Courting bloggers
Ben McConnell from Church of the Consumer Blog wrote today in reply to Thom Brodeur's comment in a Chicago Tribune article around "cultivating bloggers" that:
Bloggers are not traditional media, so the last thing a PR person should do is create another column on a spreadsheet that includes in future email blasts.I've been pondering this same issue while trying to help multiple clients reach their target bloggers. I do agree with Ben's point of view since we know full well that bloggers (most of them anyway) are both journalist as well as consumers and their platforms are conversations instead of editorial.Ben then takes it one step further to say that the value of PR is in the relationship you can have with the blogger. That's fine too. We've been doing that with the media for ages and it definitely works for us. In fact, Hill & Knowlton Singapore just had our biggest media party ever last week!Ben's post kept my head nodding while I was reading it in a train ride home until I hit the last line which said:
Save your client some money: stop pitching bloggers you don't know.This terribly absolute statement stopped my head bobbing and made me smile. I know where he's coming from, but as a former journalist and blogger, I'd like to add that bloggers, just like journalists, are not stupid. However "close" you are to them, they're not buying a lemon from you. At the end of the day, content is still king and that's the Purple Cow for us PR folks.Say, if I had a the latest gadget from a client up for review, wouldn't you tech bloggers whom I've never met approach me for a review unit?
