How do you Pitch to a Blogger?

Posted on August 30th, 2006 in: Social Media, Voice of the Customer

How do you Pitch to a Blogger?

It’s pretty simple, you don’t.

I get pitched to blog about products via email, comments, and in person. People send me free products (I even got a nice bag of alcohol) and some companies treat me like a web industry analyst.

“Pitching” is a horrible term to use for communicating with someone that you’re trying to build a relationship with. It means you ‘throw’ something at them, and you hope they catch it.

So rather than pitching, Instead, build a real relationship with bloggers, be their advocate, listen to them, talk to them, build a community. Once you achieve this level of trust you can have real and trusted conversations. Customers and bloggers are important –they are in control. The savvy companies will learn to be let go, and embrace the open conversation on the web.

As a Community Manager, I promise to be a customer advocate. I will listen, dialogue, then listen again, I think small (Edit: My thoughts about thinking small). I wrote about this very topic a few months ago –it still holds true.

  • http://www.keithpr.com Keith Kamisugi

    Good post, Jeremiah. (I just read the previous one too…) I’m sure there are PR agencies and practitioners who are taking these words to heart. I suspect that many agencies don’t yet know how to build this kind of relationship building into their profit models. Aside from tech and maybe a few other sectors, clients still want the traditional media coverage that requires old school pitching.

  • http://dbillian.typepad.com Damon Billian

    Hi Jeremiah,

    I think it depends on what was being “pitched”. For example, a company might send you a book and ask you to read/review it. In my case, I would accept the book if:

    a) it was relevant to my field
    b) it was relevant to my readers
    c) I was allowed to give an honest review

    P.S. I assume you kept the alcohol;-)

  • http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/ jeremiah_owyang

    Thanks guys, good thoughts

    Some of my customers read my blog, let’s hear what they have to say about my performance as a community manager. I wonder if they think I practice what I preach!

    jko

  • http://www.payperpost.com Ted Murphy

    So now that we all acknowledge that “pitching” goes on all the time doesn’t PayPerPost make that much more sense? Why should advertisers keep lobbing books, booze or anything else at bloggers just to try to get them to review a product or service with limited success?

    Why wouldn’t an advertiser want to spend money only on the people who actually take the time to talk about the product or service, either positive or negative?

  • http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/ jeremiah_owyang

    I see a few ways to approach this Ted:

    1) The way I mentioned it above, which suggests that companies build a real, trusting, long term relationship with customers.

    2) Companies can ‘pitch’ to bloggers by sending them information. This can be very inefficient, could backfire and may not result in a meaningful long term relationship

    3) A paid method where bloggers become professional reviewers of products they’ve used. They will disclose they are getting paid. (Yelp is one example of consumer reviews)

    4) A paid method where bloggers become professional reviewers of products they may or may not have used and they may or not disclose they are being paid.

    Which method is PayPerPost?

  • http://www.payperpost.com Ted Murphy

    I believe that there is a 5th approach:

    5) A paid method that allows bloggers to choose which products or services they are interested in and blog only about those products. This method could actually serve as the inception of a relationship that otherwise would not exist. By providing choice and volume we create a more efficient method of review and exposure for both advertisers and bloggers.

  • http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/ jeremiah_owyang

    If someone is to truthfully and accurately review a product, then they need to have used it. Does PayPerPost provide products to blogger reviewers that have not used the product?

    Again, as I’ve blogged and spoken to you in person about, disclosure is key. Is this in the model?

  • http://30dayartist.com ming

    how do we find the time to have so many conversations, sure the web speeds it all up, but there are still limits..

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