Posted on November 4, 2008
3 Tips for Marketing To Bloggers
BY WENDY HOFSTETTER
Last week JupiterResearch and BuzzLogic released the results from their Harnessing the Power of Blogs survey; a study of more than 2,000 online consumers in the U.S. Aside from revealing a 300% growth in blog readership in the past four years, this study confirmed that consumers are "strongly influenced" by blog content when it comes to purchasing a product. Not only are these consumers discovering new products from blogger reviews, they are using blogs to refine their choices, get support and answers, and even assure themselves of their purchase decision.
So how you can you tap into the purchasing power of blogs? Implement a blogger outreach program for your brand! Below are 3 tips for successfully marketing to bloggers.
1. Be authentic. I can't stress this point enough. Always disclose that you work for the company/brand/product before you start your pitch. Full discloser helps build trust between you and the blogger and provides an open environment for feedback. Check out Fired for Astroturfing: A Social Media Don't for an example of what can go wrong if you don't disclose your affiliation up-front.
2. Do your homework. There are literally millions of blogs covering endless topics, so it is important to target only blogs that are highly relevant for your product or service. To start identifying appropriate blogs, select 2-3 keywords that best describe the industry for your product or service. (For example, 'candy' and 'chocolate' would be good keywords for M&Ms). Next do a Google Blog Search using these keywords to find blogs that have these keywords in the title or have a high concentration of content including these keywords.
3. Customize your pitch. I have received feedback from numerous bloggers applauding our company for 'getting it right' when it comes to outreach. The reason? Customization. Do not send out impersonal, mass emails to the bloggers you identified in Step 2. Instead, use the blogger's name at the beginning of your pitch and let him know you read his blog (identified by name) or a specific blog post (again identified by name). Tailor your pre-written pitch to make it as relevant as possible for this blogger. The more personal your communication seems, the more likely a blogger will respond positively to it.
Fostering blogger relationships can help you build brand credibility and provide a forum for online conversation about your product or service. I would love to hear about other blogger outreach tips and success stories, so be sure to leave comments!
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Google Blog Search is a good starting point. To support more advanced outreach, we also recommend getting into the pay-to-play tools offered by companies like Collective Intellect, Filtrbox, Radian6, etc.