How to Effectively Pitch Bloggers

Blogger and PR Relations

PR professionals have to be extremely careful in the way they choose to pitch any form of media. Blogs like http://badpitch.blogspot.com/, showcase countless bad pitches the bloggers continually receive.

With blogs on the rise and increasingly become more and more influential, pitching bloggers is an important PR issue to discuss.

Pitching bloggers is about establishing relationships and this can start by reading their blog and commenting on it. Posting on a blog can establish a rapport with the blogger before you pitch them. You can even incorporate your pitch into a comment-(however make SURE that the comment/pitch fits with the blogger’s post).

Also, make sure that you check the blogger’s pitching preferences; some prefer to be pitched via http://del.icio.us/ -(a social bookmarking site) or others will allow you to submit a profile right on the site. Josh Hallett, a well-recognized thought leader in the convergence of social media and corporate public relations and marketing, warns that “sending a blogger a link to 'check out' or a press release is one of the worst things you can do. When I engage in blogger relations I rarely send anything, I ask. If the blogger has written about a subject or expressed interest in the topic I ask if there is anything else I can assist them with. There is a big difference between saying, ‘Here is our latest press release’ and ‘How can I help you?’” (http://hyku.com/blog/archives/001675.html).

Another way to aid in pitching a blogger is to check out and study a blogger’s other blogs. You can potentially find contact information on one of the other blogs that is not present on another.

Employing these techniques before pitching a blogger can make your pitch a successful one and save you from becoming a feature on The Bad Pitch Blog- (http://badpitch.blogspot.com/).