Confessions of a Temporary PR Target

I spent the last several months immersed in the Super Bowl… and I don’t just mean following my team’s “pursuit of perfection”.   I tracked advertiser strategies and pre-game promotions on  www.SuperBowlAdvertisers.com to support our latest Super Bowl ad analysis reports. 

What initially started as a little side project turned into a high visibility marketing vehicle for us. By the time the ticker tape rained down on celebrating Giants players, this blog had generated more unique visitors in a week than any of our blogs or even our corporate website ever had.

As the site’s traffic grew in the weeks before the game, I became a target for PR pitches.  PR representatives from many of the advertisers in the game wanted me to write about their Super Bowl ad news. The experience was enlightening. Some of the communications were outstanding and demonstrated what “best in class” PR outreach looks like, and others proved that there is a big divide between those that get it and those that don’t. Considering I heard from the PR representation of some of the biggest brands in the world, I think I got a good view of the state of blogger outreach.

So, as any good blogger would do, I’d thought I’d turn my observations into a short list of recommendations for reaching out to bloggers effectively.

Make a personal commitment
I know it seems obvious, but I also know how difficult it can be.  When you have to reach out to a long list of bloggers and journalists, it takes a lot of time to write a personalized message to each person. Invest the time, it pays off.  One PR person who emailed me knew exactly what my blog was about and he knew exactly what I wanted to know.  He gave it to me straight and he gave me exactly what I needed. I couldn’t login to Typepad fast enough to write about it.

You are in tune or you are just noise
One PR firm did a great job reaching out and talking to me directly, but they didn’t have anything relevant to say.  There were no stories about the ad, why the company was advertising, what they hoped to achieve, and there were certainly no teasers available. There just wasn’t anything to write about.

The company enthusiastically sent me their ad, but it wasn’t until after the game. By that time the story had completely changed and the ad wasn’t news anymore. 97 million people saw it on TV the night before and millions were watching it again on YouTube and Myspace. The blog conversation moved on to stories about the impact of the ad. Too bad they had nothing to say about that.

The sting of spam can hurt you
My email address must have made it into a blogger contact database at one agency because I started getting emails about product announcements from their other clients.  Of course, these clients had nothing to do with the Super Bowl now or anytime in the future. (You think they’d at least take a second and look at name of my blog before pressing send.)

That turned me off to anything that I received from that firm after that. That’s the thing about reaching out to bloggers. Their specialty is usually pretty niche so it is very obvious when you spam them with a form letter announcement.

Timing is everything
A lot of the messages I received had information I already knew (I do work for a buzz tracking company, you know), but a lot of it was hot off the press and I was excited to have an opportunity to help “break” the news.  I know we aren’t talking CNN Headline News stuff here, but if I can contribute something to my marketplace first, I’ll get more site traffic and greater visibility for my company, our product and for myself.  I don’t deny it - I’m also trying to make a name for myself here as well.

Of course you are going to save the good stuff for a mainstream media exclusive, but don’t underestimate the value of the small stuff for a budding blogger.  Try feeding smaller news stories to a few bloggers right away. They’ll appreciate it and return the favor.

Helpful is helpful, pushy is not
I felt that the “Here’s some info I thought you’d be interested in since you are writing about the Super Bowl” followed up with a “and I’m happy to answer your questions …” worked a whole lot better than the “Here’s some great information, can you write about this today” approach.

Bloggers don’t work for your clients. Actually, there’s not a lot that keeps them from working aggressively against them if you push the wrong buttons.

Persistence pays
I skipped some stories because I didn’t feel the news was that important, or there might have been bigger stories demanding attention that day ….and also because I have a day job… and a family that needed some attention as well, but I always appreciated the dedication some reps had to their client.

One PR rep kept sending friendly reminders about his client’s campaign and he didn’t just try to pound a point again and again. He offered something new to the message each time. His persistence also told me that me that he saw value in my site. 

Misleading is a big mistake
One PR rep did everything summarized above, but he was a little misleading.  He never outright lied, but he led me to believe teasers of the company’s ad were on their new corporate blog.  It wasn’t there, and it wouldn’t be for several days.  The funny thing was when the goods finally did appear I never heard a thing from them.  It was obvious he was pushing this new blog and he wanted to hook me into it so I’d tell people to read it daily for news on the ad. I felt manipulated and never wrote about it.   

I ended up wasted a lot of time with this rep and that stupid blog. A little part of me wanted to blast him on the site, even though it may not have been the most professional thing to do.  In a world where stirring up a little controversy can get you notoriety, you can’t certainly count on restraint from all bloggers.

There is nothing revolutionary here, but it surprising how many top-tier PR firms don’t get it. By the way, I will say that the one PR rep who blew me away was Chris Thilk from MWW Group.  Thanks for making my job easier Chris.