Hands and Feet

Please join me and my friend and collegue PR/Blogger/Social Media guru Rajean Blomquist for a series on better blogger to PR and PR to blogger relationships. We will explore what bloggers can do to better work with PR and brand agencies and what PR agencies can do to improve their events, reviews and relationships with bloggers. Posts will be shared on both of our blogs.

I work in marketing and public relations for a science toy company. We don’t do a ton of campaigns with bloggers, but do look for reviewers a few times a year. If you want to pitch a brand or want to receive pitches from brands, make sure your blog is ready.

Here are a few tips to make sure your blog is ready when a PR rep comes knocking.

Having a link that says you are PR or review friendly is a great start. But it’s just that – a start. A bio page and About.Me page are other great starts. PR reps want to know a little about you. Make sure you have a strong bio that lists your strengths and interests. Reps are looking to see if you are a good fit for their product. Explain your professional background and strengths then include hobbies and interests. If you are mainly a green blogger, but are also interested in writing about parenting or pottery, include that. It will help your visitor understand the whole you, not just your blog topics. Being a mom and loving to do product reviews is not a solid bio.

Next, make sure you list all of your channels in an easy to click format. PR reps want to look at your reach. How many Twitter followers, do you have a Facebook fan page, YouTube channel, etc. How are you broadcasting and to whom? You don’t need to be everywhere, but be solid where you are. Good PR reps will look at your channels to see who you have following and how you are interacting and influencing. Keep in mind numbers aren’t everything. If you have engaged followers on even a few channels, someone will want to work with you.

Here is a huge yet simple tip. I can’t emphasize how important this is and how many people miss it – TRIPLE CHECK YOUR LINKS. I can’t tell you how many times I have clicked a link to a contact form, Twitter page or About Me page and have it go nowhere. If a simple link to contact you is broken, I’m done and onto the next blog. It shows you aren’t detail oriented and don’t double check your work.

I recently looked at a blog that stated all of her rates, stats and info was in her media kit. There was NO link to a media kit anywhere. PR people do not have hours to spend looking over your blog and searching for media kits or working links. Make it easy for them to find it and they will be excited to work with you.

Speaking of making the information easy to find…if you do reviews, don’t just include a PR friendly link stating you like to do reviews. Include links to your best reviews on your PR friendly page or have a main site link to a review page. The majority of blogs that I have visited miss this step. I enjoy reading through posts about your kids and your adventures and they do give me a sense of you as a blogger, but I really want to see how you do your reviews and what types of reviews you’ve done in the past.

If I am considering you to review a product for me, I want to look at past reviews you have written. Do you include product pictures, videos? Are your reviews complete or do you just write 2-3 sentences on how you recommend it? I’m looking for complete, strong reviewers and the majority of the time I find a few sentences saying “yes, I like this and I received it for free.”

I want to see what you’ve already done.

Again, I work for a science toy company, so if I visit your blog and all reviews are on make-up and clothes, I can quickly see that we aren’t a good match. (UNLESS you have also included that you like science toys or educational products in your bio…then I may consider taking a chance on pitching you if I connect with you and your blog.)

I was excited to work with a daddy blogger until I read a post that included curse words. If using language on your site is your thing and your brand, then go for it. But for an educational toy company that focuses on families and teachers, I can’t work with you, so watch your brand. If you want to focus on family-friendly things, then writing edgy posts with 4-letter words is not a brand match.

I can easily spend upwards of 20 minutes or more researching a blog and blogger. I skim a few posts, read the about me page, visit Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn pages and skim. I check page rank, Alexa stats and run the blog on a few other stat checking sites. I believe that I am probably an anomaly and most PR people do not spend that much time. I want to make sure I have a solid understanding of that blogger and ensure that we are a good fit. I don’t look for hundreds of reviewers but hand pick a few so I’m more methodical and picky than most. I also don’t shy away from beginning bloggers or those with small followings. Engaged, excited and a good fit are the most important pieces for me.

I think a lot of PR companies and brands are looking for the same things. Just make sure your information is easy to find, organized and contains working links and you will have brands knocking on your virtual doorstep.