As mummy bloggers ourselves, we quite regularly receive emails, press releases and invitations from other PR people telling us about their clients’ products. What is fascinating is how some people get it so right, while others get it so wrong.
For companies in the parenting sector, getting parent bloggers on your side is a key component of a marketing plan. Much has been written about how to work with bloggers. So we won’t re-hash it all again. But take a read of the two pitches below (which have been abridged to keep identities hidden) and let us know which one you think you’d respond to if you were a blogger being approached by a PR person:
Pitch 1
Addressed personally to me,
My name is xxx and I do the PR for xxxx.
We’re holding our first Mums’ Club champagne afternoon tea meet-up at the xxx hotel on xx September from x – ypm and I wanted to see if you’d be interested in coming along?
I know you’re probably very busy with the boys, your business and your blogs (!) but I thought it may be a good opportunity to get some content. At the event we’re going to be talking about (a nice short summary of what they’ll be covering, why it’s relevant to me as a parent plus details of a little something extra which will help me as a blogger and a business person.)
Ending with a nice friendly sign off.
Pitch 2
Dear blogger,
You are probably wondering why you are reading it and who is this person?
My name is xxx, nice to meet you!
I absolutely love you blog. Parenting is a tricky exercise so writing about your experience is a great way for fellow mums to learn.
I am writing because 1. I am a fan of your blog and 2. I am on a verge of launching a new xxxx.
(What follows was a looong description of what this new thing was).
As a start-up the critical mass is something we want to get to very quickly. We are starting social media development now and would be delighted if you joined our efforts.
Join us on xxx (just enter your email address in the sign up field)
– tell about xxx to your friends or any parent who can really benefit from it
– follow us on twitter
– follow us on LinkedIn
– follow us on youtube
– like us on facebook
I’ll be posting really fun and useful stuff every day, stuff that’s relevant to parents! You are welcome to contribute and link back to your blog!
~~~
So pitch 1 is inviting me to a really nice sounding afternoon with content relevant to me. They’ve taken the time to send me a personal email. They’ve looked into my blog, know that I have boys and run a business and multiple blogs. They’ve kept it short, to the point and haven’t made any real demands of me. They’re offering me something in exchange for my time.
Pitch 2 in contrast, besides being full of typos, has made no effort to know who I am. I understand that. There are lots of bloggers out there and it takes a long time to research them all. As a start up, this company probably doesn’t have the resources to do this. BUT they should NOT then patronise me and say that they love my blog and are a big fan. I know full well that they have no idea what my blog is and they certainly won’t have read it and are absolutely not a fan. This pitch offers me, as a blogger, very little but in exchange they’d like me to tell everyone I know about it and spend my time following them via a number of social media outlets.
In short, the second pitch got an automatic delete. The first I replied to.
So if you’re planning some blogger outreach, make sure you take some lessons from the first pitch above. It is better to reach fewer bloggers well, than many bloggers badly. Trust us.