I recently read a blog post from Trisha over at MomDot about a pitch she received from a PR firm which reminded me about something I have been doing lately, making sure I am getting paid or receiving product valuable to me or my readers! I don’t want something I will never use again, but when you first start getting your blog known to PR firms it is normal to want to take on every opportunity for fear they won’t bring on another opportunity. They will pitch again, just kindly let them know why this product doesn’t fit your audience or your lifestyle but to keep you in mind for any future opportunities and they will.
Back to my point of this blog post, bloggers don’t hit delete, hit reply! The reason I say this is because I used to hit delete more often than not when I received a blind pitch from someone I have never worked with if it didn’t fit my blog, if I was booked on reviews or if the pitch was just plain blah. Bloggers you know what I mean by blah!
Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
What I have been doing recently with these pitches that I may not be able to work with now is to send them my Media & Ad Rate Kit, why? Well because even if they are a PR firm they have some pull in what they can do for you, so maybe you don’t want to review a particular product but you like another product, the person who pitched you may be able to hook you up with what will work best to promote their client.
More often than not I have been getting people interested more and more in SEO for their company website, which means paid content! Paid content is awesome and if you have a media & ad rate kit already created then you could simply do a quick reply to this person, attach the kit and voila it took two minutes of your time to see if they reply yes, no or not at all. You see, I don’t let it get me down when I hear no and I don’t let it get me down if I never hear back from some people I hit reply to because I know tomorrow is another day!
As more and more businesses see that bloggers have a BIG reach and HIGH influence they will start to hop on board working with us so just make sure you don’t hit delete, hit reply and sound professional but to the point. Don’t work for less than you are worth and don’t take on something you are not 100% interested in because you want your readers to hear the passion behind your writing when doing product reviews!
I agree it’s important to act professional in your dealings with media buyers and PR agencies – they’re businesses after all, and if you’re accepting advertising and paid reviews then you too are running a business. I think that it’s quite easy though to fall into the trap of not viewing a blog (and associated communication) as requiring professionalism, because blogs are so often started as personal projects, without commercial intent. bloggers who find their sites becoming popular and capable of generating an income aren’t always equipped to deal with the business requirements of running an online business. Obviously you are 😉
I like this idea, you are really on to something here.
I hit delete 90% of the time. Maybe I should try replying instead 😉
I started replying with my rates and have had some takers.