What PR Professionals and Mommy Bloggers Need to Learn From Each Other
Earlier this week, Lucretia Pruitt, aka GeekMommy, posted a rather strong piece about the frustration Mommy Bloggers are having with the PR/marketing community. It was an enlightening read for me. And one that gives our PR team great concern.
We have been working with the blogging community (and our local Mommy bloggers) for a while now. We’ve learned a lot from them and have enjoyed the experience. One of the Moms we work with got in touch to give us the heads up about the GeekMommy post. She told her contact here, Lizzie, that she believes there is quite a bit of misunderstanding among Mommy Bloggers about the difference between PR and advertising. After reading the post, and the subsequent nearly 100 comments, I would agree.
One of the unexpected outcomes of the embrace of blogs is that it has contributed to the fracturing of the established US newspaper industry. While it probably was not the intention of bloggers, they have grabbed a piece of people’s valuable time, time that might have gone to reading the local newspaper.
It is our job in public relations to find those writers, editors and outlets that make sense for our client’s news. And while the media may grumble when you say it out loud, the fact is that they couldn’t really do their jobs without us. There are too few of them to get all the info, all the time. It’s a strange symbiotic relationship that probably deserves its own post. We don’t buy or pay for story placement; we provide the media with information and access.
Now, we have bloggers who are speaking to our audiences and sometimes our client’s news, product or service mesh well with their blog. With due diligence and an understanding of a blogger’s non-paid role we try to find fits that work. And it has worked so well for us, and for them, that we have many bloggers who regularly come to our team looking for news. Why? Because when a PR person gets it right, and passes along a great tip and bloggers write a great post, it gets read, shared and linked to, increasing the blog’s SEO and maybe even subscribers.
The primary complaint of the GeekMommy’s Weblife post and reader’s comments is that writing about products and services or running a contest or promo takes time and they should be paid for that. This presents an interesting conundrum. Did that blog start out with the intention of becoming a news outlet? Maybe, maybe not. If they did, did they look at the model of how media outlets work? Ads pay for the production, staff and profit. PR simply provides content. The comments on GeekMommy make me think that the two are being confused.
Of course, as with traditional media relations and PR agencies, there are agencies that suck at what they do. They give the rest of us a black eye on a daily basis. They don’t get to know the outlet they are pitching, they don’t respect the writer/editor’s time, and they are pushy. Obnoxiously so. Meanwhile, the rest of us plug on, trying to be professional and helpful.
I think it would be interesting to have a broader conversation about public relations and what we really do, and bloggers and what they really want. Seems like some bloggers are ready to take on the challenge of figuring out what they need to do to move to a model where they have advertising revenue and interact with PR pros.
We would like to engage in a broader conversation about this – perhaps at Blogher? Would you sit around a table with us and find a solution? Would you engage with marketers to learn more about creating a business model for your blog? I also think that some education might be helpful. If bloggers want to get paid, they need to set up advertising models to get what they need. If they just want to run their blog and don’t want to be pitched perhaps they should state so on their blog. Otherwise, PR people are going to see them as another outlet that might be interested in their client’s news, product or service.
Sign me up! I think this is a discussion that needs to be had on a deeper level than can be done in a post.
I’ll be at Blogher and would love to join a discussion or round table about this subject — informal or formal. I think this discussion needs to develop and evolve. I’m up for it.
jjames (at) themomsalon (dot) com
I’m a little confused, because we mommy bloggers (at least in my understanding) are not asked to pitch “news” releases so much as product releases. I don’t even know what you mean when you say “Did that blog start out with the intention of becoming a news outlet?.” Most of us aren’t “news” blogs. We are asked by PR reps to share a press release about a product, and in return they’ll give us $2 off that product. That’s where the frustration comes in. It’s insulting and rude.
Are we on the same page here?
I wrote a very long, detailed comment that the comment verification process ate. (That’s a PHP rant for another day…)
What I recall saying was:
1) thank you for the well thought-out post and additional insight into this equation. I’ve learned more about the differences between the PR, Marketing and Advertising approach to this issue in the past 2 days than you’d imagine.
2) A note that you said “The primary complaint of the GeekMommy’s Weblife post and reader’s comments is that writing about products and services or running a contest or promo takes time and they should be paid for that.”
While the second half of that is true, the italicized bit is not. I was very careful to differentiate. I was specifically posting about contests &/or giveaways hosted on the blog – reviews and or informational posts are a separate discussion as they often drift over into advertorials or endorsements.
3) I’d be happy to participate in the roundtable. Please let me know when you intend to hold it. I will be both attending & speaking at BlogHer this year, can’t imagine a better setting to have it in! Hundreds of smart, savvy, creative bloggers in one place.
4) Thank you for adding your voice to the discussion – it has to be discussed from all sides, or we get nowhere!
5) Something about reporters/bloggers and other stuff that is probably better left for another time!
Thanks again – sorry the first comment went astray. Copying this to the clipboard before hitting post. I get frustrated easily with anti-spam verification scripts that are glitchy!
Best. LMP
Great post. I read the other one and became very frustrated. I was planning to respond once my anger had died down but you’ve done it in a much more articulate way. We are trying very hard to develop relationships with bloggers (mommy and otherwise)in the most professional way but sometimes it is hard to know people’s preferences. And, all too often, we don’t get any response – to e-mails, phone calls, Twitter messages or blog posts. I would be happy to provide an agency perspective to any forum.
Thank you all for your comments. I think this is an issue that is going to take some time to sort through.
Unfortunately I cannot attend Blogher this July. I am going to get in touch with them to see what other events we can participate in to continue the conversation.
I will be attending BlogWorld, so hopefully some of us can connect then.
Sarah Mae – PR people are now pitching bloggers to review products, run contests and just plain share news (thus the news release reference). To us, that kind of relationship is akin to our historical interaction with traditional media. We would never pay a media outlet to run a story (that’s advertising) and so we approach bloggers the same way.
What we hope is that we are providing something of value to a blogger’s readers. And because of that we become a source of good content for that blogger.
“PR people are now pitching bloggers to review products, run contests and just plain share news (thus the news release reference). To us, that kind of relationship is akin to our historical interaction with traditional media. We would never pay a media outlet to run a story (that’s advertising) and so we approach bloggers the same way”
Indra – you continuously lump the three different types of posts together as if they are similar, despite the fact that they are not. You mischaracterized my post in this regard as well, despite the fact that I very deliberately pointed out both in the post and here in your comments that the 3 are dissimilar and I was not referring to paid posts or reviews, but simply contests.
You’re beginning to come across as disingenuous.
You would NEVER approach a national magazine or other media outlet to run a contest or sweepstakes for you free of charge, yet you try to lump it in here as if people won’t notice.
I assure you that bloggers, and mom bloggers in particular, are not that stupid. You can pretend that they are the same – but those of us who have actually written or held them are aware of the level of involvement of each. Are you?
It’s a pity you’re not going to make it to BlogHer, I’m speaking there, so I will be there for sure. I’ll also be at BWE though – so if you’d like to have an *honest* conversation about this – and not one where you do not acknowledge that you have mischaracterized what I have said, I would be happy to continue the matter.
I once had a communications coach tell me that email is a terrible means of communicating since studies show that only 7% of what we are trying to convey is transmitted through words and 93% is body language, tone, and non-verbal cues. I think blogs must be a close second to email in this regard.
I am sorry that you think I am trying to misrepresent your blog. My most recent comment was in response to Sarah Mae, in which she wrote “We are asked by PR reps to share a press release about a product, and in return they’ll give us $2 off that product.” Everything about that transaction is wrong. I am on the same page with you both about that. Trying to get a blogger to run a press release (and then give $2 off for the product) is not a sustainable model for relations between bloggers and PR pros.
So, I have reread your post to make sure I am clear. And I understand that there are several ways in which PR people are trying to interact or pitch bloggers.
And, yes, we would never ask a national outlet to run a sweepstakes for free. Yet, bloggers have done just that. And now that they are seeing how much work it is, they are not happy. Understandable.
I think I did focus more on the other two types of posts as my PR team is more focused on that type of relationship with bloggers.
In fact, when we did a contest for a client with a mommy blogger (the only one we’ve done), we supporter her all the way – we drafted a post, delivered the prize, etc. She later contacted us for a Mom’s Nite Out and we ended up hosting their mommy blogger event free of charge, comp’d food, etc. We understand the value of what bloggers are providing, but clearly, many agencies do not.
I do look forward to speaking with you about this more at BWE. As anyone who knows me knows, I am all about honest conversation. I welcome it.
3 times now that captcha has killed me… I never seem to get that one right. Third time and it still got me!
I agree with your professor. I usually take the time to re-read and re-edit to remove incindiary phrases. Unfortunately, the second time around I tend to be worse about it!
I hope you’ll accept my apology. Clearly I impugned your honest. I’m very sorry, that was utterly inappropriate.
I would love to discuss this further with you at BWE. In fact, I believe I told Rick that I thought we needed a panel on this at BWE. So I’ll keep you in mind!