A Blog for Every Occasion
One of the most cost effective ways to get the word out is to blog. While not everyone has the knack for it – I sometimes struggle with it myself – there is help in sight.
Fortunately, there are literally millions of blogs online, with more and more coming into existence, each and every day. Chances are good that there is a blogger out there that focuses on your genre of music.
All the Colors of the Blogosphere
Like the colors of the rainbow, blogs come in different arrays of intensity and all shades of character in-between. Each blog is unique in that it tends to take on the personality or character of its author or authors.
Inevitably, this means that you have to establish a relationship with the blogs authors, really understand the culture of the blog, before making entreaties for publicity. Failure to do so can result in, at the best of times, being ignored by the blog, and at the worst, being beaten up in the blogosphere.
Research Tips
- Sign up for the blog’s RSS feed or email
- Search the blog for areas of interest
- Read the blog (simple, but important)
Don’t be a “Bad Pitcher”
No, I’m not talking about the Cleveland Indians, although, by all appearences they threw the game away when they faced the Red Sox in game seven of the American League Championship Series.
As mentioned earlier, using blogs to gain publicity is a great notion. To do this, enlist the aide of an “A-list” blogger. If you’re not sure about how much sway a blogger has, check it out at kineda. On the site is a fast and easy to use widget tied into Technorati that computes (as if by magic) the blog’s social status on the Web.
To capture the blogger’s attention, you’ll need to make a good “pitch.” In other words, you will usually have to sell them on your idea before you will ever see them print a single word of it. To make a successful pitch requires doing a little homework.
PR Squared’s Todd Deferen recently discussed blogger relations. In his Nov. 1 post, Deferen poses ten quick tips he believes ”could ward off the most egregious Blogger Relations errors.” To learn more about bad pitches, what makes a pitch bad, and how to avoid them, you can visit The Bad Pitch Blog.
Pitching Tips
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Establish a history of leaving comments on the blog to be pitched
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Make the pitch personal – no generic “one size fits all” press releases
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Help the blogger help your client – point out information of interest to the blogger (which may just happen to include your client’s name)
Noah,
With my post, I focused on the dangers of sending bad pitches to the media. But I did miss an important group of people: bloggers. Bloggers can be influential people and, as you said, if someone does something they don’t like, the word can spread fast. It is important to treat a blogger with the same respect you would someone in the media, which means getting to know them before pitching ideas.
Abbey and I have been discussing this topic as of late. She’s a fellow PR major at Kent State University. You can check out the other side of the conversation, and her blog, at http://www.prkenttips.wordpress.com
Noah,
I thought this post was very interesting because lately I have found blogs of every “color” to be fascinating and influential. With Presidential elections less then a year away, there have been many blogs devoted to candidates, their causes, and comparing thoughts on what the candidates stand for. These blogs as well as other blogs try very hard to get the word out on what they think is right and often what they don’t believe in. I sometimes have the guilty pleasure of checking out blogging website Perezhilton.com. The blogger Perez Hilton, pitches his followers with his catch line the “Queen of Media.” Perez has become so influential to celebrity gossip followers that his postings have helped make several no namers famous. I have found it helpful on blogs that have many different topics to organize the information and postings to make it easier to find. Many blogs are to large to get feedback back but it never hurts to put your thoughts in.
Great point Jennifer! It’s the opportunity for everyone to voice their opinion that makes blogs powerful communication tools.