Earlier this week one half of The Bad Pitch Blog kicked off SummitUp -- an event packed with great content, including presentations from Bob Garfield and Chris Brogan.
The Bad Pitch Blog took advantage of this quality time to ask a few folks about how to improve the pitch. First up is Chris Brogan -- author of the New York Times Bestseller "Trust Agents."
The book stems from his extensive blogging, speaking and community building efforts as president of New Marketing Labs. Here's his quick take on creating better blogger pitches.
Kevin -
ReplyDeleteNicely done interview with a blogger I have a lot of respect for, Chris Brogan, who is able to keep things short and sweet.
Keep up the great work with your blog.
Hugh
http://blog.vmrcommunications.com
Makes perfect sense, but it's really nothing new, is it? The same rules applied to pitching a reporter at Life Magazine in the 1930s...be relevant to the beat, be brief, and offer a personal and ideally exclusive angle.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how these rules are still beyond so many folks in the PR biz, though, so it's good to reiterate them.
Jonathan - As Chris detailed his tips, I thought the same thing. But as you note, we keep telling folks and they keep ignoring the advice. And more importantly, it is critical to take the steps Chris outlines when dealing with bloggers...one reason PR folks have probably not listened is that they got good enough results while ignoring the advice. You can't ignore the advice with bloggers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback everyone!
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteSimple interview packed with some great tips. it's always amazing how much traction you can get when you make an email personal, as well as being considerate of the individual reading it.
Thanks for sharing!!
Can't get much more clear and concise than that!
ReplyDeleteI thought this video was great! Thanks so much for a useful, quick-and-dirty set of tips for blogger pitches. Have you found that most bloggers are very anti-traditional news release? Or are there some Web writers out there who maybe want to be treated like journalists? If you don't have an established relationship with a blogger, could it be potentially off-putting to drop them a casual, friendly email with a pitch included? Obviously, doing homework in these instances is important, but if you're really forced to go in cold, what do you advise?
ReplyDeleteBTW, "Trust Agents" has been added to my Christmas wish list. I'm very excited to check it out!
Can't get enough of Chris Brogan - thanks for posting the interview. Read Trust Agents and loved it.
ReplyDeleteI would offer one more item to Chris' list from Seth Godin: Be remarkable!