The REAL Difference Between Journalists & Bloggers

One of the more frequent questions asked of the Bad Pitch blog is “what’s the difference between pitching journalists and bloggers?”

We used to assume that the main difference was that pitching bloggers requires hyper-customization. And while they do, it’s deeper than this – there’s a bigger difference.

80/20 Rule
If we did an analysis of all the ham-fisted pitches sent our way, I’ll bet that 80 percent or more of them are originally aimed at bloggers.

This 80/20 rule has always bothered us. Why are pitches more prone to piss off bloggers than journalists? It’s not like misguided PR people send their “Sunday best” pitches to the media and “casual Friday” pitches to the bloggers. That maneuver would require something other than the rampant mass pitching that takes place.

After receiving thousands of pitches over the last three plus years, we can tell you that the bad ones suck consistently across the board.

What’s the Difference?
At the risk of oversimplifying, and pissing off our friends from the fourth estate (again), I’ll start out by saying…

…the difference between journalists and bloggers is paid vs. passion.

* Paid: First let me be clear and note that passion is required to turn a job into a career. Journalism is no different. I mean, who hasn’t watched “All the President’s Men” and thought “How amazing would it be to help right wrongs of national magnitude by day and chill with people code-named Deep Throat at night?”

But for the most part, journalists are paid to do their job. And with every job there are things you put up with in exchange for the rest of it – and your paycheck. Bad PR pitches become a cost of doing business.

When we talk live to journalists, instead of via email (gasp!), they usually tell us about their bad pitches. The journalists consider sending them our way, but they “never get around to it.”

The journalists are getting the same bad pitches the bloggers are getting. They’ve just developed a tolerance over the years. That twice-monthly paycheck is a powerful antibiotic to fend off the ill of bad pitches.

* Passion: From NASCAR to knitting, if you start a blog for any other reason than passion for that topic, it will be hard going. Passion fuels push-button publishing. Sometimes passion is the only thing fueling the effort.

More often than not, bloggers are not getting paid; they haven’t monetized. And unlike Mommy bloggers, many aren’t having largess foisted upon them by marketers at such levels that a swag recycling station has to be set up at one of their industry conferences (a topic for another post on another blog).

So when you send a ham-fisted pitch to a blogger? You’re tossing cold water on their passion. You’re implying you don't really care about their favorite topic. I’m more likely to take a bad pitch personally than a grizzled newsroom veteran who can filter through them without even thinking twice.

Church & State
From paid vs. passion, let's look at paid vs. earned media. Journalists are usually never involved with ad sales. There’s a church and state separation between paid and earned media so the journalists can focus on the content and the end product can remain unbiased.

The bloggers that are making money from their efforts are usually a solo operation. They’re church, state and everything else in between. Can bloggers remain unbiased in these situations? Many certainly do so. But it’s been a slippery slope. It’s been so slippery that the FTC is all up in our grill over disclosure.

Pitch Early vs. Often
When working with bloggers another issue is timing. Everyone assumes that bloggers move at the speed of social media. The technology certainly permits them to live blog, live tweet and send photos from the field. But even the pitches that make the cut can get pushed to the side when life happens.

Most bloggers do this in their free time. If they have a job and a life, blogging takes third place. It should take third place (the author reminds himself).

It’s frustrating. But there’s a way to mediate this issue. If we recognize that bloggers have less than predictable publishing cycles, and we start pitching them earlier, we’re more likely to see success.

We need to start comparing their publishing cycle more to trade publications than the AP Newswire. Trade journalists work an average of three months in advance and don't have an international newswire to distribute their stories as needed. Bloggers do have this access to technology, but it doesn't mean they have to use it.

So the real difference between journalists and bloggers are their motivations. Motivations define their deadlines and their receptiveness to pitches. Keep all of this in mind when preparing your next round of pitches. And get motivated!

* posted by @prblog

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