The PR Lessons of A Clueless Blog Pitch

One of the many interesting discussions during Global PR Blog Week was how to effectively pitch PR to blogs. B.L. Ochman, Marketing and PR strategist, and publisher of What’s New Online had some good guidelines for pitching to bloggers.

• Address the blogger by his/her name, or just say “hi.” Never say “dear editor” or “dear sir/madam” (honest, I get pitches addressed that way.)
• Don’t tell anyone they “must” or “should” write a story or book a guest. Instead, explain why the topic is of interest and why this person an expert worth knowing. Don’t be cute.
• Reporters and bloggers all follow headlines. Explain how the idea or person you are pitching ties into a current news item or a trend.
• Let the blogger know you’ve at least looked at the publication and see if you can find something to praise. For God’s sake though, don’t say “Loved your great post the other day” unless you read it and you mean it. People who look at dozens of releases and pitches a day can pick up on baloney faster than a hungry hound.
• Don’t whine if you don’t get coverage by saying you “can’t believe” the blogger didn�t include, won’t write about, haven’t heard of XYZ company.
• Bloggers aim to provide a personal view of the news. They write in conversational style as an antidote to the canned news of traditional media. Why would you send a canned PR-speak pitch?
• Run your content through Bullfighter or similar software to be sure it is bullshit and jargon-free before you send it out.

Read the rest of Ochman’s article for more insight into how blogs can be a useful PR tool.