Relationships - Bloggers don't like to get press releases. Most of them use their personal email address through their blog, so essentially when you do this, they feel like they're getting spammed. Personalize your email, get their name right, pitch them with subject matters that they care about and use your email as an opportunity to lay the foundation for a long-lasting relationship with that blogger - personal and professional. They want to know that you're interested and care about some of the things they're interested and care about. Attempt to make that connection rather than just "sell" a story.

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