This is a guest post from Matt Cheuvront and is part of the Guest Blog Grand Tour over at Life Without Pants. Want to learn more about Matt Cheuvront & see how far the rabbit hole goes? Subscribe to the Life Without Pants RSS feed & follow him on Twitter to keep in touch!
As a semi-successful blogger (whatever that means, right?) I’ve seen my fair share of pitches over the past year. Authors, software developers, and advertisers have reached out and contacted me – pitching their product or service and asking me to feature it on my website. 95% of the time, these pitches are bad, I mean like…BAD. To the point where I’m getting the “Dear Fellow Blogger” introduction – an instant red flag that sends the pitch directly to the trash pile.
The day of the old traditional PR pitch is dead – but you already knew that, right?
New media has completely opened up the line of communication between businesses and from business to consumer. Essentially anyone, anywhere, at any time can get in touch with their target audience. Social Media is only the beginning, but is now an integral part to the PR approach? Why…because today’s PR pitch is founded in research – doing your due diligence to research before you strike is imperative to landing a deal.
So how do you research? How do you REALLY get to know the individual or business you’re looking to pitch to? Here are five tips to get you well on your way.
Read blogs – and get involved in conversations there
I love when people read my blog – I love it even more when they really get something out of it – and I love it the most when a blog post encourages a person to go so far as to leave a comment, send me an email, and start the two-way communication process. There are a million trillion blogs out there – so for someone to take the time to read and comment on yours…well folks, that means something. So if YOU are the one looking to pitch, get involved in their community and above all, be genuine. I’ll almost always listen to someone who’s taken time to listen to me.
Be personable
In short – be a friend first – be someone who is genuinely interested in the business or individual your approaching. The spray and pray approach, reaching out to anyone and everyone who will listen, is a waste of your time. A WASTE. To quote David Meerman Scott’s “New Rules of Marketing & PR”:
“Barraging large groups of journalists with indiscriminate PR materials is not a good strategy to get reporters and editors to pay attention to you.”
RESEARCH leads to a targeted PR approach – study the company individual and approach with the intent of building a relationship. Non-targeted approaches (aka most of the PR pitches out there) are SPAM.
Give them a “WIFM”
If I’m going to help you out – I want to know how what you’re offering will help me out. Call it selfish, but if I’m going to take the time to test out your product, read your book, and write a blog post about it or throw up a banner ad – you better damn well have something in it for me. An opportunity for revenue, a free book, something. Any PR approach that’s all take and no give is dead in the water – A deal may be weighed in favor of one party over the other, but there needs to be some mutual agreement.
This isn’t rocket science folks, but I continue seeing the old school approach that, plain and simple, doesn’t work anymore. It’s a waste of my time and a waste of your time putting it together.
Get creative, be yourself, do your research, and people will be much more likely to help you out.
Mon, Feb 1, 2010
Business, Philosophy