Thanks for the reminder of one of my favorite quotes: “A stranger is a friend you haven’t met yet.” — It’s so true, as long as you do the outreach right.

I wanted to thank you for the links to GreenStone Media, and let you know that we’ve just rolled out a brand new community blog there (along with a new website).

Thanks for a well-thought-out post. And, I agree wholeheartedly with you. If you are considering approaching a blogger for a viral campaign, at least do your homework first!

Great blog — I’ll be back!

I could not agree with you more on the importance of creating relationships with bloggers, and avoiding the mass e-mail approach. As a product manager with Vocus, I can assure you that we take all measures possible to educate our clients and customers on the importance of doing their homework before approaching a blogger. More importantly, we take all efforts to communicate the need to avoid spamming bloggers or journalists.

When customers first sign up for Vocus, they work directly with a consultant who coaches them on how to use our software. Our consultants’ goal is to convey the message that our tool is for relationship-building and outreach and not a spamming device. In fact, our latest release includes an opt-out feature at the bottom of every e-mail so that journalists and bloggers who feel that they are getting spammed can instantly remove themselves from future correspondences with that company.

With that said, I would like to ask your permission to post your entry (attributed of course) in our community forum. It would be extremely beneficial for our customer and clients to learn more about PR best practices from industry experts and entries like yours’ can really help hammer the point home.

We are also hosting a Vocus Users Conference in Washington, DC on June 7th and 8th and would like to invite you to discuss the very topics you are outlining in your entry. If the conference is something you are unable to attend or in addition to, we would like to invite you also to conduct a webinar on this topic as we host monthly webinars on various topics and have an audience of 200-500 people.

Best,
Kye Strance
Product Manager
Vocus

Susan Getgood has recently written about the importance of cultivating actual relationships with bloggers.  The post contains a link to some notes she has written up about Dos and Donts with regard to pitching bloggers, which is a great …

Ben — I did mention the update, which I saw after most of this post had been written. I was already planning the post, so was quite glad to see an ongoing conversation where it fit so nicely. As to introducing yourself with the pitch, I think it depends on how well you’ve done your research. If “it” is something that the bloggers will really love, I don’t see a problem with it. But it has to be really focused; if your blogger a-list has more than 15-20 bloggers on it, you haven’t narrowed enough.

My point was to implore PR people to stop introducing themselves to bloggers via a pitch. Spam, no?

But as I clarified with an update, there’s no reason why PR people can’t introduce themselves to a blogger and gain their permission to begin a relationship.

I recently got the single most awesome pr spam in it’s sheer cluelessness – to promote a book by some evangelical minister about talking to our kids about Jesus.

1. I’m Jewish.
2. Um, no. Never.

I just may have to write about it – would that be unfair with only one strike?

Great post, Susan. I’m with you all the way.