PR

Eight Ways Not to Pitch a Blogger

By Mark Evans in Uncategorized 5 Comments Tags: , ,

It’s challenging these days to capture the attention of reporters and bloggers. Everyone is so busy, overwhelmed by the amount of content flowing their way, and inundated with pitches.

So when I opened an e-mail this morning that started with “Hi, Mark, you social media guru, you”, I can’t say I was surprised. It was an attempt to be creative but, unfortunately, it didn’t work. First, I’d never consider myself a “guru”, and it makes me uncomfortable if someone describes me as a “guru” or a “social media expert”. I may be good at offering social media services but “guru” is extremely lofty territory.

This pitch got me thinking about the mistakes made by PR folks and companies when they approach bloggers and media. Having seen thousands of pitches as a reporter for more than 10 years, and created some of my own pitches (including many that failed to resonate), here are some things to avoid.

1. Trying to be too creative, cute or out of the box. Yes, you want to stand out from the crowd but at the end of the day your pitch will resonate if there is a strong, compelling or interesting story. You can dress it up all you want but the focus should be on the story.

2. Not knowing what the reporter or blogger is interested in. I’m still getting pitches for telecom equipment even though I haven’t written about telecom in many months. And I also get pitches about technologies that I have absolutely no interest in.

3. A lack of personalization. At least the person above used “Hi, Mark”. I’ve received countless pitches with no name at all or “Blogger”. If you really want my attention, show me you’ve done a little bit of homework.

4. Sending a press release about a new product or service but not offering a chance to try it out. This is particularly relevant for online service that don’t involve shipping and that can be turned off after a certain period of time. Yesterday, for example, I got an e-mail pitch about Slacker Premium that went on and on but didn’t offer to let me check it out.

5. Not making it easy to opt out. If you’re going to visit my in-box without being invited, you should be polite enough to make it relatively easy for me to have you go away. My biggest nemesis these days is Cision, whose clients pound away with press release after press release but make me do the work at unsubscribing. I’ve suggested to Cision they offer a bulk opt-out option but that would be too easy and not Cision-friendly.

6. Sending press releases with no URL to the press release itself. Sometimes, a press release arrives that could be tweet-able but without a link, it ain’t going to happen.

7. Pitching clients who would conflict with my own clients. I think it’s fairly well known that I work closely with Sysomos but you’d be surprised by how many social media monitoring services pitch me about their industry-leading offerings.

8. Sending a pitch that has no story or angle. We’re all busy and I really don’t have the time to think through what your pitch should be. That’s your job. Make it easy and accessible for me to quickly “get” why your pitch is different, interesting, exciting or innovative.

Seven Keys to Capturing the Attention of Bloggers/Media

By Mark Evans in Blogs, Media 12 Comments Tags: , , ,

One of the most frustrating things for start-ups is how difficult it can be to capture the attention of bloggers and the media. They have created compelling new services and products, they have interesting stories to tell, and would love even a little coverage to support their efforts.

Unfortunately, attracting the attention of bloggers and media is a major challenge. It is particularly surprising for blogs given there are no real estate limits. For large blogs, volume is the name of the editorial game so you would think it would be an easier process. As someone with nearly 15 years as a newspaper reporter, you figure I might have an edge but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Like everyone else, my efforts are hit and miss, mostly miss.

So how do you capture the attention of bloggers and the media? Here are some tips:

1. Craft a good story rather than pitching what your company does. Bloggers and reporters tell stories so make their lives easier by giving them one on a silver platter. Make sure the story has a twist or hook that makes it different. It could be you have created something innovative, unorthodox or unique. Whatever your edge, play it up. A good example is Guardly, an iPhone app that launched yesterday that lets you notify friends and family when you have a personal emergency. Guardly is not your run of the mill startup but it’s one that resonates with many people, which is probably why it attracted some nice coverage in TechCrunch.

2. Give someone a “scoop”. Having a story that no one else does has always been a prize within the news game. Today, the rules are still the same. The downside of exclusives is the risk of alienating every other blogger or newspaper but if it means getting coverage in GigaOm or TechCrunch, for example, it can be worth the gamble.

3. Demonstrate success. Bloggers and the media really like two things: success and failure. Too many startups try to capture coverage when they haven’t done much of anything other than create a new service product. Unless you have something really special, this isn’t newsworthy. If, on the other hand, you attract thousands of customers or users, that is far more interesting because you have done something many companies fail to achieve.

A good example is WineAlign, which I did some work for two years ago. At the time, WineAlign founder Bryan McCaw was convinced he had created an innovative new service that would let people make smarter buying decisions at liquor stores in Ontario. But when he pitched the story, the response was deafening silence. Fast-forward two years and 15,000 registered users later, WineAlign just got great coverage in the Toronto Star.

4. If you’ve been successful in the past, make this part of the marketing efforts. It’s a spin-off of point #3. If an entrepreneur has been successful in the past, there may be interest in their latest efforts.

5. Have high-profile investors or advisors. Again, you’re looking to capture someone’s attention at a time when thousands of other companies are trying to do the same thing. Having recognizable investors or advisors can raise a company above the crowd. Look at the attention lavished on anything that Marc Andreessen invests in. This includes RockMelt, the browser that captured the spotlight only to quickly disappear.

6. Recognition at conferences and shows. Whether it’s Demo, 500 Startups Demo Day, TechCrunch 50 or another event, winning best of show can attract the spotlight and separate your company from the crowd. Look at what Mint.com or Yammer were able to do after winning the top prize at TechCrunch 50.

7. Relationships.Building relationships with bloggers or reporters can give you a better chance of getting your story covered. Bloggers and reporters people, they’re not writing machines. Like everyone else, they do things for friends, people who have done them favours, helped them out, or people they like.

Relationships are the biggest reason you should consider hiring a PR agency because a PR person’s most valuable asset is their Rolodex. A good PR person is building relationships every day, something that they can leverage when it comes to pitching a story.

You Can’t Put Marketing Lipstick on a Pig

By Mark Evans in Advertising/Marketing, Social Media 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

There are some blog posts that state the obvious so well. A case in point is Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson’s post on marketing, which he caps off by proclaiming that:

“Marketing is for companies who have sucky products. If you build something that is amazing (think Flipboard or Instagram or Instapaper) people will adopt it because it is amazing. And you won’t have to do much marketing, at least at the start.”

Aside from Wilson’s stature within the tech community and the fact people tend to listen to the money guys, the post has captured so much attention because it reveals a truth no one really talks about: if a service or product sucks, it doesn’t matter how much marketing a company does. In other words, you can’t put lipstick on a pig.

Unfortunately, there are far too many pigs within the online world. The biggest cause of the “pig problem” is there low barriers to entry and how excited people get about new and shiny things. Building a new online service takes nothing more than an idea – not even a good one- and some developers – not even good ones. In no time at all, you’ve got a service that you think the world wants or needs.

Truth be told, most of these services have no or little interest. At best, they might be features within a product that solves a problem or creates new opportunities to delight. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs toil away at trying to convince the world they’ve built a better mousetrap and, in the process, spend a lot of effort and dollars on marketing activity such as public relations, search engine optimization, social media, AdWords and events littered with swag.

Sadly, these efforts are for naught because they can’t hide the fact their service or product has no appeal and/or isn’t wanted to needed.

When I talk to clients about marketing and social media, one thing I make abundantly clear is at the end of the day, their product or service has to be great or needed. It has to solve a problem or do something new or different in a way that consumers easily discover and embrace. Without a solid foundation, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to build PR, marketing or sales programs on top of it.

It’s the reason that I often talk entrepreneurs away from using a PR agency as a way to attract attention until they gain some customer traction. Without success, start-ups risk being just another company with a quasi-interesting idea as opposed to being something that actually has interested and engaged customers, which is a big difference.

Wilson’s post should be required reading because of its “truthiness”.

What Ever Happened to the Social Media Press Release?

By Mark Evans in Social Media 31 Comments Tags: , , , ,

A couple of years ago, the social media press release was all the rage. No longer would companies send tree-killing press kits to reporter, or issue boring press releases with canned quotes from senior executives that no one ever used.

Instead, the social media press release would revolutionize everything by providing reporters and bloggers with an engaging, interactive and user-friendly to get information, audio clips, photos and videos – everything that a time-strapped reporter or blogger needed to do their jobs, while giving companies a way to really tell their stories.

As important, it was also seen as a way for PR firms to charge clients premium fees because, after all, there’s a lot more work to prepare a social media press release compared with a 400-word text-only press release.

For whatever reason, the social media press release has little traction. Sure, they are still around but it’s not like companies are demanding they be created. Most of my clients don’t ask for them, and I don’t tell because the effort required to create one doesn’t seem worth it given most reporters and bloggers don’t bother reading press releases – regardless of whether they’re a social media or “old” version.

In fact, I would argue that relationships and pitches are far more important than social media press releases, and, as a result, this is what PR practitioners and companies should focus on. When you’re reaching out to a reporter or blogger, it’s the two or three introductory paragraphs in an e-mail that play a crucial role in whether they will be intrigued or hit the delete button. If you can capture their attention, they might read the press release to get some more information but in most cases, a reporter or blogger will call or e-mail you to get more information or set up an interview.

In theory, I love the idea of the social media press release but in practice it hasn’t been a home run.

Can A Social Media Agency Be Relevant?

By Mark Evans in Social Media 1 Comment Tags: , , , ,

At the meshmarketing conference last October, one of the panels was how social media was tearing down the silos between advertising, public relations and digital agencies. Instead of operating in their own realms with little overlap, these different agencies are increasingly finding themselves in direct competition due to social media.

PR agencies, for example, now need to offer social media service, as well as digital content to create campaigns. Advertising agencies need to offer digital to complement their creative efforts, while digital agencies have to provide social media consulting to complement their development work. As a result, we are starting to seeing acquisitions and internal expansion to deal with the growing demands of clients who want one-stop shopping.

In the wake of this activity, it’s interesting to see the creation of Powered, a new 70-person social media agency that was created by combining three different agencies: Crayon, Drillteam Marketing and StepChange Group.

According to AdAge, Powered was created to “compete with digital agencies, public relations shops and an emerging crop of specialists to occupy the lead role in helping brands deal with social media.”

So, the obvious question is whether a “one-trick” pony agency such as Powered can effectively compete with PR, digital and advertising agencies that are driving towards offering a broader portfolio of services, including social media.

My sense is that for a social media agency to be viable, it obviously needs to offer excellent strategic and tactical services. That said, there will be pressure to expand into other areas such as digital to serve clients who don’t want to deal with one agency for consulting and then another agency to create the digital collateral needed to support their social media campaigns.

If Powered becomes successful and establishes itself as a social media powerhouse, it would not be at all surprising to see it snapped up by a digital, advertising or PR agency looking to quickly expand its capabilities – something that would no doubt please Powered’s investor, Austin Ventures.

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