Blogger outreach is one of the most effective ways to build your brand. It’s
a great way to connect with potential customers – the blogosphere gives you a
ready-made audience who are already interested in your type of product or
service. But if you’re going to succeed, you need to build strong relationships
with bloggers who want to be your brand ambassadors. This takes work
– don’t expect to shoot off a few emails and have bloggers lining up at your
door.
The good news is that there are proven ways to make your blogger outreach a
success. If you’re wondering how to turbocharge your brand in the blogosphere,
here are seven ways to get you started.
1. Use Introduction Sites
Online blogger introduction sites are a very effective way of finding
bloggers to talk about your brand. Sites such as Tomoson, Brand Meets Blog, Nuffnang, and Blogger Connect attract
high-quality bloggers who want to connect with businesses like yours. You can
browse through bloggers by interest area – for example, food enthusiasts – to
find the right bloggers for your brand. These sites also have tools you can use
to measure blogger influence, which helps you narrow down the list even
further. The other advantage of introduction sites is that the bloggers on them
are already actively interested, so you’re going to get a better response than
if you just send out cold-calling emails to bloggers directly.
2. Give Bloggers Your Product
Product giveaways are a great tool for getting bloggers on board – in fact,
this is one of the most frequent outreach techniques. Bloggers love to get
their hands on products they can use and review. They’ll write better reviews
if they can see and feel what you have to offer. Of course, blindly giving away
hundreds of samples isn’t advisable, particularly if your product isn’t cheap.
But if you target key bloggers with your giveaways, you’ll keep the cost down
and get better results. A word of caution, however. Don’t try to control what a
blogger says about your product. Bloggers value their independence, so this
will just annoy them.
3. Ask For Feedback
There’s no better way to get bloggers on your side than to make them part of
the process. By asking for feedback on your products or services, you show them
that you value their opinions. A blogger is much more likely to become a brand
ambassador if they feel that you are listening to them, and that they have
influence over what you are doing and saying. You’ll benefit from this as well
– bloggers know your target customers and what they want. Not only that,
they’ve already proven that they know how to talk to your audience – that’s
how they built a following in the first place. By following their
lead, you’ll get insights on how to build an authentic relationship with your
market.
4. Give Bloggers Exposure
Successful bloggers are always looking for new ways to expand their
audience. They’re passionate about their subject and want to engage with as
many people as possible – which would also increase their income potential. By
promoting bloggers to your existing social media channels, you give them the
exposure they’re trying to build. This can be as simple as retweeting their
tweets and sharing their blog posts. To take this to the next level, ask
trusted bloggers to write guest posts for your corporate blog, but remember not
to try to control what they say. Also, be prepared to pay bloggers to
write for you – after all, writing is how bloggers make a living.
5. Meet In Person
You can build a great online relationship with a blogger, but there’s no
substitute for seeing them face to face. If you travel regularly as part of
your business, make a point of letting bloggers know that you’re in their
neighborhood and would love to catch up if it suits them. Offer to meet them
for a drink or a meal – and make it a social occasion, not a hard sell.
Blogger conventions and conferences are also excellent occasions for meeting
with bloggers. They are an opportunity to get together with your existing brand
champions, and also with new bloggers who might be interested in talking about
your products or services. You may even find conferences that focus on topics
that you want to target – for example, the DBC Conference is for bloggers
interested in interior design. If you have enough budget, why not sponsor a
blogger conference or even host one yourself?
6. Create A Blogger Network
If you bring new products to market regularly, it’s tempting to find exactly
the right bloggers for each one. But this means starting over again every time,
which is time-consuming and expensive. It’s much more effective to build a
“go-to” pool of bloggers who are genuinely enthusiastic about your brand. By
getting them to mention your brand on a regular basis, their readers are more
likely to trust what they say. You’re likely to get much better reviews as well
– when you build a long-term relationship with a blogger, they’re already well
disposed towards you.
7. Show Your Appreciation
Bloggers absolutely hate being used. If you only get in contact when you
want them to write a post, you’re going to turn them off very quickly. Every
time a blogger mentions your brand, show your appreciation by sending them a
sincere thank you note. Make sure you keep them in the loop on what’s happening
with your brand – a monthly insider newsletter is one great way of doing this.
Send them exclusive content they can share – for example, high-quality images,
fact sheets, amusing stories and anything else that will appeal to their
readers. Finally, don’t forget to send them product samples from time to time –
it’s a perfect way of reminding them that you genuinely care.
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