Blogger outreach – another way to promote your brand

Blogger outreach is now an essential tactic for PR professionals. With interactive content such as videos and hyperlinks, and niche readerships, blogs have great potential as a PR channel. However, blogger outreach does take strategy and effort.Blogs are a great medium to promote your brand in many ways. They usually have a dedicated readership, so rather than being seen by many people who are not in your target audience, your brand will be seen by engaged, active readers on a blog.
Bloggers are increasingly being compared to journalists. However, there are different rules of engagement. That’s because of the differences: bloggers are usually part-time while journalists are full time, journalists are professionally trained while bloggers are not and journalists are paid while bloggers usually are not.

Because of these differences, PR professionals must treat bloggers as a separate medium. Bloggers want value for their readers, such as exclusive content, images or experiences. They want honest, friendly people with manners. And they want to be treated as the individuals they are – so don’t mass-email bloggers with information that has nothing to do with their blog.

How to approach bloggers:

• Searching for blogs is time-consuming. Try Google Blog search, searching for lists like ‘Top business blogs’ and blog rolls on other people’s blogs.
• Research, research, research. Nothing looks worse than sending information that is irrelevant because the blogger is in a different state, or doesn’t write about that topic.
• Introduce yourself by email and explain your client and why you think it is a good match for their blog.
• Don’t say you are a regular reader unless you are – but do read their blog before contacting them. Search their archives for former mentions of your brand.
• Send a friendly, personal email to explain your campaign, what you are offering them, and clearly outline what your expectations of them are. Unlike journalists, bloggers are not exposed to PR, and may not understand what you want.

How to measure coverage
The difficulty of measuring the value of PR has plagued the industry for a long time. For blogs, consider the volume of coverage, blog visitor statistics, links and images and resulting comments on the blog.

When approaching bloggers, always consider their motivations and what you can offer them. They don’t need PR people, and are often very selective about what they will put on their blog. When planning your campaign, consider whether blogger outreach is suitable for your brand, and take the required time for research and planning.

Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more PR tips see www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au.