Blogger Outreach What is it?:
Blogger Outreach is simply a marketing strategy whereby you work with online influencers usually in the form of bloggers, vloggers and Instagrammers to build your small business brand. This can be via promotion of products or to gain authentic online mentions aiding your small business in getting noticed by a wider variety of customers.
Blogger Outreach, Where To Start :
- Plan: Before you start pitching to bloggers (or brands) know exactly what you want from the campaign. Have a clear idea of how the relationship will work. What you will be offering, as the brand/blogger and what do you exactly expect in return. This way there is no confusion and everyone involved has clear expectations, regarding the final outcome.
- Identify: Find appropriate bloggers (or brands) with who you want to work and not just industry influencers. Ensure the blogger fits your niche, ethos, brand and that they actually want to work with you. You need to be the right fit for each other.
- Pitch: Always reach out to influencers with a personalised email. Show that you have done your homework and reiterate why they would suit a collaboration.
- Provide Extra Information: Send out press releases, infographics, exclusive interviews and appropriate information that the influencers can use in their piece. I always find this really helpful as it ensures the information is correct and specific messages present.
- Think About Value: When I do product reviews or work with brands I still want to add value to my readers, who might not care really about my latest stationery BUT they do care about ways in which to keep themselves and their small business organised.
- Promote: It’s not a one-way thing. Always remember to share the influencer’s content with your audience too. Not only will they appreciate it but it also helps to strengthen and develop a future and continuing relationship with that influencer.
Why Blogger Outreach Is Important To Your Small Business?
- Bloggers Build Trust: Influencers already have a developed and reputable brand, their whole identity is built upon building relationships and trust with their audience.
- Tried And Tested: According to statistics the average buyer consults 11 product reviews, most of which are blogs before making a purchase. This for me is especially true when purchasing high ticket items or that must-have toy.
- Social Media: Bloggers utilise and are active on a number of social media platforms and will have developed a large blogging community around them
- Target Audience: Bloggers write about niche based topics making it easier to find influencers with a ready made targeted audience.
- Outreach Blogger Networks: If you don’t feel confident or are overwhelmed approaching influencers yourself look into networks that pair up brands and influencers. For brands, this is perfect as you can even leave the hard work of sifting through pitches to someone else. For Bloggers, using these outreach networks provides one of the easiest places to pick up paid blogging jobs.
Do you have a blogger outreach plan? What has worked for you and what hasn’t? Would love to hear your thoughts.
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An interesting and helpful read, need to do more of this.
As a blogger I find it helpful when a company has a clear goal and expectations of what they want and need fro me
I think it’s important to send out personalised emails. I often get emails that read ‘I am a big fan of your site (insert url here)’. And they normally go straight in the bin
Thanks for this one! This is something we keep meaning to do more of, but we’ve always let it slide. But I know we need to do a better job of working with bloggers. We tend to just throw it out there with a “does anyone want to work with us” kind of way, but I know that doesn’t always work well.
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Having a clear plan and expectations from both sides makes a huge difference.