The Seven Deadly Sins of Pitching to Bloggers

The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers Navigating Social Media Safely to Avoid Embarrassment & Achieve Results March 2007 by Chip Griffin Abstract The blogosphere presents companies with tremendous opportunities to promote their products and services and to learn from their customers. The “third rail” of the blogosphere is transparency, but there are other big mistakes you can make along the way. Awareness have made of the mistakes you others achieve will help Contents 1. Failing to Be Transparent 2. Appearing to Bribe 3. Lacking Your Own Blog 4. Making a Bad Pitch 5. Being Scripted 6. Forgetting Everything is “On the Record” 7. Making Claims That Can Be Easily Disproved success in social media. www.CustomScoop.com This report is provided to you courtesy of CustomScoop, a leader in customizable media monitoring technology and services. For more information about how CustomScoop can help your company with media monitoring, please call us at (800) 538-6420 or visit our Web site: www.CustomScoop.com. The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |2 The Blogosphere is Full of Opportunities Blogs may be the buzzword du jour for PR and marketing pros, but there is certainly substance behind the buzz as well. The blogosphere represents an incredible opportunity for companies to learn about their customers, learn how to improve their products and services, and promote themselves to potential new or repeat customers. Some compare the blogosphere to a vast focus group. Others describe it as “social media” and position it as competitor, successor, or complement to “mainstream” or traditional media. Still others focus more on the conversational nature of the medium and emphasize the need for dialogue between companies and customers, governments and citizens, and one individual and another. The manner in which each blogger perceives the medium helps dictate his or her viewpoint and style of blogging. Even the most expert practitioners with experience in blog promotion will occasionally encounter one of the common pitfalls outlined in this paper; the trick is to avoid them as often as possible. Navigated successfully, the blogosphere can deliver real rewards to companies in the form of increased sales, improved products, and better corporate reputation. Done correctly, blog outreach can also improve employee morale, educate your workforce, and inform corporate strategy. The Blogosphere is Also Full of Risks In some respects, the sometimes conflicting perceptions of what blogs are and what they should be can cause problems for those trying to navigate this new medium. The rules of the offline world do not apply. In fact, let me underscore that point. Many of the mistakes outlined below occur when companies or agencies forget that the rules of blogs are different. The same tactics that work effectively – and have for years – in traditional PR and marketing venues can fall flat online. Understanding the differences in the media and how you approach them will help make you a better practitioner and improve results for your company or client. Unfortunately, there is no one rulebook to follow. While this paper outlines some of the key pitfalls, most with experience in the blogosphere would come up with slightly different lists. And each blogger tends to have individual quirks and pet peeves that can affect your ability to be effective. One must also respect the fact that the rules of blog promotion constantly evolve. Keeping on top of blogosphere goings-on can be an important component of your continuing education. Tracking conversations by leading PR and marketing experts online can be a valuable way to stay current. Some of the leading voices that I read regularly for ideas and inspiration in this arena include Steve Rubel, BL Ochman, Doc Searls, Shel Holz, Neville Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |3 Hobson, Shel Israel, Seth Godin, Jackie Huba, Ben McConnell, Joseph Jaffe, Jim Horton, Chris Heuer, and Jeremy Pepper. You can find plenty more at one of the bests resources for PR and marketing blogs, Todd And(rlik)’s Power 150 List: http://www.toddand.com/power150/ Finally, one must also be aware that the rules can be different for different companies. The more favorably the blogosphere perceives an organization, the greater latitude it has in engaging bloggers. This isn’t much different from the rest of the world, but the effects can be magnified online. #1: Failing to Be Transparent I like to say that transparency is the currency of the blogosphere. If you don’t remember any of the other lessons in this paper, at least remember this one. I believe you can make no more serious error than to do something surreptitious or appear to do something surreptitious in the blogosphere. The former, of course, is much simpler. You have complete control over your own actions. But the appearance issue can snare many companies and agencies because what you believe is disclosure may not meet the “requirements” of some bloggers. Moreover, the actions of surrogates whom you do not directly control can become an issue. Fear of condemnation for lack of transparency now drives an almost ridiculous number of disclosures online. But it is much better to err on the side of over-disclosure, than to get caught in the trap of secret behavior. Edelman & Wal-Mart Countless examples exist of companies that have gotten into problems in this regard. Perhaps the most famous is the Edelman/Wal-Mart debacle from the summer of 2006. To keep the story brief, Wal-Mart employed Edelman to help boost its corporate reputation. Edelman, through an organization known as Working Families for Wal-Mart, helped arrange for a couple to travel cross country in an RV outfitted with the group’s logo. The RV would stay overnight in Wal-Mart parking lots to help underline the good citizen nature of the retailer that permits this practice of RV’ers. The couple blogged about their trip as they travelled and touted the value of WalMart. Many bloggers considered this to be a “flog” or fake blog since it didn’t explicitly disclose that Edelman helped arrange for PR and that the couple had their expenses covered. To make matters worse, one of the individuals was a photographer for the Washington Post and questions arose as to whether the paper had been aware of the sponsorship. Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |4 The entire event got very messy for all involved and sparked a “blogstorm,” where bloggers across America trashed Edelman, Wal-Mart and the couple involved. Not exactly what any of them had in mind at the start of the trip. Of course, as with any situation like this, the stories vary and there’s really a lot more to it. I encourage you to Google for more facts since in condensing the story, I no doubt left out or inadvertently presented facts in such a way that one or more aggrieved parties will be offended. Transparency comes in many different flavors, however. While the Wal-Mart/Edelman case was more one of direct disclosure, other situations arise where a third party must disclose something. That’s the trickier scenario, so let me share an example that speaks to that point. PayPerPost First, a company recently launched that it can safely be said is generally – although not uniformly – reviled among A-List bloggers. PayPerPost was founded in 2006 to help promote companies in the blogosphere. The idea was that companies would do just as the company name suggests – pay for each post that the company was able to generate. Bloggers would be compensated for posting product reviews based on the size of their blogs. At first blush, this sounds like little more than an innovative approach to advertising. Except that PayPerPost did not insist that bloggers disclose the fact that the post was done in exchange for cash consideration. It should be noted, however, that to my knowledge they did not discourage it either. Bloggers went berserk. PayPerPost was destroying the blogosphere, they charged. When the blogosphere has its feathers ruffled and becomes indignant, you do not want to be on the receiving end of the venom. So PayPerPost switched to a policy of requiring bloggers to disclose, either each time they posted a review or through a blanket disclosure policy posted on their blog. “Not enough!” was the reply of most bloggers. They wanted to see at least clear disclosure each time a paid post was made; many, in fact, just wanted to see the company fold. To some purists, bloggers should not be paid for posts, disclosed or not. Ultimately, PayPerPost decided to go to a broad disclosure policy along the lines of what some critics were demanding. This softened the criticism somewhat, but the company still has a reputation among many bloggers that would not be envied. Of course, some bloggers – including this author – have suggested that ultimately it ended up being an effective marketing strategy for PayPerPost. In a short period of time they Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |5 received considerable attention and have indeed signed up bloggers to be part of their program. Once again this proves that there are two sides to every criticism. #2: Appearing to Bribe We all know that bribery is illegal – at least in the United States. But what legally constitutes bribery and what the blogosphere perceives as bribery are wildly different. It would hardly be a news flash to hear that a marketer was giving away free samples to individuals they believe could influence future purchases – whether they are individual consumers, journalists, influential individuals, or industry leaders. Jim Horton, a prominent PR industry blogger, contends that "blogging is being compromised by freebies. It is getting so one can no longer trust what anyone writes." He argues that bloggers should swear off such promotional items just as reporters largely did so in the post-Watergate era. Though I disagree with him, he is certainly not alone. To many bloggers, providing product samples equals bribery. This is not across the board and it certainly ignites considerable debate, but it is nevertheless something that marketers and PR practitioners must be keenly aware of. Some companies have navigated these waters successfully. For example, the Sprint Ambassadors program provided free cell phones and service to bloggers for 6 months. At the end of the evaluation period, bloggers got to keep the phones but would have to pay for the service if they still wanted it. There was no requirement that they blog about the service, only an agreement that they would provide feedback to the company. On the other hand, Microsoft and one of its PR firms (Edelman – though I’m not trying to pick on them here) were harshly treated in the blogosphere for distributing free copies of Vista installed on new laptops to bloggers. The bloggers were explicitly told that they could keep, return, or donate the systems when they were done evaluating them. There was no requirement that they blog about their experience with Vista. Some bloggers felt that the cost of the free giveaway turned it from a sample into a bribe. Many felt the company could have given Vista, but shouldn’t have provided the laptop. But how many bloggers have an extra machine (with all the firepower needed to use all its features) to install Vista on? The only way the effort would work was to provide the full system. Many bloggers who accepted that argument said that Microsoft and Edelman should have required the systems be returned or donated. Ultimately, avoiding bribery allegations while successfully distributing free products will be a challenge for most companies. But one should not abandon the tactic altogether. Companies simply must: Ask bloggers before sending the free sample to receive permission, Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |6 Act in a completely transparent manner, Insist on disclosure if they blog about the free product, Provide a simple means to return the sample if that is the blogger’s preference, and Be prepared to respond to any inaccurate accusations others may make. #3: Lacking Your Own Blog You can pitch a newspaper or magazine reporter without publishing your own magazine or newspaper. But trying to pitch a blogger without your own blog can be difficult. For one thing, writing your own blog or contributing to your company’s blog on a regular basis helps you understand the medium better. You begin to grasp what a blogger thinks about when writing a post. Just as important, having a blog provides you with an outlet to begin communicating with bloggers directly. One of the best ways to build relationships with other bloggers to help in your pitches is by commenting on their blog posts directly (especially when not related to any of your company’s products or your agency’s clients). In these comments, you typically leave a URL for your web site, which works best if it is another blog. It helps to establish a relationship of trust and appreciation among fellow bloggers that will prove useful when you are ready to make a pitch. Once you become comfortable with commenting on other blogs, you will do an even better job of building content on your own. Going through the effort that it takes to publish material on a regular basis will make you a much savvier promoter. As you read and comment on what other bloggers are saying, you will get a much better sense of the nuances of the blogosphere. You will see which messages resonate and spread as “memes” across many blogs versus those that seem to get overlooked. Having your own blog helps signal that you understand the conversational nature of the blogosphere and see it as a two-way street rather than a unidirectional information feed. Bloggers want companies to treat the blogosphere differently than the mainstream media and publishing your own blog will help establish that credibility. Moreover, bloggers frequently criticize companies who don’t have a blog. There are some who believe that every company ought to have a blog. I’m not that dogmatic about it. However, I believe that you need one if you are pitching to bloggers because you have identified the blogosphere as an important venue in which to communicate. #4: Making a Bad Pitch Volumes of blog posts have been written about bad blog pitches. Type “bad blog pitch” into Google and you’ll find 1,300,000+ results. And there’s nothing like the venom of a blogger that has received a bad pitch. You’ll get a blog post about your company, but probably not what you were hoping for. Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |7 So what constitutes a bad pitch? Obviously a lot of that depends on the eye of the beholder. But some of the basics that most bloggers would include on the criteria for a bad blog pitch include: Failing to personalize your email to the blogger. Make sure that you are sending 1-on-1 emails, not massive blasts. Refer to the blogger directly in the email and include something that acknowledges you have read the blog before. Ideally, you will already have come to the blogger’s attention by commenting on their posts or linking to them from their own blogs, but realistically this isn’t always possible. Mismatching your pitch with the blogger you’re targeting. In other words, make sure that you are sending something relevant. Bloggers are very picky about this – much more so than even traditional journalists. You generally want to tie your current pitch into something the blogger has posted previously – it demonstrates that you are paying attention and that you took the time to find a hook, rather than merely going through a list of anonymous (to you) bloggers. Using too much “corporate speak.” If you sound like a flack, bloggers will flog you like one. Use conversational language, concrete examples, and links to vital information to demonstrate you’re serving as a resource, not a mouthpiece. Sending a press release. I don’t believe in the word “never.” There are just too many situations where an exception will disprove your use of the word. So here’s my exception to my mantra of “never say never.” I can imagine no situation in which you should send a press release to a blogger. Bloggers seem almost uniformly to hate it or at the very least distrust such documents. To bloggers, someone who sends a press release doesn’t “get it.” Promoting marginal products or services. Not everything that your company or client does is blog-worthy. If you’re trying to put lipstick on a pig, don’t do it with bloggers. Your plea for a plug will turn into a mad dash to avoid being bashed. The best test is that if you’re not impressed with your own pitch, a blogger won’t be either. Sometimes you will have to say no to bosses or clients who want blog coverage no matter what. #5: Being Scripted A natural response to Costly Mistake #4 (“Making a Bad Pitch”) might be to very carefully script your messages. That would be an unfortunate response – Mistake #5, in fact. An enormous difference exists between thinking about your pitch and being scripted. Take a look at the email you’re sending a blogger. If it sounds like something that you’d send to Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |8 a colleague, then you’re probably OK. If it sounds stilted or awkward or overly-polished, then you probably are being too scripted. That’s not to say that you should be glib or careless in dealing with bloggers. Far from it. In fact, you can check out Mistake #6 (“Forgetting Everything is ‘On The Record’”) to find out why you don’t want to go down that path. You do want to be conversational, however, in your dealings with bloggers. Typos, failure to use good writing technique (all caps or no caps, for instance), or truly terrible grammar or spelling won’t win any friends. But you don’t want your emails to come across as polished as a press release might. Bloggers want candor. The more an email seems like a real conversation among peers, the more likely the blogger is to respond positively. In the event you actually end up on the phone – or more likely on Skype (the “in” way for bloggers to talk to each other; an Internet-based “phone” system) – with a blogger, speak from the heart, not from the fact sheet in front of you. In fact, turn that fact sheet over so you’re not even tempted to read from it. The worst type of “too scripted” will get you in hot water in the blogosphere. If you regurgitate talking points in an email – likely sounding like “corporate speak” – bloggers will likely lambaste you for being fake or a flack. You want to converse with a blogger as you would like others to communicate with you. You want every email to seem friendly and personal, not corporate and distant. #6: Forgetting Everything is “On the Record” Remember those concepts you have with mainstream “deep background” or more custom descriptions like “double super secret background” (I kid you not, this one has been used by at least one reporter with his source)? Forget about them when it comes to blogs. No doubt many experts in media relations and crisis communications could engage with each other for hours on end about what those terms mean and whether you should ever doing anything in the mainstream media that you don’t believe is on the record, but there’s no doubt in the blogosphere. When communicating with bloggers, just follow the rule that “every email is a blog post.” In other words, write every email to a blogger as if it will be media reporters of “off the record” or The Washington Post Rule In politics, there’s something known as the “Washington Post rule.” For readers not familiar with that term, what it means is that anything you put on paper, you should feel comfortable if it appeared on the front page of the leading paper in the nation’s capital. The purpose is to make people think carefully before they write something foolish or that could be easily misunderstood. Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers |9 published in its entirety for all the world to see – because that’s just what might happen to it. Bloggers, for the most part, are not out to get PR and marketing people. But if you irk them – either by doing something they don’t like or failing to do something that they think you should – they will post about it, copy from your email, and ridicule you. This is the simpler case to avoid. It requires that you learn from the mistakes of others and try not to make the same ones (you’re reading this paper, so you’re halfway home). It requires that you use commonsense and treat bloggers with respect. These steps will help – but not guarantee – that you will avoid being ridiculed. But you can still end up embarrassed even if you follow all these rules and the blogger with whom you were communicating does not intend to ridicule you. Some bloggers will post excerpts from emails either as a shortcut or as a step toward transparency. Some bloggers publish entire email conversations, especially those with reporters. Sometimes it is to rebut a published article and demonstrate that more information was provided than was included or that a statement was taken out of context or misunderstood. But often they just publish these exchanges because they provide additional information beyond what appeared in print or online. They can – and will – do the same with conversations with PR and marketing practitioners. Just write your emails as if they were blog posts about to be published and you’ll be fine. #7: Making Claims That Can be Easily Disproved As I write this, I’m listening to a podcast where someone just said that a particular conference was “bigger than ever.” Fortunately, my understanding from the show’s organizers was that it indeed did have more attendees than any of the previous ones. But what if that weren’t the case? What if you pitched a blogger and shared a “fact” or made a claim that turned out to not only not be true, but also easily disproved? I know that when I post to my own blog or email fellow bloggers, I do try to do factchecking whenever possible. Obviously, I’m a one-man operation when it comes to my blog, so I don’t have the fact-checking department that many print publications employ. And you likely don’t have those types of resources available either, so I’m not suggesting you go overboard here. There’s a difference between getting the key facts right, and not making any mistakes in the details. (I’m certain if someone fact-checked every line of this very paper, they would find mistakes. I can’t deny it I can only assure you that they are sins of omission rather than commission.) So if you don’t have a fact-checking department, what should you do? Don’t go overboard, but do check the key facts and claims that drive the point home in your pitch. Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers | 10 Some examples: Refrain from using “best,” “worst,” “fastest,” “cheapest.” Unless, of course, you can back it up with reliable third party evidence. Don’t say you are “the leading” provider in a category or that you are the “industry standard,” for instance. Bloggers are likely to take you to task for this because if you need to make the claim, it probably isn’t true. “First” could be the most dangerous claim. Especially when it comes to the Internet. The folks at Crayon, an interactive media firm, will vouch for this. When they started they claimed to be the first company that launched inside of Second Life. Unfortunately, the Second Life community widely took exception and slammed the company for its claim. If you use numbers, double check them. Do yourself a favor and whenever you use numbers, whether they are your own or from an independent source, verify that the numbers you typed are the same as appeared in the source document. It is all too easy to jumble numbers. Google is your friend, use it. You can use Google or another search engine of your choice (I own no stock in the company so feel free to use a competitor), but you should use it to look up important facts and verify them if at all possible. Don’t go from memory about historical events, for instance. If you are not 100% certain of when some event took place, or who said a particular quote you are referencing, take 30 seconds and find out for sure. The bottom line is that getting basic facts wrong can tarnish your whole pitch. Don’t let that happen to you. Embrace these Lessons, Use Common Sense, and Go Pitch a Blogger Hopefully this paper has provided you some insight into the minds of bloggers. It isn’t intended to be an exclusive list of mistakes that can be made, but I offer them as the most common ones that I have seen in my years of blogging and working with other bloggers. Ultimately, you must learn to trust your own judgment and use common sense when dealing with bloggers. Yes, this new medium differs quite a bit from traditional broadcast and print media, but the fundamentals remain similar. Everything you know about pitching in the “real world” will help you in social media as well. There’s no reason to be afraid of blogs, and in fact they hold a great deal of promise. Just embrace the lessons shared here, use common sense, and go pitch a blogger! Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers | 11 # # # About the Author Chip Griffin serves as the CEO of CustomScoop. He has more than 15 years experience in the business of public relations and public affairs. In that time, he has specialized in marrying technology and innovation with sound communications practices. He has developed a range of knowledge by working on crisis communications, grassroots PR, internet advocacy, and marketing communications. In addition, his background includes stints in government, with a PR agency, and as an independent consultant. He has been blogging since 1999 and has been published in a wide range of traditional and new media publications, including the Washington Post, New York Times, Miami Herald, and numerous magazines and web sites. A serial entrepreneur, he has been a founder or co-founder of more than a half dozen different companies. In addition, he is currently the Managing Director of AOS Ventures, a small group of angel investors that targets seed stage companies in New England. He is a graduate and active supporter of American University. He splits his time between Washington, DC and New Hampshire, where he lives with his wife and two sons. 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We gather the latest relevant information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and deliver it right to your desktop. http://www.customscoop.com Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved