Type-A Mom – Blogger Outreach and Online Public Relations

Here we are at the first breakout session at the Type-A Mom Conference in Asheville, NC. This is Blogger Outreach and Online Public Relations with Jessica Smith moderating, Katja Presnal, Nancy Martira, Stephanie Smirnov, Marcia Hansen and David Griner.

Thanks to WorldWinner for sponsoring me for the Type-A Mom Conference!

We’ve got a good mix of bloggers and public relations folks, with a smattering of people who classify themselves as “other.” Doing panelist introductions right now.

How does PR choose the bloggers that they engage with?

PR choose different bloggers for different campaigns. “It’s not a science.” Every initiative and every brand may have a different group of bloggers that the PR firms may need to work with. It’s not just the sheer number of people who come to your blog, but where else you promote your stuff, what your social media outreach is. What does “brand-friendly” mean to you?

PR is a relationship business. “My reputation is the strongest thing I have.” The FTC is starting to spook companies, so transparency and disclosure is very important. Creating an official disclosure policy is very important. (Amen! I totally agree.)

PR folks are looking for bloggers who can focus on the long-term. They may not have another campaign for people for six months or more, so they’ll come back to those who are professional and pleasant to work with. It doesn’t matter if what you said in your reviews was positive or negative, but if you are easy to work with, PR will remember you first. (So always be professional!)

Traffic is good, unique visitors, etc. But more important is how long people spend on your site. Are visitors engaging? How many comments are you getting? PR has to report back to their clients about ROI (return on investment). PR has to keep their  clients happy – they are not calling all of the shots.

Saying “no” to a PR person is not going to ruin your relationship. What isn’t going to work is if you blindly promote products that aren’t a good fit for you and your blog. (Be authentic! When I turn pitches down, I often try to reply to the PR people letting them know why a certain pitch isn’t a good fit for me.)

If you’re into creating controversy on your blog, that may scare off a lot of marketers because you could be a liability for companies.

Do PR firms seeing Press Releases cut and pasted on blogs?

No! (Amen!) That’s not why PR sends press releases in their pitches. Press releases are a starting point for information. Meghan doesn’t like sending press releases. She understands that we live on the Internet and that it is more beneficial to us to send us links to more information rather than the boring standard press release.

Many of the panelists talk about using customization in their pitches to bloggers, not cutting and pasting from a template. They should talk to a lot of the PR folks who send me cookie cutter press releases that aren’t relevant to me or my blog.

Is PR open to being pitched by bloggers?

“Yes! Please! Because I’m running out of ideas!” PR people are looking for partners. If you pitch them your ideas, they can try to sell your ideas to the account team for a particular client. The answer may end up being “no,” but it’s worth a try!

Vehicle Vibes is interested in getting pitches from bloggers. Allstate wants to help women entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Big companies can take FOREVER to make a decision. If you make a pitch to PR, it can take a LONG time to hear back. Allow at least eight weeks for your pitch to go through various layers of approval. Make your proposal very detailed. Include traffic details, where you live – getting local can be very important.

Individual sponsorships are some of the most common pitches that David gets, so he doesn’t really like them. Event sponsorship is better, or trying to connect PR with another blogger who would be a better fit when you have nothing to benefit from it.

A generic pitch is not a good thing t o do, especially if you’re sennding it to multiple companies. Even if you send the pitches directly to the companies, the companies are passing those pitches right on to PR… so the PR folks are seeing your multiple generic reviews that you shipped out to 15 different companies. And that’s not cool in their eyes.

Under what circumstances would PR pay a blogger cold hard cash?

“We will never pay bloggers for reviews.” But willing to pay for bloggers being promotional partners. Hosting giveaways qualifies. (!) If you’re part of a network and you help to enroll other bloggers in a campaign, you should be paid. (!)

Paying for a blogger’s time to do consulting work is completely valid. It is not the same thing as paying for a review.

David tries to make it a lot easier to do giveaways, where they will ship the products directly to the winners. When reviews and giveaways are done together in tandem, it can be hard to draw the line. But when you spend extra time to do something beyond the review to promote the products and the clients, they are completely willing to pay monetary compensation. Companies who think nothing of spending millions on TV  ads may fight tooth and nail about providing $5,000 for Web outreach, which has to be divided among sponsoring events and/or working with individual bloggers.

Companies are being spooked by the FTC, so hard to convince them to pay bloggers for stuff. Content partners can be paid, video posts, etc. Sign a contract. Disclose if you get paid!

If you’re creating content for other sites, you should be paid.

Why are transparency and disclosure so important to everyone in this room?

The FTC is about to come out with a ruling. For the most part, we are being transparent and we are disclosing. Jessica recently moved her disclosure policy from her footer to her navigation bar. Most people in this room are already going above and beyond. (I know I am, although my disclosure policy is still in my footer.)

Some companies do ask for non-disclosure agreements, so that’s something you need to discuss with companies about certain campaigns. This can create  additional concerns.

Making the transition from writing reviews to doing freelance writing can be tricky for some. You’ll need to sign paperwork and submit your invoices to get paid. The faster you submit your invoice, the faster you get paid. (Don’t I know it!)

Interactive Part

We like to get hotlinks in pitches. After we’ve agreed to take part in a campaign, then we like getting logos and other images as attachments. (We don’t want attachments until the second email.)

Consider setting up a “secret” email account for preferred PR partners so that the pitches from people you like don’t get lost in the shuffle with all of the other crappy pitches you get every day. (If you’re reading this post, I’m sure you’re not sending me crappy cookie-cutter PR pitches.)

How about product placement? Having pictures of, for example, enjoying Little Debbie snacks with your family, in a post that is not about the product being placed. PR seems a little nervous that it isn’t authentic, may be too staged. Disclosure could be tricky with your readers, too. They may start to suspect every product that appears in your pictures. PR itself is more interested in being a part of the story, not the scenery.

Talk to PR if you get a pitch for a competing product after having reviewed something. Example of a blogger who reviewed a Kodak printer who got pitched to review an HP printer eight months later. She contacted the Kodak PR folks to ask if it was cool with them. They were okay with it, but counter-offered with a new Kodak printer that was coming out to review instead. That way, they fostered the existing relationship. (Yay!)

Chris Brogan has the best disclosure page on the Web. (He does indeed.) Read it. Use it as a model.

Didn’t get to ask my question about how PR feels about no-followed links!

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.