Working with bloggers has never been easy. It takes a long time to build strong relationships with them, most likely because there is no clear “how-to” strategy that works for everyone in any situation. And then also, some PR people just simply don’t have the time.
Having great relationships with bloggers is key, though, because if you have them on your side they can help you pass your message onto their audience and encourage them to support your brand. This support comes very handy during a crisis or when you need them to get involved with an issue.
Here are some tips:
- Forget using mail merge to push out your story to a long list of blogs and focus on selecting a handful of bloggers to whom your story is relevant
- Know your audience. Find out what the bloggers write about, what they like and who follows them. In your pitch, be personal and try to engage them early on.
- Be organised and timely, and have all supportive material ready. Don’t forget that 9 out of 10 bloggers have a daytime job and they won’t wait until you get the relevant assets from your client or designer.
At Citigate, we have great experience with blogger relations and blogger events. If you’d like to hear more, please get in touch with us at digitalteam@citigatedr.co.uk.
I wrote this article for our Citigate Digital Roundup newsletter – check out the latest issue now and subscribe.
Some great tips. I think people think bloggers can all be targeted in the same way when, in fact, they’re all very different due to different niche subjects etc.