Comments on: Working with Bloggers

By: Gary Andrews

Gary Andrews — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:20:28 +0000

PR’s own goal: Or why blogger pitching has been worse than the French national team this World Cup…

I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog …

By: Ishmael’s Corner » Revisiting the Disconnect Between PR and Bloggers

Ishmael’s Corner » Revisiting the Disconnect Between PR and Bloggers — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:49:45 +0000

[...] of the better ones came from Gina Dietrich and her interview with Mickie Kennedy from [...]

By: Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:06:01 +0000

Lou, you bring up a good point…”PR remains too dependent on information designed for mass distribution.” I’ll check out your blog post!

By: Lou Hoffman

Lou Hoffman — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:50:44 +0000

I agree with the points in this Q&A.

But I think there’s a more fundamental challenge, at least from the perspective of PR.

There’s still a disconnect between the storytelling in blogs and the content that the PR function often develops. I posted on this topic almost two years ago and the issue still persists:

http://www.ishmaelscorner.com/2008/08/15/in-pursuit-of-bloggers-disconnect-between-storytelling-and-pr/

In short, great blogging depends on information not in the public domain. Unfortunately, PR remains too dependent on information designed for mass distribution.

Kennedy’s point to “Treat your traditional press release as an additional resource for the blogger, should they choose to post about your product” cuts to this issue.

By: Los Angeles Public Relations

Los Angeles Public Relations — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:25:13 +0000

Amazing Post! Love stuff like this.

By: Stephanie Schwab

Stephanie Schwab — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:07:10 +0000

Agreed with Brigitte about not using a press release – the most important thing is getting to know the blogger and providing them with a personalized into to your brand/product/service. The more specific you can tailor your pitch, the more well-received it will be. The time investment in crafting those pitches may yield much higher results, so resist the temptation to send out mass emails and focus on a few perfectly-aligned bloggers instead.

By: Brigitte

Brigitte — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:26:35 +0000

This is great advice. I’d add a caveat. For small- and mid-sized blogs, I would skip the press release altogether. Unlike MSM, which (hypothetically speaking) strives to maintain neutrality, most bloggers strive to maintain a consistent tone and personality on their sites. Even big-name bloggers. A short, personal note with a link to your Web site and a few bullets is more than sufficient.

Also, search the blog to determine whether they’ve covered you! I had a PR person approach me to introduce a shop that I wrote about last fall. It would have taken that person 30 seconds to discover that fact.