Ampers & Dot

Yesterday Jeff Pulver wrote a pretty great post titled PR 203: How to Pitch a Blogger (or at least How to Pitch Jeff Pulver in 2008). If you work in PR, Marketing, Social Media, or just want an interesting read then definitely check it out. Besides, Jeff’s one smart and powerful guy, so you should probably be reading his blog all the time anyway.

Jeff’s post plays into the 2008 trend of anti-PR/blogger relations stories; most notable is the recent squabble between Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani and pretty much every PR company out there. Catch up on the whole story through Defren’s post that justifiably defends the PR industry. Basically it has become “cool” to bash the PR industry (see the Bad Pitch Blog for more).

First off: lazy work is lazy work. If you suck at your job and you blind send hundreds of emails to hundreds of bloggers saying “please write about my company” then you’re going to get what’s coming to you (seriously, read the Bad Pitch Blog… it’s embarrassing). BUT - that is no reason to get down on the industry.

The problem is that the concept of “Blogger Relations” is relatively new and evolving as quickly as bloggers themselves. Bloggers aren’t just that kid in his mom’s basement talking about WoW, or that teenage girl talking about puppy dogs, the captain of the football team, Hanah Montana, or … what do girls like these days… Morgan Freeman. Bloggers have become some of the most influential writers in the world. The line between mainstream media and bloggers has been completely blurred.

So back to Pulver’s point: it’s not something you can batch process. Pitching all bloggers the same is like pitching every magazine the same. Personalize your process and you’ll be much, much more successful.

And now onto the joke in all this: how to pitch Zach. Oh, and I get pitched occasionally and so far have had a few good pitches and a few ok pitches, but nothing bad. So if you’ve pitched me in the past- good work! You haven’t sucked, but you have potentially screwed up one of the bullets below. Secondly: I’m no Gina Trapani, nor do I get remotely the volume of email she gets. I’m not even close to being internet famous, or hell, internet popular. For the time being, I can handle lots of pitches.

So here are a few tips to pitching Zach, a small-time blogger:

• Like everyone else has said: read my blog first. I talk about startups, gadgets, web apps, and Bostony things. If you fall in one of those categories, I’ll be much more receptive, plus- I love those things and will get excited to read more
• Put at least a tiny effort into personalizing the email. My name is all over this blog and it’s all pretty informal. Writing to “dear sir” is just going to confuse me and make me think you are selling V1AGRA PILL5S!!! or other spamminess
• Be responsive. I have no problem responding to pitch emails asking follow up questions so if I respond, get back to me. Seriously, why would you pitch me otherwise? Also, I’m friendly in emails and often use too many exclamation marks, so at least it’ll be fun to correspond
• I promise that if I DON’T like your product, then I’ll contact you before I write anything for a chance to engage. That’s how I keep my integrity. And besides, I really only make fun of the iPhone and AOL (so if you are either of them, you probably shouldn’t pitch me)
• Sending me beta invites and/or free stuff will make me happy and much more eager to write about you
• I also like beer, popcorn, and video games

This is my point in all of it: I think a few of the mainstream bloggers have given blogger relations a bad name. I’m flattered when someone pitches me. This is where the difference is for me: I actually get excited when a pitch email lands in my inbox asking if I’ll review something. I think it’s cool! And so do a lot of individual bloggers.

So if you’re in PR and tasked with pitching bloggers, don’t be deterred by Trapani’s actions. Take it as a cautionary tale, don’t be lazy, send me free stuff, and don’t be afraid to reach out to the little-guys.