Cold pitches suck. Neither party enjoys the process. Not the person doing the pitching and certainly not the person on the receiving end.
Here's the problem: It's thought as a necessary evil for scale. After all who has time to hit up every single blogger and media outlet? (Besides the intern.) We're getting better as an industry at managing this process, but we still aren't there completely.
How can you break this cycle of churn and burn? Let's start with the absolute basics. There are three basic questions a typical blogger looks for in a pitch:
1. Is this relevant? You'd be amazed how many pitches fail here. Guessing it is somewhere in the 60-75% range and probably 20% based just off the subject line.
2. Does the pitch provide utility? You need to give something to bloggers. Whether it is a sample of the product, trial of the product or just something that is of incredible interest to the individual.
3. Can I create an interesting post with the information provided? A well, written product crucifixion is more valuable then a cut and paste job. If someone uses your letter verbatim? They probably weren't that interested in the first place.
Did your outreach take these thoughts into account? Or did you just use a shotgun approach? Attempting to form partnerships with bloggers without having your house in order is not a smart idea.
Nothing can backfire worse than a supposedly "with it" PR house spamming targets, while trying to do outreach the right way. You not only come off as fake, but also look incredibly stupid. With this being said, here are the ingredients to a great potential partnership:
1. Trust. Be honest with your target. You aren't interested in just one piece of coverage, the goal here is to have a relationship. As such, you should be clear with your intentions and nature of your inquiry.
2. Transparency. Explicitly state who you are, what company you represent and the reason for contacting the blogger. Also, if you provide a service/product for the blogger make sure they adhere to the current FTC regulations and disclose this fact.
3. Timeliness. If a blogger or reporter has a question? You will always be there with a prompt and accurate answer. Public relations boiled down to its basics is the communications version of customer service. Service your targets effectively and reap the rewards.
4. Transform. Find someone who is a fantastic writer but may not have the traffic or notoriety of a major blogger? You can champion them as a PR person and provide them with the resources and exclusives to become a leader in their field. (Idea I've been kicking around: Provide custom themes to these bloggers free of charge. Also set up analog writers with blogs if they don't have one.)
5. Toil. Then Comment, Read and Share. Your relationship doesn't end after you've gotten press coverage and a mention from a blogger. You should make an effort to read and comment on that particular blog on a regular basis. Side note: Don't comment just for the sake of commenting. Add something to the conversation.
Have you created a partnership with a blogger? Or have you as a blogger created a partnership with a PR professional? If so, I'd love to hear your story in the comments below.
Photo Credit: mwlguide
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tagged as blogger resources, cold pitching, disclosing relationships in pr, pitching effectively in public relations, pr blogger partnership, pr partnership, providing pr utility, public relations screw-ups, relationship building, utility for bloggers, warm pitching
