Something fishy this way comes
I was cleaning out my inbox when I found it. I’d practically forgotten about that email and the two replies I’d sent, and I’d already chalked it up to a no-go.
But because my friend Susan Getgood is always on the lookout for blogger outreach examples, both good and bad, I decided to forward it to her with my analysis, copying another friend with whom I’d discussed the opportunity briefly. She was on the road, driving through a central Alabama snowstorm, with nothing but Twitter to amuse her, so she tweeted about it.
Thus began the latest fire on the TweetDeck.
Prior to all the discussion on Twitter and in private emails, I’d shrugged off the lack of a response. Clumsy blogger outreach is nothing new. I’ve received offers before and never heard another word.
I also know that plans change, especially in this economy. I’ve spent hours in discussion with potential clients only for them to decide against proceeding with a blogger outreach campaign. I realize that businesses must carefully consider their expenditures and balance them with the expected return on investment.
We bloggers can be a difficult lot; I know that. Just read the comments on my Camp Baby post – a post that itself was straightforward, but which provoked some extremely irate responses.
To their credit, the PR agency in question responded immediately. At least one person from the agency was on Twitter and following at least one of the bloggers who tweeted about the outreach. It wasn’t long before I received several new follower notifications – people from the agency or otherwise related to the effort – and subsequently exchanged email with the agency CEO. I also got a voice mail from the person I was directed to contact in the initial outreach email – the person who never replied to either of my emails expressing interest in the program.
While this quick response was appreciated, I can’t help but wonder why it took a developing PR nightmare to spur an email or phone call.
I’m also dissatisfied with many of the explanations I’ve seen. Trying to split hairs with a bunch of moms is futile; our kids do it to us all the time. Plus, we’ve got the original email sent by the agency, with its tempting compensation and implications of an offer, not an interview: “excellent candidate”, “recruiting 10 insightful moms”, and “as a member of this network”, among other verbiage.
They were looking for ten insightful moms, but they sent 200 emails. TWO HUNDRED.
When I questioned the CEO regarding transparency of the effort, he thought I meant the compensation. What I meant was the outreach process itself. Because if the party doing the outreach isn’t upfront about who, when, where, why, and how, we bloggers certainly will be.
We talk. A lot. None of us is an island unto herself, and we look out for each other. Reaching out to our community, especially with an intriguing and seemingly exclusive offer, cannot be done in a vacuum. We will talk – about who’s reaching out, what they’re asking for, what they’re offering, and whether it’s of interest.
Such discourse among bloggers can be a great advantage. We love to spread the word about people we love. Susan isn’t just a friend, she’s a marketing professional. David Wescott is another pro who knows how to reach out effectively. Danielle Wiley and her whole team at Edelman are fantastic. All of these people blog and tweet, and they’ve made personal connections with many of us.
There are so many resources out there concerning blogger outreach. Camp Baby happened over a year ago; it’s one of the greatest cautionary tales/lessons learned available to businesses seeking to reach out to bloggers. Other useful sites include The State of Blog Relations, Ogilvy’s Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics, and Susan Getgood’s post, “The Secret Sauce for the Perfect Pitch,” which I’ve linked on my Read Before Pitching page.
I’m disappointed in missing out on additional income, a trip to New York, and an opportunity to learn more about a program that genuinely interested me. But what bothers me most – and I’d venture to say that it bothers the other bloggers who received this same offer – is the following (taken from my email to the agency CEO):
We prize our influence highly, and when we receive offers based on the value of our influence, we’re understandably displeased (and pretty outspoken about that displeasure) when that commodity is disregarded.
Bottom line, for a group of women who consider ourselves to be pretty savvy where it comes to blogger outreach, it’s disheartening to feel as if we’ve taken the bait and gotten excited about an opportunity that turned out not to be an opportunity at all.
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:36 am
wow, that seems like quite a fleecing. they reach out to 200 when they only need 10? When there is one job opening, you offer the job to one person and see how they respond. You don’t give the job to 10 people then call the other 9 and say “uh, sorry dude”
fidgets last blog post..The thing about Monday is
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:42 am
I especially love that they implied there’d be a trip to NY for a “training seminar” for the bloggers, when it seems that what they really meant is, “If you’re in the area, please stop by to our promotional event in totally not-convenient White Plains. Oh yeah and there’s free bagels in it for you.”
What’s most disturbing though is how many moms fell for the very flattering “you can be one of our INFLUENCERS!” line aka would you mind posting our banner for free?
Mom101s last blog post..And with that, the mom blog world subdivides once again
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:16 am
I wonder what they hopped to accomplish? That all 200 would keep thinking they were the elite 10?? And then conveniently forget about the proposed compensation?
CanCan (Mom Most Traveled)s last blog post..You Can Make This (and this, too)!
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:21 am
Once again, the lack of *clear* communication kills. I can’t count on all my fingers and toes the number of PR emails I’ve received for just these types of events – for locals with nothing more than free bagels offered – and never did I once think anything was wrong with them. BECAUSE THEY WERE STRAIGHTFORWARD ABOUT IT FROM CONTACT ONE! I’m frustrated that we’re still having this be-transparent conversation this far into the game, especially with companies large enough to have the resources to do their homework ahead of time. In short, much like our children, they should know better.
Dianas last blog post..March 101 in 1001 Update
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:25 am
As someone who wasn’t among the 200 invitees (ahem), I’m not clear what they were asking or promising all of you. Though it is clear that whatever it was, the company fell short and did it wrong.
Even though Camp Baby (I attended) provided so many excellent lessons, I’m afraid many companies and PR folks didn’t pay attention for the long term. This is especially apparent when you look at the ethnic make-up of the groups that have been on other recent company-sponsored junkets. Where are the women of color?
As a mere sideline observer on Twitter yesterday, I’d love a few more details about this. As I was writing this comment, I received a DM from a Twitter friend informing me that there is an actual “faculty” for this program and it is still moving forward.
kim/hormone-colored dayss last blog post..America’s Got Talent
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
What? You’re not supposed to just put up a banner because they ask? But it makes me feel special!
This whole thing was just a PR disaster waiting to happen and it blew up in their faces in a rather public [and mildly humorous] way.
For such a well established company, they really should have known better.
Amy @ Taste Like Crazys last blog post..Snow
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 am
I am so sick of these baited pitches that I’ve stopped responding to unfamiliar PR folks. If the PR person isn’t familiar to me or another blogger I trust, I tend to ignore. My time is worth more than these kinds of shenanigans.
katie ~ motherbumpers last blog post..call of the bliss
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:07 am
I tend to be someone who would love to give folks the benefit of the doubt, but the more of this type of corporate behavior I see the more it seems as if the big dogs don’t get it and are amazingly blind enough to think that bloggers live in an insulated bubble and don’t talk amongst themselves — or maybe hope they can slip under the radar with the stupid behavior.
As you know, I dealt with my own social media uproar re: Boston.com stealthily attempting to poach my readers and as all of these examples show (think also Motrin, Denny’s, etc…) bloggers do in fact talk, and any PR clearly is not good PR!
Boston Mamass last blog post..Winter Boredom Busters
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:11 am
*snort* Motherbumper used “shenanigans”
Motherhood Uncensoreds last blog post..I don’t think I could have even staged this if I tried
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:17 am
Kim, the full text of the email is posted at Motherhood Uncensored. The “faculty” is the collective name they are using for the ten chosen bloggers. Those bloggers still have not been formally announced; per the agency CEO, that announcement will come today. So yes, the program is moving forward, but the communication has been sadly lacking.
I will also be interested to see the makeup of the group.
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:23 am
For me, the biggest failing was how misleading the initial e-mails were. There was no mention of interviews – the e-mails made it sound as though one was being approached with a serious pitch to participate in a program. *And* it asked us to set aside time for them, for calls, review their websites, etc. They asked for my time, offered compensation and travel, but then proved to be offering nothing. Misleading at best; out and out deceptive at worst.
Her Bad Mothers last blog post..And On The Seven-Hundred And Second Day, She Took It All Back
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:43 am
Thanks. I will check it out. I guess my Twitter friend has the inside scoop as she knew some of the faculty as of early this morning. Bloggers do talk and write.
As for Catherine’s comment, I’ve been approached in a way that makes it sound as if I’ve been chosen for something- to host a party, be a guest blogger, etc.- only to find out I’ve been selected to “interview” for those things. It’s annoying. Makes the agency look lazy. Couldn’t they have done a little more homework before they approached me?
kim/hormone-colored dayss last blog post..Marketing to Mommybloggers: Avoiding Social Media Mistakes with Moms
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:45 am
I wasn’t on the receiving end of this e-mail, nor do I have any idea what happened on Twitter or which company we’re talking about, so I naturally wonder if it’s possible for me to even make a comment at all here since I haven’t any access to the company’s side of the story.
That said, of course, I tend to side with bloggers over companies most of the time, with a few exceptions when I think something gets blown out of proportion. I hope that if this company was really that, well, DUMB, that they’re busy sorting things out right now. Providing misleading information to anyone undermines their credibility not only within the blogging community, but within their consumers’ communities at large.
Sarah @ BecomingSarah.coms last blog post..Another scrumptious year older.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:10 am
So, let me get this right, the recent upset is with the fact that a marketing firm wasn’t totally honest with the people they chose to reach out to? They made people feel more special than what they really meant? Am I right?
I’m not trying to be confrontational, I tend to avoid stuff like this because I have the skin of that of an onion, but I guess this time I am really trying to understand and I’m not. Perhaps it’s because I’m only just now getting wind of this.
I feel that a lot of time the same group of tightly knit bloggers you referred to above do indeed talk, compare, etc. And that’s great—online communities are awesome. But I think it’s also fair to say that the same group tends to react (sometimes) disproportionately to the original problem.
Again, not trying to be harsh here and like I said, I only now heard about this so maybe I am missing a massive chunk of information that warrants this type response.
But from an outsider’s point a view, I guess I fail to see what everyone is so upset about.
mihows last blog post..My Son Loves The Vacuum.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
Mihow, thanks for your comment. Let me clarify:
1. The outreach email presented the opportunity as an exclusive offer, including compensation and travel, and requested that we specify time(s) that we were available to speak on the phone.
2. Many of us cleared time in our schedules and began making preparations for child care and time off work, based on the perceptions noted in 1 above.
3. Most of us heard NOTHING in response.
4. None of us realized that the offer was NOT an offer, but a query for interest instead. Read the entire text of the email over at motherhooduncensored.net
5. Finally, none of us realized that 199 of our fellow bloggers had received the same offer. In fact, the exclusivity implied in the email is likely why so many of us kept it to ourselves until it exploded on Twitter yesterday.
It was clumsy and unprofessional at best, and willfully rude at worst. Yes, they offered compensation and travel – but in exchange for valuable time and effort, and the use of our influence as bloggers.
Read some of the case studies on Susan’s blog – Marketing Roadmaps – and the Camp Baby analysis on JnJ’s own corporate blog. There’s a lot of information out there about how it’s been done wrong and how to do it right.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:09 am
Mihow: what Julie said. Also – I think that the biggest part of this was being made to feel sorta stupid, sorta duped. The e-mail outreach sounded like legit outreach – ‘hey, we think you’d be great for this!’ – and dangled $$$ and travel and so some of us made time for calls that never happened, set aside travel dates for trips that were never going to happen, and then found out more or less accidentally that it had never been what it appeared to me. And then felt stupid and kinda ashamed for having being tempted what amounted to a tease.
That’s why tempers flared yesterday. It’s why feelings are still sore.
Her Bad Mothers last blog post..And On The Seven-Hundred And Second Day, She Took It All Back
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 am
I’d like to add to the discourse here that I talked to two PR-savvy friends who were VERY excited about the e-mail, who thought from the language that they were one of the ten moms selected, who REALLY could have used the compensation that was offered, and who were excited about the so-called trip to NY.
One of them even managed to set up a time with the PR rep for a phone call- which never came. She actually waited by the phone at the scheduled time. I’ve heard that’s happened to more than one blogger.
So Mihow, I think that’s why you have some upset bloggers here. If they had simply said that they were trying to gauge interest and were in the process of narrowing down the list of people contacted to ten, there absolutely wouldn’t have been a problem.
Suburban Turmoils last blog post..In Which I Become an Actress, Meet a Ghost, Sing Like Mariah, and Almost Go to Jail, All in One Day.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 am
Still contemplating not being one of the 200 who got it in the first place
Busy Moms last blog post..Tiny Prints and Wedding Paper Divas Discount Codes
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 am
Busy Mom, you and Mom101 were #s 201 and 202, I’m sure.
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Julie – thanks for the shout-out.
I wonder if this story would be different if the people who pitched you actually knew you and had spoken with you before they sent the initial pitch.
David Wescotts last blog post..The Mom-O-Sphere Goes Corporate and Cultures Clash
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I was one of the “elite” 200. Very sad because this seemed like a great program and I was actually excited about it.
tuesdays last blog post..Picture Tour
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I was emailed also. I ignored the first one. Then last week I got a second email asking me if I had forgotten to reply and to please hurry up and get back to them since they wanted me to among the ten.
I emailed back and set up a conference call, because I was curious at this point what it all was about.
The call time came and I waited. NOTHING. Emailed back several times before getting the lame response DAYS LATER that they already chose the ten, but hey, I could go to White Plains if I were in the area.
Uh, no.
Really, really bad PR
chriss last blog post..Might As Well Jump!
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
[...] ran into a lack of disclosure on the part of a PR agency representing Pepperidge Farm and their Goldfish brand. Actually, I think [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I musta been #203!
Seriously, though. Ask people to tell you when they should call, and then just … don’t? Without even an email? Not cool.
mayberrys last blog post..Cheddar shredder
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I’m planning an Itchful Thinking seminar and Busy Mom and Mayberry Mom are the first on my list. It’s sponsored by Calamine Lotion and there will be free breakfast and a chance to bring home your own poison ivy plant.
Mom101s last blog post..And with that, the mom blog world subdivides once again
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I got the email and ‘interviewed.’ I even paid a sitter so I could actually sound like a real person on the phone call. I was told I’d hear in mid-February whether I was one of the ten moms. Nothing. I wrote it off as it was my first experience with anything like this and I figured that’s just how it goes. Now, I feel more informed. Thanks!
PS Not bitter, just always liked Cheezits better. Kidding.
anymommys last blog post..Golden Child
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Oy. I was actually 1 of the 10 “chosen” (for what THAT seems to be worth, after reading about all the controversy) and am heading to NY (on their dime) on Friday.
And not being so PR savvy, yes, I did indeed find it fishy (heh) that the e-mail intoned that I had already been PICKED, when in fact, I had not.
So I spoke with the rep at the end of January, and didn’t give it much further thought, until I was contacted again and told that I would be one of the 10 Faculty Members. And I was psyched!
But now? Now I don’t know WHAT to think!
(I’m posting this same comment over at Kristen’s too.)
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
@Chris and @anymommy – Yikes. That’s awful. @anymommy, I’m especially dismayed that you paid a sitter for what turned out to be no reason at all.
@ITTOM – Go! Learn and enjoy! And give us a full report when you return. I still love the philosophy behind the Fishful Thinking site, even if the outreach execution was decidedly lousy. At least they had the sense to choose you.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Thanks Julie! That is exactly why I originally was so excited – I DO love their philosophy. And after speaking with the PR firm again today, I am pleased to have been chosen.
Do I think the initial outreach could have been handled differently? Without a doubt.
Trenches of Mommyhoods last blog post..An Ode to What I’m Finding Fine in ‘09
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Pepperidge Farm? Fishy?
For some reason, I keep thinking of a Family Guy bit:
“Oh, Pepperidge Farm remembers, all right.
But maybe Pepperidge Farm won’t keep it to Pepperidge Farm’s self.
Maybe if you buy some of our distinctive Milano cookies, this can all go away…”
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Then for sure I must have been at least #204 or #250 or something, right? I am sure that email was just lost. I mean, I am hurt that I was not given a chance to be duped. I miss all the good duping!
Jenns last blog post..Decisions. Changes. Life without regrets.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Jenn, you were #1. But apparently yours got lost in the mail.
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I’m convinced that my invitation was caught in my spam folder, or Pep Farm psychically knew that my kid will not go near Goldfish with a 10 foot (fishing) pole. Mint Milano Camp? We’re all over that. Send me a case and I’ll tattoo the logo on my butt. Believe me, there’s ample room, due to overuse of the product.
Seems like this was a poorly handled execution of what might be a good idea. Probably good fodder for BlogHer Biz.
Glennias last blog post..With Love, to Redneck Mommy