PSA for PR Professionals and Their Clients
I know a ton of people have talked about this to the ground lately, but I just don’t think we’re all on the same page.
A blog is not strictly PR.
It may have aspects of PR.
It may work with PR companies.
But a blog is not looking for content.
It is especially not looking for photos. (Unless they are of Wil Wheaton collating paper.)
A blog is almost always an expression of someone’s thoughts, whether they be personal or professional.
The only time a blog will act like big media outlets scouring for stories, is when they have become big media outlets scouring for stories.
A blog may have advertising. On the side. That is paid for.
But a blog almost always will never have content within a post that is placed like paid advertising. And if they do, they will declare it. And it is paid for.
A blog is a brand new frontier somewhere between traditional free PR and traditional paid advertising.
Since we all like charts, here is a chart to show your clients to help you explain what I am talking about.
Do not be offended when I tell you I can’t work on your campaign for free.
Whether I am paid in dollars, or product, or experience, I have to make it worth it for me.
Do not be offended when I tell you I can’t work on your campaign because it does not match my blog.
I don’t want to alienate those readers you covet so much, but more importantly – I want to feel good about what I am posting.
Any questions?
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yay Aimee!
Preach!
Easy to say when you are not having to work with the client.
Exactly that.
Amen.
Love.
great post aimee!
As a PR pro myself, I could not agree more! Thank you so much for posting this. I wish more bloggers would be as straightforward about how they like to be approached and how they like to work with advertisers, PR reps and brands. It benefits all of us. Good for you!
For the anonymous commenter above, part of a PR pro’s job is to educate your clients about how to successfully build relationships with their target audience. Teaching a client that dealing with a blogger is different than dealing with a mainstream reporter. To offer compensation to a reporter is to insult their journalisitic integrity. To ask a blogger to become a brand partner with no tangible compensation for their time and effort becoming the company’s spokesperson (of sorts) is an insult to their time.
Amen!
And I love the link to Wil Wheaton collating paper, just perfect!
Love the Wil Wheaton link! Go Aimee!
Greebs,
This is what gets me about bloggers posting about PR pitches, dont’ be mean about saying no. Be professional and courteous. I get the spam/contents requests all the time and I do my best to say no thank you.
instead of putting up a fight.
Bill – That was part of my point and re-reading I am not sure it made it through. So thanks for bringing that up.
Honestly, I ignore the pitches that are so offbase, that they are clearly blasting people – that is just spam.
Sometimes I will reply and say, this doesn’t work for x and y reasons, what else could we do?
And sometimes people are really receptive, and sometimes – as others have experienced and talked about – they get upset with my gall.
And many time it is really apparent the pitch just wants me to put content on my site for free – that there is some idea out there that blog is looking for free content or something. So thus that chart.
I would love to see more polite conversation both ways and a general understanding of what can be expected on both sides.
JMHO.
GREAT POST.