Business of Blogging is a series we’ve got going on the blog that skims what’s covered in our Business of Blogging workshops we hold online and at select yoga retreats. Today, we've got a guest post from YBC's Marketing and Events Director, Lauren Wotherspoon. Lauren comes to YBC with a background in marketing and project coordination from when she worked at ESPN. While the sports world and the blogging world are totally different, she has brought invaluable ideas and know-how to the YBC team, so I'm thrilled she agreed to put together the do's and don'ts of blogger outreach marketing for bloggers and small businesses. This post is an extension of how to make money from blogging and also aims to help small business owners learn how to best work with bloggers.
I’m relatively new to the blogging world so I’m by no means a blogging expert but in the 11 or so months I’ve been working here at YBC, but I’ve learned a lot about blogger outreach and marketing in this extremely unique industry. I receive numerous pitches on any given day from businesses who want to work together, and I also send out the occasional pitch here and there, too. As with most things in life, there are certain etiquettes, the do’s and don’ts if you will, that come along with blogger territory and because we love to pay it forward here at YBC, I decided to pass on a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way that might be helpful if you’re new to the blogging universe or are a small business owner that’d like to work with bloggers. Now, are you guys ready for some serious real talk?!
Welcome to the Digital Age
Blogger outreach - where businesses and bloggers work together to promote a product, company or service - has become an essential part of online marketing. But just because we’re in the digital age doesn’t mean everyone in the workforce is caught up to speed.
There are huge generational gaps in the workforce today. The majority is comprised of Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers, and then you have the Millennials (Hi, that’s me!) who are the first generation to grow up and work in a culture that’s saturated with technology and social media. It will be helpful to keep in mind that each generation has distinct preferences when it comes to business. For example, Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers prefer to do business face to face or via conference call. They’re also most comfortable with traditional media channels like radio, TV and print. The Millennials often prefer to make business deals via email correspondence and are most comfortable with newer media like the internet, mobile technology and social media. It’s really important to understand with whom you’re working so you can take an approach to pitching that will be the most receptive and make the most sense to your target audience. It’s becoming more and more common today for Millennials to replace traditional marketing strategies with new age media channels and with that, we’ve kind of taken on the responsibility in making sure the Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers know and understand the power of this new digital age.
First Impressions Count
For all my small businesses
Before you email a blogger, take the time to look over their site. Know what they write about, what they care about and most importantly, make sure you’re familiar with their brand. After all, you want your missions to align. When you’re ready to write your pitch always address the blogger by their first name. It only takes a few moments so double check the spelling if you’re not 100% sure. You’d be surprised at how many people approach us and don’t spell Candace’s name correctly (and, hello, it's in the title of the site!), or worse, the pitch starts with "Dear BLOGGER." It just doesn't make a good first impression, and I usually toss the email to the bottom of my to-do pile and get to it when I can. The bottom line: A little proofreading can go a long way when it comes to outreach.
For all my bloggers
Take the above advice and apply it when you’re ready to grow your revenue stream with things like sponsorships and ad sales. You’ll want to make sure you’re reaching out to like-minded businesses and brands because the collaboration should be as authentic and organic as possible.
Don't forget: Accessibility is just as important as a first impression. If a business can’t reach out to you quickly via email, they won’t bother to at all. You don’t need an entire page devoted to your contact info but make sure it’s easy to find on your website.
Get it all out on the table
For all my small business owners
Once you’re ready to pitch a blogger you’ll want to be sure you’re giving them as much information as possible in your initial pitch so that they’re able to do the proper research to be sure the brands align with one another. The more they know about your company the easier and quicker it is for them to develop a list of advertising opportunities that make sense for you specifically.
Okay, I’m going to come at you with another example right now; I get emails all of the time that go like this: “Hi can you send me your advertising opportunities? I want to send my product for review on your blog. Thanks.” This type of pitch isn't very efficient because now I'll reply asking for more information about the company, when the company could've just done a quick few sentences to let me know about the specific product they had in mind and what they're all about so I can see if it's a good fit. Most of the time bloggers are hustlin’ and sometimes we might not have those few extra minutes to request additional details and < POOF > a really great collaboration could go right out the door.
If you’re wondering what a good intro pitch should look like, start off with a similar template (obviously change as necessary):
Hi NAME, I recently discovered BLOG and love what you're doing over there. I really enjoyed your recent post on TOPIC because REASON (it should align with your company's mission or products). I’m reaching out because I’d love the opportunity to advertise PRODUCT on your blog or social media channels. If this is a possibility, could we discuss ways to collaborate? Below I’ve included a little bit about who we are and what we do in case you’re interested.
Thank you in advance for your consideration. Please let me know if there is anything else I can provide. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. Looking forward to connecting with your audience!
Boom – pitch perfection!
For all my bloggers
Again, take what I said above and apply it to your situation. When you're ready to pitch a company to work with, it’s important that make your value known fairly early on in your pitch. If you're working with a super small business, you're probably going to be writing the founder, and that is a person who has very little time because they wear so many hats in the business, so be sure that every single sentence in your short and sweet pitch has an important point. Be sure to personalize and customize every pitch you send out. Don’t get me wrong, the bones can stay the same from pitch to pitch but switch up the details. Think about why your audience would love their products and tell the business. Be sure to clearly state the inclusion fee, if you charge one.
If you don’t already have a media kit I highly suggest you consider putting one together. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy to start but it’s a great way to showcase who you are and what you do. Be sure to highlight what you’re great at, and don't sell yourself short. Maybe you don’t have a ton of followers, but if you get a lot of engagement, play those types of things up in your media kit.
Follow Through
For all my small business owners
For the love of all things blog – if you reach out and request information on how to work with a blogger, keep that blogger in the loop as to what your current and future marketing strategies are. Bloggers work hard to develop collaborations that are a win-win for everyone involved. If the blogger has taken the time to develop a list of ways they can work with you, let them know that you received the list, and whether or not you're interested.
For all my bloggers
If you reach out to a brand and they express that they don’t currently have a marketing budget but would love to work together down the road, be sure to save that contact information and follow up later. I keep a file with everyone who says this and every few months or so I take the time to reach out. I let them know they’re still on our radar and I give them a quick growth update and mention any new developments (like the Mantra Box and YBC App) and invite them to be a part of a few projects we have in the works. Brands always like to hear that you’re keeping an eye on them and they’ll be more impressed than you might think to hear of your growth. I’ve made lots of business deals following up months down the road, so don't be discouraged if a company initially declines.
Staying authentic & controlling the message
For all my small business owners
If you’re a brand that is paying for a sponsored post, it’s important that you allow the blogger to deliver an authentic message about the product or service to their followers. In order for bloggers to maintain credibility they have to stay one hundred percent authentic. Even if you do somehow convince a blogger to stick to a specific script, chances are their readers are going to notice and your product will turn them off. Obviously hoping for a positive review is natural but demanding one is ridiculous. If you want to control the message then you’re better off hiring a PR agency or buying ad space on traditional media outlets.
For all my bloggers
Stick to your guns and stand your ground. If you receive a faulty sample, write the company and let them know. They'll likely send you another one and if that holds up, then you're good to go. If you simply don't like an aspect of the product, feel free to point that out in your review. Highlight what you do like and explain what you don't like. There's nothing wrong with that because what you may not like might be what someone else does like. We wrote about lululemon shorts a few weeks ago. It wasn't a sponsored post, but Candace wasn't sure if she should put them on the blog anyway. "What was the point?" she said. She didn't like them at all. They fit weird on her and had a pocket she didn't know what to do with. But after she mumbled that a pair that cost exactly half the price were so much better in her opinion, she decided to call the post 'Do you really get what you pay for?' When she pointed out what she didn't like about the product, people wrote in and said they actually had the same pair of lululemon shorts and they loved them for their pocket and longer fit! So you never really know! Just stay true to you, and you cannot go wrong.
Don’t expect it for free and don't work for free
For all my small business owners
It’s essential to remember that serious bloggers speak to a community of people that are not random, come and go visitors. They are people who are a part of a continuously growing community that share in like-minded interest. Most people on the web today trust good reputable bloggers over traditional TV advertisements; so getting the real-deal “seal of approval” is incredibly valuable.
Often, serious bloggers earn their living through their blogs, so in most cases, publicity associated with a review, giveaway or mention will come with a fee. You’re paying bloggers for the time and effort they put into their posts along with their audience reach. Is it rocket science? No. But it does takes a lot of time to shoot your product or put the image into a pinnable graphic, try the product out, write about the product, link to the product, publish the post, and then promote the post.
For all my bloggers
If you're a serious, full-time blogger, you need to pay your bills. Or at the very least, cover your costs of running a blog. And I know that doesn't come cheap. Last month, our costs alone were $11,000. This is a few thousand dollars higher than normal because it included travel (I went to LA, and Candace went to Baltimore for conventions, and then we purchased our tickets for our Costa Rica retreat next month), but this also included our hosting fees, a random adobe program we needed to update our media kit, developer fees, and staff fees. My point is, I know and you know that it costs to maintain a blog. Not to mention your time and energy. And once this is conveyed to companies, and they see your success, they might be willing to pay for a feature on your blog. That's great, but just be sure that your brands align. I cannot stress how important that is. We are pitched for some crazy things - a casino once approached us, diet pill companies, a major network offered to pay us to write about a a major soccer event... You know your audience best, and you have to say no to opportunities that just don't make any sense regardless of how much they're willing to pay. Yeah, we love a good night out at the casino as much as the next person, but at the end of the day, it just doesn't align with what we write about here, so we passed.
It’s okay to start off accepting product in exchange for a mention or review when you’re just getting your blog up and off the ground but as your audience and readership increases you should take a step back and seriously think about how much your time and effort is worth and don’t be afraid to charge it- especially if the blog becomes your full-time job. The worst a company can say is, “I’m sorry, we don’t have an advertising budget for bloggers,” and there’s no harm in that because there will always be other fish in the sea.
So now for the big question. How much to charge? Real talk? We started small. $25 bucks and we had 95,000 monthly readers. I am pretty sure we undercharged ourselves, but our focus was (and still is, for the most part) highlighting small businesses so we need to keep our prices small business friendly. Just keep in mind the budget and size of the company you're trying to work with. Be willing to compromise with businesses if the budget isn't there but you really love their product and mission... but don't sell yourself short, especially if the blog is your source of income.
Numbers sometimes do lie
For all my small business owners
When it comes to social media you can’t believe everything you see – including the number of followers someone has on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. We once worked with a company who said so-and-so blogger charges less and she has over 100,000 followers on Facebook, where she promotes her blog. So we checked out so-and-so blogger, and guess what? Girlfriend had barely any engagement (likes or comments) on her posts which meant one of two things: 1) her audience didn't care about what she was talking about, 2) her audience wasn't seeing her posts because they weren't engaged (that has to do with face book's algorithm which I guess is a topic for another time) or 3) she purchased fake followers.
For all my peeps!
Numbers are not important - engagement is. Engagement rates are the true measure of success. The rate of likes, comments and shares can be a powerful indicator of the followers' interest in what the blogger is sharing. I’ve put together a little list of things to keep an eye out for whether you’re looking at someone else’s engagement rate or trying to determine your own:
How many comments/likes does each post receive? Look to see how active the blogger is and how receptive the readers are. Now that we are developing a YBC Ambassador program, I've been searching for bloggers. I like to see a few new posts a week when I’m researching a blog. If a blog is only updated once a month or so I won’t dig any deeper – I’ll just move onto the next.
How engaged are the social media followers? Just for a little perspective, the average posts on Instagram among the top brands have an engagement rate of about 3.3% and the average tweet from those same brands produce an engagement rate of .07% (Twitter is much lower than Instagram because Instagram produces more visually appealing content, therefore leading to higher engagement). So how do you calculate your engagement rate? Find the average number of likes from your most recent posts (let’s say the past 20 or so). YBC has an average of 500 likes and comments on Instagram. Divide that number by your overall followers [500/19,600 at the time this was written] = .025 Take that number and multiply by 100 for an engagement rate of 2.5% - not too shabby considering brands like Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks and Nike are seeing 3.3% from their followers.
Serious bloggers have put an unimaginable amount of time into successfully building an entire community of readers by keeping them interested, amused and engaged – that’s powerful and it’s NOT easy. They can really make a difference for a lot of small brands out there that can’t afford traditional advertising and it’s really rewarding to be able to help spread the word, so bloggers - if you can, work with small businesses! Not only does it feel good to hear directly from the founder of a small business that your mention of their company garnered a huge response, but you also learn a lot from working so closely with so many brilliant entrepreneurs!
Let us know if you have any questions down in the comments below! And don't forget the one to one Business of Blogging consults we now offer, if you're ready to take your blog from hobby to job!