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Over at Technosailor Aaron has been writing an entertaining, scathing and educational attack on lame PR attempts in the blogosphere (go take a look here and here). I love it because it rings so true. What are the most common errors of a bad blog PR campaign? Let’s take a look …
- Not using the bloggers name - It would take mere seconds in most cases to find out the bloggers name. If you can’t then simply say so, it shows you are a human being and that you have actually looked at the blog
- Not reading anything on the blog - You have to read more than just the title. I can’t count how many times people have told me I am a gadget blogger or web designer. Uh, no … do you know which blog you are spamming?
- or worse blatantly lying that you have – I would say right here that the very worst thing you can do is lie. If we can’t trust the most basic information in your email how can we trust the big stuff? It is so obvious when you are fake, even if you think you are being really cunning. Only last week I had an email saying “I have been enjoying your blog for over a year now” … my blog was launched in February 2007.
- Copying and pasting a press release – Just link to a press release, don’t paste it. The details in a press release can be useful or not. Let us decide if we want to see the full thing. I know some bloggers will copy and paste the full thing and call it a blog post but the good ones will not.
- Taking 2000 words to say nothing – The best PR email I have ever had was “Hi Chris, I loved your article today on Copyblogger and we have a book launch coming soon that covers the same topic, can we send you a copy to review?“. That’s it, short, to the point, no fluff. The worst take all the blurb they can paste, lavish fake praise, and tell me all the reasons why they are important.
- Using a non-reply email address – I realize to save time a lot of folks are going to use a mailout approach, but please give us at least a reply address that works. It’s only polite.
- Only supplying a telephone number – So I am supposed to hunt you down at my own cost to talk to you? Uh, ain’t going to happen unless you are giving out gift bags of gold coins. What is worst is usually the telephone number is listed without country code. I guess the assumption is everyone worth talking to lives in USA. So I have to make a transatlantic call to discuss your PR campaign. Nope.
- Cold calling late at night – Some persistent folks have not got a satisfying response via email so called me. When my daughter is in bed and I am sitting down in front of the TV after a long day. Not the time to get me at my best. See a tiny bit of research (hint: read “about” pages) would tell you I live in England. If I wanted to respond I already would have, now I am really not feeling favorable towards your widget!
- Making it clear EVERY blogger in your niche is getting the exact same message – Why on earth would a blogger feel like writing about something they know every other blogger is going to be covering with the exact same information? No exclusive detail? No review copy? No interview? No article.
- Being completely and utterly irrelevant – No matter how cool I am not going to review a revolutionary shower head or dust buster on my blog. When you are looking for blogs to send your message to consider more than just traffic or subscribers, also ask yourself if the audience would be interested in what you are pushing!
You know the secret to not making these blunders? Make it all about the audience and not you.
Be human. Be authentic. Think about the other person. Too much me-me-me and you are guaranteed to get it wrong. Actually spending a few seconds working out what the benefit is to the blogger and their audience is golden.
Do you have any examples of good or bad PR emails? Please share in the comments …
