Loading...
Answers
MenuAs a blog advertising agency, brands pay our bloggers per post. PR agencies want 'real' conversations, how to pitch w/o eroding blogger's earnings?
This question has no further details.
Answers
I say to pitch the idea or 'outline' first. Have someone (on the payroll) responsible for sourcing opportunities, then ask your bloggers to pitch ideas. (For consistency's sake - consider bringing them together at a daily or weekly meeting?)
From there, pitch the ideas to the brands or agencies and paid the bloggers per post to flush out their ideas.
Pay-per-post is only successful / economical when the strategy is already developed.
You can't control whether someone else wants to have a conversation.
I've been blogging for almost 6 years, now with 40,000 RSS subscribers. I can tell you I have 0% ability to predict which post will be popular, causing lots of retweets and comments, and which are duds. Not time of year, not topic, not how excited I am with the piece, not length.
What that means, to me, is that you write a lot of good stuff and the conversations increase overall, but post-to-post it's necessarily unknowable.
That's OK, that's just the medium.
That's how I'd pitch it.
I've consulted with some of the largest blog advertising and online advertising companies in the world. Companies like IZEA (PayPerPost and others), MediaWhiz, etc. And I currently provide a robust Blogger Outreach service to many other large digital search agencies.
I'm not sure that I understand your question. But I think that you're asking how to get bloggers to talk about a client (or PR agency's client) without having it be a paid conversation?
This is tough if all of the bloggers in your network are used to getting paid. Chances are they really only run the blogs for the ad revenue, and not for an audience. That makes them a poor fit for PR agencies.
PR agencies contact writers and editors and pitch them ideas and story angles around interesting things their clients are doing. So you need to develop good creative ideas. One example is that at a previous agency I ran the CEO offered a gas subsidy program for employees who lived far away from the office and commuted every day when gas prices went really high at one point a while ago. So it was a BIG story in the news. Well we pitched our story to local media and within the week had them filming the story in our office!
If I did not answer correctly or if you would like more consulting I am open for appointments.
Behind every great brand story, you see in the media is a great PR strategy – and with the right strategy, you can turn your start-up into press-worthy news. If you have a deep understanding of the 3Ps, then you have undergone a critical phase in start-up development by articulating how your product or service aligns with the true and actual needs of your market. By mastering the 3Ps – developing a working product, knowing their customers’ pain points, and writing passionately for their audience – they were able to acquire thousands of customers while establishing themselves as an authority on all things social. Invest in relationships early on by giving something valuable before you ask for something in return. If you are wondering how to reach out to journalists and industry experts without it feeling forced or self-serving, look at natural opportunities to chat about topics that you both cares about, where you can add value. Instead, focus on providing industry expertise and knowledge.
You can read more here: https://neilpatel.com/blog/advanced-guide-to-startup-pr/
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Related Questions
-
What are some of the common methods used to get bloggers to write about website services?
Paying bloggers for direct advertisements is a bit of a grey area. It's grey because loads of brands are doing it, but it's such a difficult thing for advertising regulators to monitor. Check out this guide so you're aware of the guidelines and risks: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/plain-language/bus41-dot-com-disclosures-information-about-online-advertising.pdf You should also be aware of the SEO risks to your business. In short, if you get caught paying bloggers to write about your company and those articles contain links to your site, you're at risk of receiving a manual penalty from Google. See this for more: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en Risks aside, those tactics you noted are fine, and can work great. Depending on your product or service, You might want to consider signing up for a variety of the affiliate networks out there such as ClickBank or Affiliate Window. Lastly, the best way to get them writing about you is to make them a part of your growth. Find relevant bloggers in your niche and recruit them as your product testers and focus group. If they feel a part of it, and your product or service genuinely enhancing their lives (or the lives of their readers), why wouldn't they write about you?SC
-
I am launching a food subscription service for healthy snacks. How do i reach out to bloggers/media to get featured?
Hello! First, you're going to have to spend some time researching your targets. You can go for the typical outlets that feature startups, but I think you'll find great traction if you start researching bloggers that are in the healthy food space. I would also spend some time researching who has covered your competitors, who might be healthy snack subscription services such as Urth Box, Healthy Box, Graze, etc. You can use a tool like Buzz Sumo (buzzsumo.com) to see what publications and AUTHORS (this is the most important part) have covered their launch or anything related to them. The authors are extremely important because often times they have their own personal blogs, or they write for multiple places. Once you find the authors you want to target, get to know them and engage with them. I have a lot of tips (and also a research spreadsheet as a resource) that you can find in these two places: Post: http://www.copyblogger.com/stronger-outreach/ Resource For Research/Tracking: http://t.co/89AER7pUBW As far as an example email, something like this might work for a food blogger, customized for each person and in your own voice. Never, ever send the same exact pitch to food bloggers, and make sure you research their temperament before reaching out. You'll want to get to the point, but make sure they know that you appreciate their blog, them, and what they've written about. Also, make sure you're following them on their various networks and that you've engaged in some way with them. This may take some preparation but it's worth having that warm touch before reaching out. Also make sure they're open to accepting pitches. Some explicitly state that they're not, and you should honor that. ---Hi [name] <-- always address by name. I'm [your name] and I'm the founder of [company name], which is a healthy snack food subscription service. We [name competitive differentiator here] and I'm hoping to help spread the news of its launch to the food community. I was looking through your blog/site/publication and I noticed that you've posted about [something related to your area - healthy snacks, healthy recipes, quick bites, etc - share link] and [share why it was important to you - maybe their post talks about one of the reasons you decided to launch the company, etc]. Do you feel as if [company name] would be a good fit to share with your audience? We'd love to share a promotional code with your readers so that they're able to get the first month free and test out the snacks. Thank you so much for your time! ---- As far as reaching out to bloggers that have covered competitors, that's another beast, because you have to be respectful in how you approach it. If you have the resources, you can always write a post that discusses something in the health space related to food, including (proven) scientific facts, with visual "fact cards" that can then be pitched to a bigger news outlet. That's just a very loose, general example as more research is required to figure out what will resonate with that crowd. It's also something that I could brainstorm and cover in depth on a call. I'm always available to chat via Clarity. I've executed outreach for a lot of product launches in the past and I'm happy to chat about this. Have a great day!SV
-
Should I use my "personal" or "website brand" account to interact and build relationships with influencers/bloggers in my industry?
This really depends on the industry you are in. Is it not possible for you to do both? Building your personal brand and also establishing your website at the same time? The best example I can think of here is how Gary Vaynerchuk started Wine Library TV, but leveraged his own personality which in turn raised awareness for the Wine Library brand. When commenting on other people's blogs for example, there is no harm in your leaving a comment with your name as [your name] @ [your brand name]. If your website is less established, I'd sway more to starting out with a lot more of a personal approach. Other bloggers are likely to be much more receptive to seeing person actually engaging with their content, rather than thinking "who the hell is this random business who are obviously trying to leverage MY brand?"SC
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.