how to pitch a product to a blogger
He says the pitches that work best for him are one that give him access to a product or content that he can use such as a new spirit sample to review or an interview with a master distiller. A chamber of commerce is typically funded through membership dues by local businesses who want to buy in and have a seat in the Chamber. Option #1: Review What You Have. Our brains literally react to them. With this advice in hand, you’re response rates are about to go through the roof! Read the Blogs You Want to Pitch. The entire first paragraph of the pitch should be personalized to the blogger and indicate that you have either read their blog and understand them slightly as a person. Half of how to pitch is knowing who to send your travel blog pitch to. Linsey Knerl is a parenting blogger who has been blogging since 2007 and gets 50-100 pitches a day! Find bloggers in your niche. Be upfront about the type of collaboration you want. She continuously works with brands and had some great advice about what she looks for in a pitch. A travel blogger may need to know how to pitch to a brand, such as a travel brand who works in multiple locations, to establish a relationship and create a stream of work, thus by creating a stream of income. Pitch your blog step 2: Identify your audience. That doesn’t mean that we are sharing compensation rates or what sort of assets we are providing to a sponsoring brand, but it can often mean that another travel blogger can advise as to their experience working with the brand and maybe even arrange an email introduction for you. This is your news peg or why your story is newsworthy. You will do your googling and you will see visually who is representing that product or where is that product being featured. When asked nothing more than what makes a good pitch and what makes a bad pitch, every single blogger I talked to came back with a desire for someone to read their blog before they pitch them. Pitching to a brand, particularly pitching to a travel brand, is a great way to potentially strike up a long-term partnership which for some bloggers is more appealing than working with an individual destination. Creating the perfect pitch, no matter what niche you are working in, should be a very thoughtful process and if done properly can be a thrilling way to generate new clients end control the type of work that you do. Don’t: send an email to customer service asking for a free backpack and camera case because yours is worn out. Some of them come from the research efforts of the writers and bloggers. If a blog or site looks like junk, however, don’t hesitate to cross them off your list. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. There is no need to reference a blogger’s own site in a pitch, in fact in can do more harm than good. For example, this summer we stayed at the Best Western Plus Island Palms Resort Hotel and Marina. When you have sent a pitch and it’s not successful, save that pitch or that thread of emails and look at it later. Unfortunately, there is not a standard set of rules as to which types of organizations are able to sponsor everything from actual transportation to purchasing ad space or content space on a website. You offer something and request something in return. As well as the points above highlight everything that is going to convince them that the product will sell well for them. Example 3: Start with a story, segue into your pitch. Online, Newsweek, the LA Times, and others. Needless to say, she gets pitched on a daily basis. I know, there are a lot more questions about the how-to of each of the type of pitches that we talked about so far, but I think it’s important to jump into understanding rejection and how to deal with that. Pitching is equal parts research, communication, and business management. This is what you want your target journalist to do – write a product review, conduct an interview, mention your company is an industry story. Track all of this in a spreadsheet and see what sort of work you are able to garner. Any successful sales pitch can benefit from telling the story of your brand and product. If you’re interested in pitching a brand because you think it’s a great fit with your travel blog or because you’re very interested in the product and would like to try it and share your experience, then the best place to start to build a pitch would be your own relative experience or interest. They are blanket statements based off of our experience working with a variety of organizations in many locations. Offer one for them to review, and if they like it, offer a handful more for them to give away to their audience. plenty of roses to make us all feel special. We’ve often found that the same experience applies. Just as much as most bloggers hate receiving a blanket pitch, PR reps are the same way. By then, perhaps a marketing plan has changed or budget has freed up. It’s kind of the Wild West. I know upon the first read of that paragraph it sounds very superficial and not professional, but when you consider the idea of advertising and the percentage of people engaging with a brand where they see representation of their own life, it makes sense to hold a lot of stock in how that travel brand is doing in terms of visual representation. While in many cases individually operated properties might manage their own marketing and advertising campaigns, oftentimes a large travel brand will have an overarching advertising team who sources marketing opportunities and is operating more closely on the directive of corporate vs. an individual, smaller operator. Sometimes your pitches will be good for our audience, but we will have already written about them, ad nauseam. A proper greeting. PS, that’s also a rejection. Why does a travel brand organization structure matter? You’ll notice that I’m rolling out the different how to pitch segments in order of similarity. Bloggers want to work with brands and brands are looking to get the word out about their products. Those who run websites about fashion or technology may actually need to know the same skills and pitch the same exact way as a travel blogger would, but their frame of reference and talking points may vary from travel. Keep going with that process until you’ve become concise and effective. She’s worked with some really good PR professionals and has been “spammed” by some really unprofessional ones. So pitching me about products for humans, cats or horses won’t get someone very far.”. Understanding the difference of what an individual property versus a brand standard might be will help you in developing a pitch for a travel brand. Pitching to a Chamber of Commerce means that you want to promote those who have bought into that organization and see the value of a collective partnership. Or at least you’ve heard of pitching and you think that it’s fascinating. If you have questions or comments, please leave them at the end of the post or send us a note! Kristen is the director of all things digital marketing at GroupHigh. Different Chambers, CVBs, or third-party DMOs may have very different rules and very different access to funds. If you are a part of the travel blogging community no doubt you have turned the term “DMO”. These topics will be the most important, since businesses will only invest in products and lead offers that resonate with their audiences. Try combinations of your generic product name + review keywords to find blogs that cover your products. I take the time to see what sort of advertising or sponsored content I can find before I reach out. Know their readers, what kinds of books the blog reviews, and how your book will fit their market. […] Matthews, K. (2013, October 3). Jerlene has been running a successful and active beauty blog in the UK for 4 years. Editors want whoever contributes to their blog or publication to match their style or writing. If they don't display subscriber stats on their blog, look at their Twitter or Facebook Page to see how big their audience is. Brands are taking notice of this and review opportunities are great advertising. find a potential client you want to pitch to and be able to speak to why YOU are a great fit, be able to figure out who to pitch to (marketing or media relations), be confident in asking for work even if you are rejected. Next, list your targets in the order you’ll pitch to them. He says one pitch was so clueless that they named a cocktail after a movie character who was an alcoholic. An arrangement of reciprocity works best. Bloggers are influencers. From there, be honest in that you would like to try the product because you think it is a good fit that your followers would be very interested in it. Different Chambers, CVBs, or third-party DMOs may have very different rules and very different access to funds. The best tone in a pitch is professional yet friendly and she says this is a tough balance to strike but it can be done! This means blogs with a score comparable to your own. Never send out a mass pitch! What products does the blog sell? venue for us all – and yes, it’s on the 14th February, but there’ll be Think you've found a blog that seems like it would be interested in your restaurant or event? Let me know if you are interested in working … Considering her background, I’d say she really knows what makes a good pitch and she says a good pitch contains the following: Linsey says pitches that don’t work try “tired sales closing techniques,” or they name drop. A reasonable request. Mention something you’ve done for them – linked to their blog, left comments, shared it on Facebook, subscribed to their newsletter, or bought their latest product. Seek out and contact bloggers with the audience you’re trying to reach. And when you do this effectively, you will create a stronger connection between you and your buyers. “Hello! This connection is often based on the fact that they can relate to your brand on a personal level, giving them even more reason to buy. Although ultimately the goal is revenue in both cases, one comes with a budget (advertising) and the other is much more limited. When pitching to get coverage on an event, Sam says to make sure you send the pitch in plenty of time so that the blogger can have time to put something together. Pitching to a brand, particularly pitching to a travel brand, is a great way to potentially strike up a long-term partnership which for some bloggers is more appealing than working with an individual destination. Make it easy for them to pick you. “Pitches that tell me I’ve been reading http://www.keepthetailwagging.com for a while scream MAIL MERGE,” Kimberly advises. – be honest, share why you’re interested, and explain the value you can offer, Being appropriate and relevant is key in any sort of pitch, especially when you are reaching out cold. If you think you should’ve been successful when you consider how to pitch your blog and when you think you’ve done it just right, move on and set a calendar reminder to follow up again in a different season. Follow the nine steps below to craft an irresistible pitch letter: 1. Without being obnoxious, you should always feel empowered to follow up with a brand or destination that you’ve pitched to and to ask why the pitch or partnership didn’t move forward. Before you pitch to a blogger about reviewing your book, read their guidelines and several blog posts. Don’t pitch your product at first. I take the time to see what sort of advertising or sponsored content I can find before I reach out. Don’t. Think of this as your elevator pitch and focus on creating two or three short sentences. If I find a huge gap or see if something could be done better, I will work on a pitch for addressing that gap to present to the DMO. Our readers make buying decisions based on our opinions and the things we share. Afterwards, the blogger is much more likely to read paragraphs 2 – 3 which contain the meat of your proposal. Next, put your call-to-action. So how do you deal with and process that? A DMO is typically funded to create public awareness via advertising and marketing campaigns. But don’t be creepy…. Connect on Twitter before ever emailing the blogger and take the time to build some form or reality. If you’re a blogger you need to know how to pitch so that you can grow your own brand or site as well as open doors to new opportunities. Blogs with a big following give you better visbility. “They can go a long way to show that you are a human with a heart and that you care about the people you are emailing.”. FTC DISCLOSURE. Pretty easy to write pitches for those, right? When you do not do your research, you waste both your time and mine. Well, a travel blogger like myself may want to pitch to a destination so that we could experience it and create written or visual content for our own website. Pitching a unique angle accomplishes two things. Hey bloggers and PR pros, do you have any additional advice to share? Travel brands such as Best Western Hotels and Resorts or Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) are central corporate entities who have properties or operators in a variety of locations. Pitching is the process or practice of putting out an idea in hopes of generating new business or leads. At Serious Eats, we operate a couple niche blogs -- one that covers burgers and one that covers pizza. But a lot of those ideas come from business owners pitching their products. Travel brands such as, It’s very important to research and understand the travel brand that you want to pitch because it can be very nuanced. Bloggers simply don’t want to waste their time reading irrelevant pitches. Nope. send an email to customer service asking for a free backpack and camera case because yours is worn out. Other types of bloggers or writers may need to pitch to other types of businesses or firms. We’re not going to talk about that today but often the process will be similar regarding how to pitch a blog or how to pitch yourself for coverage. No matter what your ultimate outlet it is, knowing how to pitch is key to controlling your work and building a good-looking partnership resume. The 3 Key Ingredients in a Successful Influencer Pitch. So if anything is taken away from this post, read the blog before pitching. Some places, such as small towns or areas with spread out population, will have either a Convention Visitors Bureau, CVB, or a Chamber of Commerce. Pitching to a DMO: destination marketing organization, Pitching to a government or community organization. With this in mind, know that there are the straightforward mechanics of the pitch email itself, and the larger context of the guest post or contributing article that you’re writing. Save that email and make notes including any important email addresses, and later on you may choose to pitch to that brand for destination again. A destination marketing organization is a firm or a collective of people working to market a destination as a whole. Include your qualitative stats. While getting traditional press in magazines is still great, a nicely placed mention on the right blog can be a tremendous boost for your business. Why would a blogger want to pitch something? Know Who You Are Pitching. We are going to start here because as a travel blogger it was the very first thing that I ever did in terms of pitching and it is the most common type of pitch that a travel blogger is going to do. – be honest, share why you’re interested, and explain the value you can offer, So how do you deal with and process that? List every feature of your offer. Are you sure? Writing the Perfect Pitch for a Blog Editor The perfect pitch is only perfect when it gets you the publication and develops a lasting relationship with the editor. The pitch is relevant to the blog’s focus It has a personal touch but doesn’t have to be time consuming or gushing The best tone in a pitch is professional yet friendly and she says this is a tough balance to strike but it can be done! That’s a whole lot going on in that name. Do: look at other blogs and influencer accounts and see if you and your demographic of followers is being represented and specifically marketed to. Thanks, Danny, for this great pitch! If you’re a GroupHigh user, not only can you find niche fitting blogs but you can read a blogger’s post straight from the platform. If so, share in the comments below and I may use it for part two of this post! Wrong. The next step to pitching your blog is to know your audience. In six months to a year, whoever you’ve pitched to may have changed their approach to working with bloggers and influencer. Videos featuring 2TravelDads – webisodes, TV, promos and more! For example: when I am pitching to a DMO I want to make sure that either one of their goals is to reach the LGBT travel market or that family travel is something they need to actively promote. And that is the same with many other hotel chains or groups. Try to get a shortlist of 3-5 blogs. Blindly sending products in the hope for a review is a waste of time. There's no good excuse to reach out to someone and NOT address then by their name. The rise and credibility of bloggers in the past few years has really changed the way consumers get information. When you’re pitching to someone, this chemical reaction promotes connection and empathy. It’s individually owned and operated but it is branded and supported by Best Western. After all, who is better qualified to tell you how to pitch than the people you’re pitching? From start to finish, be sure that you’re communicating with the team that manages blogger outreach or marketing and advertising. Take a look at our article on how to start a blog before you read this post. To identify your pitch targets, here are a few steps to take: Describe your offer and the problem it solves. Reference the materials on the blog, share admiration for an idea that the blog recently highlighted, and consider playing off of a common topic or writing a follow-up post to a specific article. “It doesn’t take long to realize that I write about dogs. When you are pitching to a destination marketing organization you want to be able to show that you can communicate their ideal advertising message to your demographic of followers, or to several demographics, depending on what your outlet is. Exposure. the above statements around how to pitch to different marketing organizations for destination are very general. He’s had pitches for coverage the day before the event…, He has one best practice to share with PR and marketing pros when pitching bloggers: “read the outlet you’re pitching.”. Top Australian blogger, Neerav Bhatt who writes the very popular Rambling Thoughts blog and its sister blog, A Road Less Travelled is often contacted by people pitching services and products they want him to write about. “No one wants to be bedded without the obligatory dinner or at least a drink.” She says to start with a warm up sentence or two, maybe saying something you like about the blog or that you have a child the same age. This year we’re at the Barbican so a change of Retrieved from https://www.grouphigh.com/blog/pitching-tips-straight-from-the-bloggers-youre-pitching/ […], You may use these HTML tags and attributes:
, , How to Know if A Blogger is Receptive to Working With Your Brand, How to Leverage Blogger Relations to Promote Your Brand for the Holiday Season, https://www.grouphigh.com/blog/pitching-tips-straight-from-the-bloggers-youre-pitching/, The pitch is relevant to the blog’s focus, It has a personal touch but doesn’t have to be time consuming or gushing. Whether you’re a lifestyle blogger sending an email pitch to new clients, or you’re learning how to write a business pitch for a bigger project, the process is pretty much the same. – if that’s your MO, you’ll never get anywhere and you won’t be happy blogging as a job. Here’s an example of a pitch that would not include a full post: “Hi, my name is Katie and I blog at KatieDidWhat.com. So let’s jump into it: how to pitch a destination. No matter what your background, I’m going to tell you exactly what pitching is, how to do it, and how to move on if you’re not successful on the first run. Engagement rate; Monthly views; Audience demographics; Quickly list the top 3 brands you’ve worked with, and then link to each of the promotions. Social media and PR bloggers have been talking about this topic for years, yet I don’t see pitches getting much better. If you truly want to write for someone, don’t send out a blind pitch. After all, a pitch to a blogger is your first impression and if you screw it up, they won’t think you’re awesome and they won’t work with you. So, I’m going to take ONE MORE crack at this, today. 4. It’s very important to research and understand the travel brand that you want to pitch because it can be very nuanced. Here’s how an effective media pitch is structured: You start with the lead. If I find a huge gap or see if something could be done better, I will work on a pitch for addressing that gap to present to the DMO. While this is still a type of government organization, many Chambers of Commerce are not run within a city hall or something, but perhaps they run a visitor center and do the work to market their paying business members through promoting them in person as well as through campaigns. Those who run websites about fashion or technology may actually need to know the same skills and pitch the same exact way as a travel blogger … Make it personal to the person receiving it and make the email personal to their product. Reaching out to finance bloggers about your Artist Shop full of movie parody designs won’t do you much good. She says she’s also gotten pitches from people she’s worked with before but the pitch is the one that they send all new contacts, don’t forget about a blogger you’ve worked with in the past! While we might not be sharing the details of upcoming partnerships or contract specifics, many of us are happy to share the projects that we are currently working on or have recently completed. We all talk. [cue travel bloggers cheering] Knowing how to pitch to a DMO is important. Chances are you can get a solid answer explaining why you aren’t the right fit. This is one of the reasons we love working with Best Western Hotels and Resorts. “The pitches that work come from people who have taken the time to check out my blog, read my About page, and check out my social networking profiles.”. While it’s tempting to say “hey you blogger, work with me, I’m awesome and you won’t be sorry,” the world requires us to use a little more tact in our pitches. When you think about pitching to a product seller or distributor, REI for example, the research is very similar to working with a travel brand. November 30, 2012 by Jane Hamill Leave a Comment. This is a guest post by Brandon J. Mendelson. So I chatted with a few bloggers who get pitched A LOT to see what they have to say about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to being pitched. Best Western Plus Island Palms Resort Hotel and Marina, Pitching Process and Exercise: building a successful pitch from start to finish, Blogging Ethics: when I totally abandoned my ethics (and how I fixed it), Blogging year in review: new experiences and awareness of the world. Here’s what you do to make sure that this doesn’t get you down: Also, when you do get follow-up and it is a rejection, feel good that you actually received follow-up. Now, let’s see how this pitch is great and how you can get the most out of it: The opening shows that you’re one of their readers. Kimberly runs a blog that focuses on all things dogs and she’s one of the more successful bloggers in her niche. If you are a traditional copywriter or write for newspapers and magazines, you might need to pitch to be able to sell stories to publications you work for. In GroupHigh. Oftentimes a larger brand will have smaller properties that on their own would be considered boutique establishments but they happen to carry the larger travel brand association or affiliation. About video games. A travel blogger may need to know how to pitch to a brand, such as a travel brand who works in multiple locations, to establish a relationship and create a stream of work, thus by creating a stream of income. Sam writes a cocktail blog based out of New York. Create your next pitch and compare the message that you have communicated and then research you’ve done before sending that one. the weather and come and join us on the Fiskars and ebertsankey stand.” Not something that shows they read his blog. While you could … Make sure to include their product name, what you like about said product and include their company name at least once. And others included disgusting drink recipes. Here’s what you should be able to do at this point: I hope this is helpful in considering how to pitch and what steps you can take to be prepared. Things To Include In Your Pitch. At … And then there are people who try to prove that they read the blog when they haven’t. Be upfront about the type of collaboration you want. Have you actually read the blog? Note: this article is a part of our Blogging as a Business series. He calls these pitches “the bane of my life.” Not a good way to get a blogger’s attention, to be the bane of their life, right? Google your generic product name + review keywords. Stories trigger the release of a trust hormone called Oxytocin. While both of the following organization types have advertising AND media/PR, understand that one has the job of driving sales/visitor dollars and the other has the job of getting media coverage and positive press. In case you missed it, a couple of weeks ago I shared tips on how to find bloggers / influencers to collaborate with and now I'm following up with the second part of the series – how to actually connect and pitch bloggers for collaborations!. Write a short and catchy subject line. They do have a corporate marketing team but then they also breakdown by region and individual operators. Kimberly really stresses the effectiveness of a personal pitch. Whether it’s a product review, paid blog post, etc. If you use Google analytics, you can go into the back end and find out more information about who is viewing your blog. It is a good way to keep the product true to its vision, because you can refer to it in meetings all the time! Just like when you post a photo on Instagram that you think is awesome or adorable and nobody likes it or engages with it, that feeling that you totally missed the boat happens when you are rejected with pitching. Oftentimes a larger brand will have smaller properties that on their own would be considered boutique establishments but they happen to carry the larger travel brand association or affiliation. If you pitch to a few blogs simultaneously, you'll find rejection easier to take than if you put all your hopes on one blog. From there, be honest in that you would like to try the product because you think it is a good fit that your followers would be very interested in it. Subject lines are everything. Other types of bloggers or writers may need to pitch to other types of businesses or firms. Sam says the pitches that don’t work are the ones that ask him to run a story about a party someone threw last night but didn’t invite him to or pitching the types of products or events that he doesn’t cover. Note: the above statements around how to pitch to different marketing organizations for destination are very general. How to write a pitch in 9 steps. What could be a better match made in heaven, right? Simple enough…. Jarlene says that she’s receptive to pitches that contain the following: Since Rhys’s blog has the word “garden” in the title, he gets pitched by gardening and horticulture firms all the time. Because I don’t want my fellow PR and marketing friends to pitch bloggers poorly, I sought out a few bloggers for pitching advice. Start with blogs that offer the best mix of the following factors: Realistic Domain Authority score. when I am pitching to a DMO I want to make sure that either one of their goals is to reach the LGBT travel market or that family travel is something they need to actively promote. How to Pitch Bloggers for a Fashion Product. This is very similar to the curator pitch, at least, in that, you’re asking for another influencer to write or produce content for your own use — be it for a blog or an editorial about your product. Learn how your comment data is processed. They are blanket statements based off of our experience working with a variety of organizations in many locations. It’s kind of the Wild West. Who, are clearly not taking the time to do their homework. Give them as many reasons as possible to want to list you. I would be happy to include your product with an original image of me using it, in addition to a link to your product’s page. Know the blog, know the audience and take the time to read the about me page and FAQs. Pitching to a CVB, you want to be able to communicate the value of marketing or sponsored content through your own channels in terms that can be justified to use taxpayer dollars. Can also happen in the form of sponsored content on a travel blog. If your travel blog niche is something that visually is very obvious research can be a cinch. Offer gifts, not bribes. It is essential that you make your intention as clear as possible. The biggest pitch “turnoff” has been pitches that were full of typos and poorly written. One “incentive” you can use for a blogger, by the way, is more than one copy of your product. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, let’s discuss why companies send bloggers free product. If you are being direct and cutting to the chase in your pitch, meaning that from the get-go you talk about budget and terms for working with you, be sure that you take a look at this article about budgeting for influencer marketing.