Do your homework
Although I’ve commented freely elsewhere, I’ve refrained from taking up the topic of blogger outreach on this site. Other bloggers have more experience in the fields of advertising and public relations. Other bloggers have a more personal stake in the inconsistencies and inequities in outreach efforts. Other bloggers have been more blatantly alienated. And while I might snicker to myself (or with my friends) at poor pitches, I really try to give the senders the benefit of the doubt and view these pitches as opportunities to gain more clients for the Parent Bloggers Network.
But I’m having more and more difficulty giving the senders the benefit of the doubt when they don’t even bother to do their homework.
Yes, I have a blog called mothergoosemouse (and its review blog counterpart, Do as I say…and no one gets hurt). I also write and edit for Cool Mom Picks. And I’m a co-founder of the Parent Bloggers Network. For each of these sites, I use a different email address, and consequently, I often see the same pitch more than once. Sometimes I’ll see the same pitch six or eight or a even a dozen times, as other bloggers forward them on. The boilerplate verbiage – compliments and all – is further diluted by repeated readings.
It’s not that difficult to identify to whom you’re actually writing and make the connection that Julie at mothergoosemouse and Julie at Cool Mom Picks and Julie at the Parent Bloggers Network are all the same person.
(Oh, and my name is Julie. Not Mother Goose Mouse or some other permutation thereof.)
It’s also fairly obvious, if you read a few entries and note the identity of commenters, that we bloggers talk to each other. A lot. We work together. We play together.
We ask each other about pitches we’ve received. We give and take advice about how to handle clumsy or offensive approaches. And yes, we snicker at the most presumptuous and most ridiculous ones – because we’ve been (or still are) professionals ourselves and can’t imagine approaching someone in such an unprofessional manner.
It would make such a fantastic impression if I were to receive a pitch – at any of my email addresses – that acknowledged up front that I write for multiple sites, and that the sender chose to send the email to THIS ADDRESS because they’re familiar with the nature of THIS SITE and thought that their pitch would be best suited to THIS SITE.
Instead, I see the same damn thing, over and over, sent separately as if I had multiple personalities. What’s even more ridiculous, even after I’m already working with a client (usually via PBN), that SAME person will send a pitch to me at mothergoosemouse.
In our latest PBN newsletter, we published a piece about how to quantify the ROI of an online review campaign. It’s not easy; it’s actually pretty close to impossible, thanks to the newness of the medium and all of the potential benefits that can’t be easily or immediately traced directly back to the campaign itself.
Conversely, how do you quantify the negative impact of lousy, lazy, disrespectful pitches? Whether I take the time to respond and advise you of your missteps, or simply hit DELETE, I remember you and your product. And not in a positive light. And neither do my fellow bloggers.
I don’t like pitches that are vague. I don’t like pitches that are irrelevant. I don’t like pitches that make me scan three paragraphs of fluff before I get to the meat of them. I don’t like pitches that address me by anything other than my name (which is easily found).
But more than any of these, I don’t like pitches that are sent to me multiple times.
Do your homework. Then we’ll talk.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:22 am
It’s even more annoying when they try to tell you that “they read the blogs they pitch.”
Seriously, you do? Then you wouldn’t be trying to pitch me Precious Moments dolls on a blog where I just wrote about masturbation…
November 19th, 2007 at 7:32 am
I’m pretty free with my delete button. Most, unfortunately, are so bad they make it easy to trash their pitches. Occasionally I get a decent one and want to copy it and send it to all the bad PR firms and say “See?? This is how you approach me.”
November 19th, 2007 at 7:45 am
I totally agree.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:23 am
Bravo.
When I worked at a magazine we had a wall of shame where we posted spectactularly bad manglings of our names. Duh! Check the masthead!
November 19th, 2007 at 8:42 am
I encourage you to publish the good pitches as well as flog the bad. And say why it appealed to you, what made it stand out among all the spam. It is a lot easier to model after good behavior than bad.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:44 am
It’s amazing and sad how often I read about this, and I really don’t think it will stop.
The thing I’m seeing – bloggers like it when PR folks take the time to learn and treat bloggers with respect and relevance. Bloggers hate it when we don’t.
A lot of PR people are under pressure to get a lot of pitches out quickly, so they’re just not going to invest the time and resources necessary to do this.
Those PR people should just buy ads and stop wasting everyone’s time. Blog ads aren’t particularly great on clickthroughs but they’re better than being banned or embarrassed.
To that end, I really have to take a look at that ROI piece you wrote…
This really isn’t hard.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Could be worse…one of my friends (named Antrenette) gets pitches from people mangling her name each day. My favorite? “Dear Internet”.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Susan – good point. I’ve been extremely impressed by GM’s blogger outreach efforts. I wrote about them last February (and I’m sure I’ll write about them again).
David – also a good point re the time crunch. That’s why Kristen and I are confused by the folks who eschew PBN, telling us point blank that they’d rather continue mass e-mailing bloggers. That takes more time and generates poor results by comparison, and it actually costs their firms more money – hourly rates vs. our fee. We’ve highlighted that point in a newsletter piece as well.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:49 am
cc: every PR firm in the country
You rule! Have a great holiday!
November 19th, 2007 at 11:47 am
“I really love your blog” sorta stands out as a red flag for me.
Especially when it isn’t addressed to me.
I prefer short and sweet myself.
November 19th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I think it makes the PR people look stupid when they address us by our blog names as if that is our real name…
If they would read a little more than one sentence or look around on the site they can easily find my real name…
November 19th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I have the two main blogs and even though they SHARE an email address I get the pitches TWICE! Same email addy… yeah they dont even bother to notice..
I’m like 1 ninth as popular as you so I cant even imagine the daily flood you put up with.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
omg hahahahahahahahaha
just as I was posting this I got another one. It’s addressed “hi,” No name, not even bothering to insert my blog name !!
November 19th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Yeah, I lashed out at the PR folks a bit today myself. It’s beyond annoying – it’s time consuming. I love the link David pointed me towards, where the editor of Wired blacklisted every shitty pr flack on his blog by email address: thelongtail.com
He’s my hero.
As for ROI a pr guy asked me the same question recently. I asked him in return, what’s the value of putting a diet Coke in George Clooney’s hand?
November 20th, 2007 at 5:59 am
My faves lately are like OMSH said, I totally love your blog! which makes me think a 12 year old wrote it.
Now, if they would wise up and use their subject line wisely like I totally pink puffy heart your blogaliciousness then we could talk.
Because THAT would do it for me.
Also? I just hit DELETE. Oh, except for the one last month asking that I spank him. I think it was a him. Hard to tell. I’ll have to forward that one to you. At least HE TOOK THE TIME TO READ MY BLOG AND KNOW I LOVE SPANKING.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I don’t think there’s necessarily a need to praise the good PR firms- The evidence of their work can be seen on our Reviews blogs. And that’s what they ALL want, right?
My latest pet peeve is getting e-mails asking me to pass on the info to my “editorial staff.” BEYOND ANNOYING.
November 20th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Not suggesting that you have to praise anyone, I just think it would be good learning if bloggers highlighted what was good about a pitch — was it how they approached you, the fit of the product to your interests, the fact that you know they actually read your blog, etc. What tends to happen is that folks read the posts about the bad pitches, say to themselves “I don’t do that,” and then proceed to, well, do it. I believe a few more good examples would go a long way toward improving the situation because folks would have good examples to model their programs on.
If you don’t want to do this on your blogs, send me the tips — the good pitch and the name/email of the person who sent it to you. I’ve been doing a series on my marketing blog of good examples, and I could use some more.
sgetgood@getgood.com
November 20th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Yes, yes, yes!
I just got one yesterday from CBS asking me to promote their current story on the secret lives of teens, saying they thought it might be relevant for me. Uh, if you read my blog, you’d know my girls are a long way from their teen years.
I delete most of them, select ones that are well-written and interest me, and occasionally respond to some to let them know they clearly aren’t paying attention. I know I don’t get nearly as many pitches as some do, but I’m also long past the point of accepting every pitch because I’m so flattered someone noticed me.
November 20th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Just a quick not to Kyle: “Happy Birthday” Figured that he doesn’t check reunion.com much! Met YOU at our 10 year reunion; think you are awesome! I also have 2 girls and 1 boy; God help us!
Take care! Hope to see you at the 20 next year!
Gwen Kalvelage (aka Wendy Kosmecki)
November 24th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Julie,
Great post and reminder to small business owners/startups. It is SO much easier to simply create one pitch letter and send out the boiler plate. I think many business owners focus too much on the “busi” aspect of the name. “We’ve got to get the word out quickly!” we think.
Plus, it’s hard to do all the research. (I’ve been doing it for 2 months and have really just started to comment on others blogs.) However, the one thing I appreciate, after blogging myself a little bit, is that bloggers take it personally. And, with the amount of time and effort, you should. So, the effort from PR people and startups is worth it. That still does not make it easier.
In this “results now” world we are living in, I think very few are going to truly go through the process. Its kind of like the integrity and character thing we are drilling into our kids to make them a good person. Its hard as can be now but (please please please) be more than worth it in the end.
Best,
Cole
November 27th, 2007 at 8:56 am
As annoying as multiple pitches sound, just send the extra one my way?
Heh.
I haven’t received one, good or bad. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.