Blogs. To pitch or not to pitch? Well, it depends on your definition of pitch.
I've received a ton of irrelevant pitches since starting Strategic Public Relations more than two years ago. Just yesterday, someone posted a press release as a comment to one of my posts. Can you say DELETE?! Luckily for the individuals pitching me, I usually just delete them and move on.
Well, Tom Murphy gives us a great (read: embarrassing) Look for a Relevant Link. Now, most folks would assume that once you have engaged the blogger, you can pitch them at free will. Wrong. Continue to read their blog. If a pitch or piece of news you have corresponds with something the blogger is writing about, send them a link to learn more as an FYI.
Pitching a blogger should be a continuation to a conversation you have already started with the person. Better yet, send them a link to an article you already placed. To me, I think the best opportunity with blogs for media relations is bringing more attention to traditional publicity efforts.
Who are we? What are we? We can call bloggers all kinds of things from citizen journalists to evangelists to @#$&^%!. But at the end of the day, good bloggers are people with opinions on a specific topic. As such, consider them industry influencers and work with them accordingly.
Tom has me convinced. PR bloggers need to start calling out bad pitches as a rule. Not to sound dramatic, but maybe it will help raise the quality of media relations overall. Not to sound negative, but I doubt it.
Kevin Dugan is the author of the popular FRCH Design Worldwide
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Pitch Blogs with Caution
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