Scenario: A marketer wants to reach potential buyers of her product. In the old days, you know — the 90s, she advertised, and maybe even online (ooh!), she did PR, she did sales promotion. Everything through the established, and mainstream, channels of communication.
Fast forward to 2007. You want to reach a well-defined audience of potential prospects for your product. Sure, all the old channels still have merit. But there’s this new thing called blogs. Hhmm. Bloggers seem to have some influence in the target market I am trying to reach with my story and my product. I’d like to reach out to them, but how? What if I do it wrong? Hell, what if I do it right, and a few bloggers just think, and write, that I did it wrong.
There’s no shortage of criticism of blogger relations programs. Even the recent Nikon program, which I think was handled pretty well, has its detractors.
Here’s the reality — you will never please everyone, so you have to stay focused on your customers. What do they want? What do they need? What do they care about? If you reach out to bloggers within your customer population, using whatever selection criteria you deep down believe is right, and tell them a meaningful interesting story — that has meaning to them as well as you — you are on the right track. Is sending them a product to try a good idea? Probably, but it behooves you to be clear about your expectations — do you want the product back, under what terms? And you cannot have any expectations. Tell a good story. Be accessible. Have a good product. That’s all you can do.
What about pay-per-post type services? They have their place, but they cannot replace real relationships any more than advertorials replaced editorial coverage back in the day. And caveat emptor: generic services that put your opportunity "out there" for all comers are probably not the best choice. You need to know whether the bloggers writing about your product actually have influence in your desired market. If they don’t, you are wasting your money, no matter how cheap it is.
But there’s nothing wrong with working with paid reviewers or hiring freelance writers to write your blog, as long as you don’t use either tactic to replace developing authentic relationships with bloggers in your space. Personally, I think it is absolutely terrific that folks like stay-at-home-moms and avid gamers are getting the recognition, and payment, for their expertise and excellent writing. Why shouldn’t they? If they are reaching the people you, the marketer, want to reach, why wouldn’t you want them to be compensated for their efforts? As long as they are clear about their interests and honest in their opinions — I was paid to write this review or I got to keep the product or I was hired to write this blog.
Do we have so little respect for the readers that we don’t think they can apply their own judgment to the material? What a shame. Because I think readers are far smarter than typically they are given credit for. They can tell when someone is blowing smoke, whether paid or just looking for some A-list love, and they can tell when someone is honestly sharing their opinion, whether the writer was given or loaned the product or bought it on his own.
In the end, the blogosphere has plenty of built-in corrective mechanisms, If the product sucks, it doesn’t matter how many you seed with friendly bloggers. The guy who got it for free may not diss it, but he won’t write about it either. Paid reviewers,whether in cash or in kind? They’ll tell the truth. The next gig and their readership depends on it.
The recipe for success:
- develop great products that meet real customer needs;
- tell interesting stories to people who care;
- be accessible, honest and transparent about your intentions;
- stay focused on the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) for your customer. Yours will follow;
- give before you receive. Whether it’s cameras, access or consideration… bloggers will appreciate the respect.
What else do you think is necessary for successful blogger relations? Toby Bloomberg recently had some suggestions. Last week, I participated in a webinar that offered some of the answers.
Your thoughts?
Tags: blogger relations, Nikon
Detractor, huh? I’ve actually outlined a model for blogger outreach programs that encourage companies to come into this space and add value (as per you say above). But hey, I’ve never been called a “detractor” before so I guess there’s a first time for everything :-).
As you’ll see on an upcoming post (likely it will launch on Friday, if not before), I just encouraged a company to start a new revenue model where bloggers can raise money for charities (money these charities wouldn’t otherwise receive…and provide unbiased research data for advertisers). So I actually encourage business models that maintain credibility, lend value to bloggers and raise money for charity.
But that’s just one marketer’s opinion and we’re all learning in this Web 2.0 world together. That’s what makes it such a rich conversation, after all.
Hey, here’s the link where I speak of how I see a better way for the Nikon program:
http://www.ck-blog.com/cks_blog/2007/05/im_asking_open_.html
PS: Nice to “meet” you and thank you for linking to my side with this post!
Thanks for the comment, CK. Perhaps critic would have been a better word, but you have to admit, you have been quite vocal in your criticism of the Nikon outreach. Which is of course your right. And as you say, multiple points of view are what make this such a rich conversation.
Programs should be judged on whether they achieve their objectives. Whether we agree with the objectives or not. Different discussion. In the case of the Nikon outreach, the company seems pretty happy with the results, and I don’t think they can be faulted on transparency grounds.
Sure, we might have done it differently or believe we know a better way. And we can do it our way when it’s our program.
And suffer the slings and arrows when others think we didn’t get it right. Because there is more than one way to skin a cat….
Good luck with the new initiative. I look forward to reading about it.
Hey Susan: First, thanks so much for emailing me your comment (very kind/helpful!). I am the first one to admit I’ve been one vocal marketer on the topic, absolutely agreed. I’ve spent time on discussing and debating it due to this community being important to me.
And the reason I’ve spoken up/out is because it is such a precedent-setting time in this still-very-new medium. See, my aim is to work with all the smart marketers, via this conversation, to discuss best practices and to share opinions on what’s best for companies and customers.
Remember, in this instance, the marketing community is the “customer” (and I always come from the angle of the customer). So I’m looking at what’s in their best interest. That’s how I judge the success of the program. Judging it on objectives of sales/buzz would be short-sighted since I see Web 2.0 programs as needing to qualify on how advancing they are to this community, not just Nikon.
Now, has some of the community been pleased with this program? Absolutley. Many others? Absolutely not. And disagreements are a reality and many times necessary. But there are ways where the program could have been executed so as to allay concerns over issues like credibility and authenticity while creating more value for the entire community. And while it has been transparent, I don’t see that as the only requirement. I explain more at that link I cited in my earlier comment.
The new initiative is not a company I work for, it’s a suggestion I made to a company coming into this space–so that they could treat bloggers with care (and help charity at the same time). Hey, I’ll always try. The community is too important not to. Again, great meeting you.
Great suggestions! I bet you could add onto this after all that’s been said recently post-BlogHer.