Bloggers: New Targets for PR Guys

PR guys have discovered bloggers. We've become the flavor of the week because there are many more of us and we are dramatically more accessible than journalists. We are also much less reliable and much flakier.

Drew Middleton was bitching about how clueless PR people are and praised Ogilvy PR for being clueless with a credo. He sounds like many journalists who write frequently about the carpet bombing publicists do in an attempt to break through the multi-channel efforts by writers, editors and producers of all stripes in all media to erect telephonic and digital barriers to avoid random pitches.

For me its kind of funny. I've gotten a few free books, a few off-beat pitches and a lot of unwarranted praise from publicists who have found me on Google Blogs or Technorati and gush about whatever I'm doing; as if they've read me. Hey, I'm not above basking in bogus glory. I'm not getting rich from Adwords clicks.

The potential to create genuine buzz by reaching out to and persuading bloggers to gush about and link to you, your product, your service, your event or your client is driving publicity seekers to mine the blogosphere. So far a few random examples where buzz was created are motivating a million half-hearted attempts. But if you are going to give a go, consider these tips to improve your performance:

1. Read a few posts. Don't rely on the blog title or even the tags to guide you. Then craft a pitch that aligns with the general thrust and tone of the blog.

2. Many bloggers are personalities. Some are really out there. The more you can frame your pitch in their voice or based on an established point of view; the better you are likely to do.

3. Unlike real journalists we aren't bound by codes of conduct or corporate watch dogs. We can be bribed with really good freebies.Don't think a cheap hat, t-shirt, mouse pad or a book nobody else wants is a really good freebie. Many of us are smarting that we are so far under the freebie radar that we never got the free Nikon, iPod or Dell Inspiron. We can be schmeared, just do it right.

4. Many of us hope to use content to lure more, new readers. If what you are pitching can help us develop our audiences, tell us and explain how and why. You'll get much better play. Better yet -- if you can teach us a new tech trick or link us to a serious traffic source, we'll put out big time.

5. Be real. We are a savvy, skeptical lot. And we can use profanity at will without limit and go off on you much worse that official media outlets. Don't try to bullshit us or sell us something that is obviously bogus.