Blogging

Changing up the promised order a bit because I want to do justice to the Jim Beam social media pitch and haven’t had the time to really dig into the program itself the way I’d like before commenting. So today I’m going to share some ways good pitches go bad, and what you can do to fix it.

The first comes via Twitter pal and environmental blogger Chris Baskind who tweeted the other day about a bad pitch. Never shy, I asked if he would share. Here’s the scoop.

Chris got a product pitch that interested him for EcoTech Daily, but there was no link to pictures. Strike one: if you are pitching a product to someone who covers products, it’s a good idea to include a link to some pictures. No images made an otherwise interesting pitch a failure for Chris.

Why do PR people do this? Often it is because they want to control access to images and additional resources. Know who is getting what. Old school, my friends, do not do it.

Chris asked the PR rep for images, and got… two shots that looked like they’d been taken with a cameraphone. Strike two: poor quality artwork.

Eventually, he did get some decent images and wrote the story. But this PR person was lucky. Chris gave him more than one chance. Not everyone will .

How did this good pitch almost fail? By not giving the writer the information he needed in the form he needed. First no pictures, then bad pictures. How do you avoid it? Find out what the blogger wants. EcoTech Daily covers "green technology, gadgets and news." Product pitches without good pictures are pretty useless.

Word of caution: Do not attach the pictures to your email pitch. Include a link. If a blogger needs you to send them in email, he’ll ask.

The second is the meandering pitch that wanders around, here there and everywhere, but never quite seems to get to the point. For example, this one.

This is well-intentioned, and gets good marks for its opening paragraph. And then it falls apart. Instead of telling the blogger quickly and succinctly how they might work together and  the benefit to the blogger, the email goes into the message points for the web series. Then it sort of wanders around how the blogger might work with the show but there’s nothing specific.

Too long, no specifics, no benefits. 

9×1 does not equal 3×3. It’s a well understood communications concept. In any given conversation, sharing nine different ideas one time each will never have the same impact that repeating three core ideas three times each has. Modern PR practice is pretty much based on this idea; develop three messages and repeat repeat repeat. These messages are about the company, its products and sometimes why the customer needs/wants it. But they are rarely about the customer.

And that’s why so many blog pitches fail. Because they are based on the standard messages about the products and how the blogger can promote them. Not the blogger and how the products can help her. 

What’s the fix?

Do your blogger relations math. Write your pitch. Count the number of times you mention your company, product and what you’d like the blogger to do for you. Then count the number of times you mention the customer and what she gets from the deal. First time through, you’ll probably have far more mentions of YOU than of HER. That’s what you fix. Go back through it, and make sure you’ve got at least as much about your customer as you do about your products, and please, do not fool yourself that the privilege of buying your products is about the customer. It’s still about you.

The pitch above could have been done in two paragraphs:

1. Introduction, one sentence about the show and a specific offer about a way the blogger could engage with the show with clear benefit to the blogger
2. Indication that the show was open to other ideas from bloggers and close

Finally, for another perspective on what makes a good pitch, check out this post from Chris Brogan. Make sure you read the comments. Quite a variety of opinions.

Tags: blogger relations, public relations

Well, I hope you are enjoying my good pitch, bad pitch analyses because I’m sure having fun doing them. Today, for giggles, we are going to look at a few bad pitches. Then tomorrow I am going to tell you about a campaign from Jim Beam that I was pitched last week… as an example of a good pitch 🙂 Later this week, we’ll discuss one simple way to turn a good pitch into a bad pitch. Note: this is not a recommended strategy.

The pitch to me for the Jim Beam campaign gets points for cleverness. Jason Falls pitched me a social media marketing campaign in response to my posts and tweets about social media marketing campaigns. But when I asked the him for more detail on how he pitched his client’s program to other bloggers, Jason ponied up. And sent me some of his pitches. So extra points for guts, dude, because you know I often use screen grabs. Then again, fits with the brand, and that works for me too. More tomorrow.  [Jason — if you are counting, as I know you are, that means you get two hits from me. For whatever that’s worth.]

Today, however, we shall laugh at some stupid crap from PR agencies.

Our first victim — a pitch for a video contest for an ice cream bar. Totally unmemorable, says the blogger who forwarded this to me, until she got to the part directing her to post it on her site.

That did not go over so well. And why the pitch made it to MY inbox 🙂 Good blogger relations practice: Never ask a blogger to write. If the pitch is good, you don’t need to ask.

And then of course, there was the end of the email:

I black-box company names but the "X" — that was all them, my friends. Talk about a cut-and-paste pitch. This rep didn’t bother to sign her own name before she launched the email blast.  I can’t repeat this enough — of preference, do not use email blast programs to pitch bloggers. Send individual emails. With some standard explanatory verbiage for sure, but hand done, each one. But if you are going to use an email blast, at least make sure your technology doesn’t suck. Signed X. Jeez..

Next, one of my all time favorites, false familiarity. Even worse when combined with poor proofreading.

Hey, buddy. I don’t know you. "Hey" is a dicey form of address when it comes from someone you DO know. Totally inappropriate to someone  you do NOT know. Try "Hi" instead. And then there are all the grammar errors. Needless to say, this one goes straight to the round file.

The lesson: proofread. More than once. Be appropriate in how you address the blogger. Hi followed immediately by who you are and why you are writing has always worked well for me: Hi Susan, My name is Susan Getgood and I am working with company X to introduce bloggers to XYZ.

And finally, another example of why is important to tailor the pitch to the blogger AND have something of real value to impart. A contest or drawing usually isn’t enough, unless it offers real recognition based on skill to the blogger. Or a kick ass prize. And even then… those are a dime a dozen these days. How do you distinguish your offer or contest? 

Here’s the pitch. What makes it bad?

It’s all about the product, the service, the offer. How the blogger can help this company promote their contest and their site. For free. Not about her at all. Just a pitch for some free coverage.

The sad thing is that this product might resonate if the pitch had been better targeted and better written.

Am I being tough? Absolutely. Because these are wasted opportunities. If I was allowed to give one piece, and only one piece, of advice to companies considering blogger outreach it would be this: Lead with the customer, ie the blogger. Relate to a real problem or concern and then introduce your product or service.

We don’t care about products. We care about how they help us, meet our needs, make us happy. Start there. We’ll fill in the rest.

Tags: blogger relations, PR, bad pitch