I try really hard not to rant online – I believe that your online presence and profiles can be monitored and viewed at any time and potentially could just be seen by far too many people. It can even feel sometimes (especially if you work in new media and social) that you can no longer be openly “social” with your online presence… (but that’s a rant for another day)!
Now I’m not plugging myself here (honestly I’m not!), but outside of Neoco I run a men’s style blog at www.individualism.co.uk. On the whole I’d say it’s doing fairly well here in the UK, and as a result we get a fair amount of emails through our inbox on a daily basis. Today I experienced a truly inept approach from a brand marketing person, which I feel I have to share in order to help stop people from making the same mistakes.
At Neoco we work a lot with our clients on blogger outreach and to us it’s an integral part of the Social CRM process. However, while it’s undeniably important to gain coverage, it’s also vital to maintain relationships with bloggers. Just because we’re now all sitting behind computers doesn’t mean that we can ignore the social niceties and not behave normally and politely. If you really want to stay a step ahead you need to learn how to work with bloggers and build long-term lasting relationships.
The majority of the emails I get for Individualism seem to think I’m interested in Womens’ underwear – this is despite the fact that there are ONLY pictures of men’s fashion on the site and we state very clearly that we are a MEN’S STYLE blog. I can live with these and ignore them fairly easily. Following these I also get sent a lot of PR and agency emails that are purely irrelevant. These are slightly more irritating though still not enough to drive me to anger…
A few days ago I received an email from an overseas brand (I won’t name and shame) who were trying to pitch a bag to me to feature. The Head of Marketing seemed a little desperate for coverage, and suggested that they would gift us the bag (worth about $100) and they’d even write the copy for the post. Within the first email to me he had already breached ethical and marketing industry codes of conduct, not to mention showing no respect for the writing style and proposition of the blog. However the real problems began with the follow up emails.
The second email began “Can you please respond to my email soon?” – a little pushy right? Up until this point I was considering replying to him sooner rather than later but this simple phrase just pushed him down my priority list. I still hadn’t given up on him though.
Today however, I received another follow up email. After explaining for the second time that they would gift us the bag and also write the post (reminding me how much they they cared for the content of blog) he wrote: “Either case, let us know out of respect.”
Holy smokes! I had actually been considering producing an original photo shoot of the bag, after having taken another look and thinking I could create something interesting out of it. But with one simple sentence he managed to destroy any goodwill towards him I had left!
By expecting me to reply with the same urgency as any of his minions, and by not understanding that bloggers have their own priorities and commitments beyond their blogs, he’s missed the point of trying to engage in relationship building. Emailing a blogger to demand a post and then angrily insisting that they need to reply to you out of respect is purely an EPIC FAIL. If you’re not getting an immediate response you need to stop and think. Perhaps they receive a very high volume of email, or perhaps they don’t want to hurt your feelings by replying that they think your product is rubbish.
Whatever their reason, you have to remember to treat bloggers with respect and try to understand where they are coming from. Above all, be honest and try to empathise with their position. You’ll be surprised how with a little effort you can turn a difficult blogger into a real life contact!
Now, leave a comment below, right now. “Out of RESPECT”!
Tags blog posts blogger outreach bloggers marketing relationships