As you\u2019ve been reading, I spent last week at the 2009 SES San Jose conference.\u00a0 I attended the event as a member of the press and covered panel sessions for the Online Marketing Blog (and\u00a0shared\u00a0some\u00a0with you here).<\/p>\n
And as a member of the press, my contact information was on a media list shared with event attendees, sponsors, other marketers, etc.\u00a0 With this came a slew of press releases I\u2019ve been receieving in the weeks leading up to the conference, during the conference itself and after.\u00a0 None of this is very surprising and is standard to happen for bloggers or press attending an event in any industry, not just marketing.<\/p>\n
This brings me to what I want to discuss today to help you make this process better.\u00a0 Being on both sides of the fence (a digital marketer and blogger) provides insight in both directions.<\/p>\n
Before getting further into this, I want to say two things up front:<\/p>\n
With that said, I invite businesses, PR pros and marketers to send press releases directly.\u00a0 I do\u00a0read<\/em>\u00a0all of them.\u00a0 But if you actually want me to spend time writing about your product, service or company don\u2019t send me a press release.\u00a0 Not once have I written a story based off an unsolicited press release that was emailed.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Two main reasons:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Press releases are not original content<\/strong><\/p>\n We all know the release you just sent has been sent to countless others \u2013 and as bloggers we are most interested in unique\/original content and untold stories.\u00a0 A press release (unless I am\u00a0the<\/strong>\u00a0first one to receive it) does not satisfy any of these things.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Press releases are informal<\/strong><\/p>\n Something easily forgotten these days is that\u00a0blogs are social media.\u00a0 And press releases are not social, they are overly refined technical documents which are cookie-cutter.\u00a0 They are perfect for wire services because they are designed to work within a system, but not for one-to-one or pitching.\u00a0 Good pitching is as much relationship building as it is adding value and providing something compelling.\u00a0 Again I\u2019m fine with\u00a0reading<\/em>\u00a0your press release you send me directly, but that is where it will stop.<\/p>\n I have written stories based off press release content previously (see\u00a0how to choose an online marketing or PR agency\u00a0as one example which quotes a good bit from a release).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the key to why that was worth covering aside from being good content:\u00a0 I stumbled upon it through another publication referencing the original release.<\/p>\n The fact that Marketing Vox covered the story, and I as a marketing blogger read the story meant that I saw the reference to the release content.\u00a0 The content was compelling enough to inspire a story idea, but I only saw it because an authoritative marketing publication picked it up from the wire \u2013 it wasn\u2019t pushed on me.<\/p>\n See how that worked?<\/p>\n If the company who issued the release (Sapient) had sent it directly to me would I have covered it?\u00a0 It\u2019s the same content, but to be honest I would have read it and glossed over it if it was emailed to me.\u00a0 It\u2019s just so much more powerful to come across compelling content organically than to have it unartfully forced upon a blogger.<\/p>\n Remember, as a blogger with a day job I don\u2019t make media for a living.\u00a0 I\u2019m writing here willfully and without being paid, thus I have the luxury to write on whatever I find interesting and nothing else.\u00a0 Unlike a reporter or traditional journalist I don\u2019t necessarily need your content because I don\u2019t\u00a0need<\/em>\u00a0to write here.\u00a0 If I have nothing of interest to say, I won\u2019t write anything as I don\u2019t have a quota I need to meet on this blog, your press release is not filling a void.<\/p>\n Pull PR Get me to stumble-upon your content naturally, and if it\u2019s that good I will react\/respond.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t sending a press release directly.\u00a0 That\u2019s so much less powerful than me stumbling upon the content on my own.\u00a0 I\u2019m likely to write on things I come across that are interesting because it\u2019s part of my natural process of finding and reacting to information.\u00a0 It\u2019s push vs. pull, and pull always wins from a\u00a0digital PR\u00a0standpoint.<\/p>\n Develop relationships<\/strong><\/p>\n Wire services are one approach for covering a wide spread.\u00a0 If you want to take a surgical approach and reach specific people, publish in-kind.\u00a0 What I mean by this is write something on your own blog and tag me\/link me in your post.\u00a0 I\u2019m\u00a0far more<\/em>\u00a0likely to respond that way if what you wrote warrants a response, whether we have an existing relationship or not.<\/p>\n If you want me (or any one blogger in particular) to write on your business or client by emailing me or contacting me directly, you should probably work on forming a relationship.\u00a0 Relationships \u2013 even a step further \u2013 having a\u00a0digital reputation\u00a0matters in the social web, you can only ever be so effective without one.<\/p>\n A quote from\u00a0Jeremiah Owyang\u00a0sums up blogger relations nicely, even if he didn\u2019t intend for it to describe it:<\/p>\n \u201cThose who ignore the party\/conversation\/network when they are content and decide to drop in when they need the network may not succeed. It\u2019s pretty easy to spot those that are just joining the network purely to take \u2013not to give. Therefore, be part of the party\/conversation\/network\u00a0before\u00a0<\/em>you need anything from anyone.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As you\u2019ve been reading, I spent last week at the 2009 SES San Jose conference.\u00a0 I attended the event as … <\/p>\nIt\u2019s not just the format, it\u2019s the approach
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