{"id":1629,"date":"2015-06-04T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/?p=1629"},"modified":"2015-06-04T11:04:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T10:04:59","slug":"words-from-a-blogger-pr-etiquette-advice-from-a-blogger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/words-from-a-blogger-pr-etiquette-advice-from-a-blogger\/","title":{"rendered":"Words From A Blogger & PR: Etiquette Advice from a Blogger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"etiquette<\/a><\/p>\n

As a quick introduction, this post is part of a series called Words From A Blogger & PR<\/a>, on how bloggers and PRs work together from someone who is both a blogger and a PR herself: me! For more info on the series, read the Introduction post on my blog<\/a>\u00a0where you’ll find a list of all the posts so far.<\/p>\n

Having been on both sides of the emails, I\u2019ve picked up a few things about what\u2019s good etiquette when conversing with PRs if you\u2019re a blogger. Some people might not bother to take the time to chat a little, but I think it doesn\u2019t only help to build a great working relationship, but you end up with friends out of it too! I can honestly say that some of the best PRs I\u2019ve worked with, I\u2019d probably now call friends. And I hope that some of the bloggers that have worked with me as a PR would call me a friend too! So I\u2019m here today to give a few bits of inside info to PRs on how you can work best with bloggers and the general etiquette behind contacting them. Of course, much of this is common sense, but you can never underestimate the power of being polite and clear.<\/p>\n

\"Etiquette<\/a><\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    Create real relationships<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Remember that the person you\u2019re talking to at the end of that email is a human \u2013 just like you! This goes both ways, as bloggers and PRs will both often forget this. Sometimes a blogger will prefer a professional style conversation, sometimes they\u2019ll want to chat. Take time to gauge how each blogger comes across to you, talk to them about their interests and their blog, and keep up that relationship with them \u2013 it\u2019ll make things easier for both sides in the long run.<\/p>\n

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    1. \n

      Make sure your pitch is relevant<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      A blanket attack on every blogger you can find on the internet is not the way forward. Actually read the blogs that you\u2019re approaching to find out if your idea will work for them then address the blogger by name. I can\u2019t emphasise enough how important it is not to just start your email with \u201cDear Blogger\u201d. Personalise your email to the blogger, make them feel like you\u2019re worth talking to, not just another generic email in their inbox.<\/p>\n

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      1. \n

        Make an effort to understand pricing and rates<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        One thing that I\u2019ve found a lot of bloggers getting very frustrated about recently is PRs not understanding the amount of work that can go into a blog post and the upkeep of a successful blog. It\u2019s worth bearing in mind that the bloggers you\u2019re approaching may have paid for site hosting and their design, then they\u2019ll be doing their own photography, writing their own content, editing everything\u2026all jobs that are time consuming and can be hard work. What bloggers have been trying to get across to us is that they\u2019re not free advertising. Take a bit of time to understand what the current rate is for what your client needs and don\u2019t take advantage of blogs \u2013 it\u2019ll help you in the long run as you\u2019ll be able to build those ever important relationships on a strong foundation.<\/p>\n

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        1. \n

          Make it clear what you want\/need<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          We all know that what a client wants and what bloggers want can sometimes clash. But being clear at the outset will help to solve any difficult problems you might come across. Make sure to be clear in your emails and state what you\u2019re looking for. If you\u2019re vague or unclear, you\u2019re just going to end up with frustration at both ends if someone misunderstands.<\/p>\n

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          1. \n

            Read emails carefully<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            In the second part of this post, you\u2019ll see that this is something that I think is important from both ends. Following on from the last point, make sure to read emails carefully and don\u2019t expect bloggers to do something they\u2019ve said they\u2019d prefer not to. It could be that they disagree over your posting guidelines, but reading what they\u2019ve told you carefully and not overlooking anything is such a simple thing that will make a big difference.<\/p>\n

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            1. \n

              Remember blogging isn\u2019t usually a full time job<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              There are full time bloggers out there, but many that I work with on a daily basis just don\u2019t have bags of time to dedicate to it. Bear in mind that life gets in the way sometimes, especially when you\u2019re talking to bloggers who have a full time job, a family, hobbies, basically just anything that can keep them away from the internet. If they aren\u2019t replying to your emails, don\u2019t stress over it or get angry at them \u2013 there\u2019s probably a reason they\u2019re not replying, or maybe they\u2019re simply not interested and don\u2019t have the time to do so.<\/p>\n

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              1. \n

                Be polite and friendly<\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                The most important one and very closely tied in with point 1: please always be polite! This will come up in the second part too as it goes for both sides, but I\u2019ve heard of some pretty rude PRs who will give unwanted criticisms of blogs or expect to get something for nothing. You\u2019re only doing yourself favours, so make sure to say please and thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                As a quick introduction, this post is part of a series called Words From A Blogger & PR, on how bloggers and PRs work together from someone who is both a blogger and a PR herself: me! For more info on the series, read the Introduction post on my blog\u00a0where you’ll find a list of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"class_list":["post-1629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bronco.co.uk\/our-ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}