Your last contact cannot be your first contact

I (like most bloggers) am on the receiving end of at least 3-5 PR pitches a day. Some of them are really good and on target, but the majority are really tired attempts. Now that I work on the other side of the aisle, so to speak, I want to give a little friendly advice to PR folks doing outreach.

Your last contact cannot be your first contact.

To make it crystal clear, if I am reading an email from you right now, I need to have heard from you before. I need to have had an intro email or have seen your name on a comment. Maybe you follow me on Twitter (and I follow you back) or you've added me as a friend on Facebook.

Those people who do this right break through the clutter and avoid my dreaded 'bad pitch' folder in Gmail. (I save these emails to show people what not to do.)

WAY too often I get a pre-formatted, "personal" email (I won't even mention the numerous emails that contain nothing but a press release). You know what I am talking about. It usually starts looking something a bit like this:

Hey [blogger name here],

I really love your blog [blog name here]. I think the perspective and insight you have on [industry name here] is amazing. Your last post on [post subject here] was really good.

[Insert press release here]

Thanks!

While this type of outreach does occasionally work, I can immediately tell what's going on. The ones who've taken the time to reach out and connect with me get through. It's more like P2P outreach in that the relationship is two-way and symbiotic. I often follow up with people who do outreach to get more info or see if they have something new for me.

Blogger "pitching" is not going anywhere. Bloggers are gaining influence and share of voice in media. The key for PR efforts is to choose bloggers that truly fit your product/service niche and build those relationships over time.

Once you have a blogger's attention it's important to offer them easy ways to consume the assets. Logos, video and copy should be online, be embeddable and easy to access (this is the premise of the social media news release). This limits waste and maximizes everyone's time.

Personally, I don't think that the wall exists between PR and bloggers the way it does between PR and journalists. We're all in social media and on the same playing field.

What lessons would you add to this for people in PR who do this type of outreach?

Technorati Tags:
blogs, marketing, Matt Dickman, PR, strategy, Techno//Marketer, outreach, smnr

Comments

[Steven Di Pietro]

Same as the rules of Sales in general.

1) Don't PUSH yourself - looks like over-reaching

2) Don't ramble about your product - in this case your 'original idea'. Ideas are not original, only insight is original .... leading to point 3

3) The product is Insight, not ideas. Even humour (and funny blogs) is/are really just a different insight.

4) In the words of Kennedy, ask not what the blogger can do for you, but ask what you can do for the blogger. Serve the blogger and the rest will follow.

5) Be original. I rarely template a business proposal, don't template market a blogger. Being original extends to Differentiation in bloging as it does in business.

So really, blogging is as real as any other commercial or artistic pursuit.

(Good thought provoker Matt - I think I'll blog this for my readers)

sdipietr

[Steven Di Pietro]

One more thought on this.

Relationship selling is all about Seduction. If you reveal too quickly, the allure disappears.

If you want a relationship, seduce... don't just walk up to a lady in a bar and say "Hi I'm 46 years old, overweight, own a house and car, have three kids, once bankrupt, and love walks on the beach... will you marry me"!

Won't work in a bar, and won't work for bloggers

@sdipietr

[David Berkowitz]

Great writeup, Matt.

It's a tough situation for those in the PR business though. On one hand, bloggers are harder to deal with than journalists, as the worst thing a journalist will probably do is ignore the pitch, while the blogger might call out the PR person on his blog.

On the other hand, there are so many more bloggers than journalists, and it's tough to cultivate relationships with all of them. I'll acknowledge that my blog, for instance, isn't TechCrunch. If I get an impersonal pitch but one that's really relevant to what I'm writing about, I'll post about it any day of the week. And for me, this might be a way to start building a relationship with the company I'm writing about so I can get early scoops on stories to come in the future.

Thus, it's a two-way street, and while I agree with all your advice as far as best practices go, I'll live with some of the impracticalities - at least as far as my blog goes.

[Cam Beck]

It's like you've been reading my mind. Well said.

[Cam Beck]

Try #2: Nice post. It's as if you have been reading my mind.

[Ken Kadet]

Nice post, Matt. Social media is offering new ways to build relationships with journalists and bloggers. And in the best of all worlds, we would do so.

But I do agree with David Berkowitz that it is often almost impossible to keep up that level of relationship building. Sometimes the best the poor beleaguered PR agency rep can do -- or will have time for -- is to learn what they can about you and "tailor the pitch" and, if their lucky, have a great story to tell. If that's not good enough, well, so, it won't work for you.

Perhaps the explosion of media outlets represented by bloggers will push corporations to look harder at hiring people to build and establish the blogger relationships and best practices they'll need over the long term.

[Matt Dickman]

Steven -- I appreciate your take on this from the sales side. It's always about building relationships. Thank you for sharing!

[Matt Dickman]

David -- I think you are right from a practical standpoint. It's impractical to think that you can form a relationship with every blogger in the niche you are covering, however we can build them over time. Yes an intro email to a blogger may be a "pitch", but it should be done in a way that can continue a relationship over time.

You bring up a great point about relevance. A big part of the problem that I have with some of the pitches is the lack of relevance. Do I want to hear about a new show on the Lifetime network? Absolutely not. I will, however, as you said deal with an generic pitch if it's relevant. I would hope that the PR person on the other end would follow up to build that relationship.

[Matt Dickman]

Cam -- Glad to hear we're on the same page on this. I think it's a common issue with most bloggers. For PR people it's a learning process and I hope will improve over time.

[Matt Dickman]

Ken -- I agree with your agreement. In the best case, there are personal relationships that grow over time. Resources do come into play though and we have to pick and choose and then come up with the best strategy for everybody else.

I think that the real goal is to focus on the influentials for each client and build from there. It's not always the blogger with the best Technorati rating either. Expanding the radius of influence on each outreach to talk to a wider and wider range of people.

[andrea useem]

Love this topic, as someone who's been on both sides of the fence. i totally agree that it's all about relationships. and when i'm in journalist/blogger mode, that's the advice i give. but being on the PR side: well, there's still statistical wisdom in cold calling. or at least there seems to be -- email is so quick and easy to send: is there any reason not to send a quick note to a blogger/journalist who might be interested but you don't know personally?

i'd love to dig up that column written years ago, by a fortune writer, i think that asked PR people to do incredibly embarassing things in return for mentioning their product in print. he had some hilarious results. i hope i never sink so low

[Jeff Nordstedt]

This is a really helpful post. I recently started a PR-type gig heading up the "Interactive" department for a book PR firm. Previously I was doing more web design and consulting. Now I have a lot more PR responsibilities for a diverse group of writers.

I had thought about doing an outreach campaign to bloggers just to say hello and let people know who I am and what I am up to but haven't done it yet because I have been swamped with client work. However, this post makes me think that taking the time to do that will help make the client work go more smoothly.

Thanks for the insights.