Ten Tips For Reaching A Luxury Blogger
After sending dozens or even hundreds of press releases to bloggers who are online influencers in your niche, you might wonder why you have received so few replies. Could it be that your pitch went into every one of these bloggers spam folder? Or could it be that you didn’t send anything of value to the bloggers? Wouldn’t it be nice if bloggers took the time to tell you why?
At LuxeInACity, our digital showroom, we have received thousands of press releases by luxury and luxury travel brands that hope to get exposure on our blog and social media channels. Yet we have worked with only a handful. Why? Because we felt that these PR pitches were simply not addressed to us.
To help you reach us and other bloggers like us, stand out from the mass by applying the recommendations below.
1. Don’t spam
This is probably the most important thing to remember: Never ever send a message or press release to a mass distribution list. Why? Because no one likes spam. There is absolutely no difference between receiving an unwanted press release from an agency and receiving a sales pitch by a random email marketer trying to sell you fake goods. We treat them the same. Unless you are LVMH and have major news to tell, your mass message will most likely be ignored by all. It’s just too easy to overlook. And if you keep sending weekly emails without ever actually trying to connect with us, you might just make us mad. If we have talked over the phone and you still send me emails via your distribution list, you just lost some hard-earned privileges. Simply don’t spam.
2. Engage 2-3 months in advance
Yes, you read it right. Don’t expect to build a relationship with a blogger in two days or worse in two hours. They need time to get to know you. Bloggers receive hundreds of emails a week and barely have time to reply to the most important ones. Take us for example, we are a boutique luxury agency with real life clients who want us to build their brand’s image, to create engaging content for marketing, social media and SEO and who expect us to work on tight deadlines. If you send us a press release but we don’t know who you are, what do you think we will do? That’s right; we will most likely simply skip over the request and continue working on our paying gigs. But if you are our friend, we will most likely make a last minute exception and work with you.
3. Introduce yourself or your PR/SEO agency.
Before you start talking about how great a brand, product or event is, start by telling us who you are. Makes sense doesn’t it? How can we establish your credentials if we have never heard of you? Don’t be shy to tell us about your agency and share your personal profiles on LinkedIn and Twitter. You don’t need to write a full paragraph about yourself but do give a little insight, something other than what’s in your signature.
4. Pitch to a real-life person not a robot
I never thought I would say this, but consider talking and getting to know us a little before you reach out to us. Use our name in the email instead of “dear blogger” and remember to spell the name correctly. My partner/sister’s name is Maxine yet we get so many emails written for Maxime. If you start with dear blogger or a simple hello, you tell the blogger that you don’t care about them enough to find out their name. We have even posted our names and linked our LinkedIn profile on our homepage yet few refer to us by our names or take the time to connect. No name equals no replies.
5. Pitch to a blogger not a journalist
Remember, bloggers write about what they want to, not what they have to. They don’t have to cover the news or tell your story. They do as they please and write because they are passionate about their niche. Here at LuxeInACity, we love luxury and especially luxury travel, we have writers who roam the globe, so invite us for a drink or a snack and get to know us a little. If there is no possibility for a rendezvous, show us how your brand would appeal to our audience instead of simply summarizing the content in a press release. If you are a hotel and have a new killer summer menu, invite one of our fans for a complimentary meal. Remember, we are in a new media era and our fans want us to interact with them, so we need to be able to interact with you.
6. Don’t copy/paste
Please, never do this again. You can attach the press release and all related images, .pdf and videos in a Dropbox folder but don’t include everything in the email. If you are like me, you have a smartphone linked to your emails. You get a ping and you instantly check the message. If I see that it’s a copy/paste of a press release, I simply click delete. If I see that it is a personal message with an outline of the pitch, I will keep it for a further review. Also, if you get my personal email from a reply, don’t take it as an “I want to subscribe to your mailing list for all ongoing press release distribution” sign. Unless I personally sign up to your mailing list, don’t sign me up.
7. Make it easy
Time is money and a blogger has little time to run around trying to get images to promote your brand. So make it easy for them and provide everything in a convenient Dropbox folder. Also, make yourself accessible to the blogger for questions or additional resources as needed. Bloggers have editorial calendars and if they tell you they hope to publish your article on a specific date, don’t make them chase after you! Remember that they are working for you and you want them to be on your side.
8. Don’t ask for stats
Again, do your research. If you find a blogger and have taken the time to reach out to them, it’s probably because you believe their audience is a good fit for your brand. So why do they have to prove to you that they are online influencers? If the blog ranks under 500 000 on Alexa, has thousands of social media fans, you should know they have all the influence you need.
9. Make it Win-Win
Not every blogger hopes to make money from their blog but do respect bloggers who write for a living. When you ask a blogger to write about your brand, you ask them to do the work for you. If you are a PR agency, your clients pay you to try to generate some media exposure for them. So, why is it so hard for PR reps to understand that bloggers with huge followings should get compensated for their hard work? Try getting thousands of fans to read your blog and follow your social media channels and you will see why bloggers should be compensated. It’s not easy and it is very time consuming. Think of a blog as a business because that is in fact what it is. If a brand has money to pay a PR firm to find bloggers, then they should also put money aside to pay the bloggers to actually promote them to their desired clientele. Would you work for free? I don’t think so, so explain to your clients that bloggers shouldn’t have to either.
10. Say Thank you.
So many PR reps forget to send out a simple thank you email. Everyone appreciates recognition for work well done. If you forget to thank a blogger, don’t even think of reaching out to them in the future with another pitch. If you have joined the social wave, keep in touch and join them in any interesting discussion. A little love will go a long way for your next pitch. Trust us on this.
After reading this post, try sending us your pitch at LuxeInACity and hope for a quick reply. If you get one, it means you have mastered the art of pitching to bloggers.
After reading this post, try sending us your pitch at LuxeInACity and hope for a quick reply. If you get one, it means you have mastered the art of pitching to bloggers.
8 Content Marketing Ideas To Become A Thought Leader
Nowadays, it is not only important to be great at what you do but it is also important to share the knowledge with fellow industry leaders and peers. Becoming a thought leader takes time, hard-work but among all it takes commitment and dedication to provide great content for your industry.
To help you get started, here is a list of 8 Content Marketing Ideas to Become a Thought Leader and help you showcase your knowledge and skills to your community.
1. Have an Engaging Blog
Whatever your industry or whatever the size of your company, you MUST have a blog. Why? How else will customers engage with your website? Gone are the days of beautiful Flash-based websites that have little or no editorial value. Nowadays, customers want to get to know you before they buy from you. There is no better way to share your expertise and knowledge then by maintaining an engaging blog.
2. Create a White Paper
If you want to become a thought-leader in your industry, you might want to consider putting together an in-depth report or guide that helps your readers understand an issue, solve a problem or make a better-informed decision. Sounds too serious? What about creating a guide on travel trends to your country or city; a study on the best SUV to travel with pets; or a paper on how to source local produce for your kitchen? Remember, the goal is to engage your audience; therefore, you should create a white paper that has impact, preventing it from simply being downloaded, browsed over, then forgotten.
3. Design an EBook
Meant to be read digitally on a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone, an eBook should be born digitally and not be a mere reformatting of a print edition. An eBook can become a great visual representation of your brand or of your products and services. They can be enhanced with great images and include links to relevant websites. Check out a few eBooks we created for MY Starfire, a charter superyacht whose captain is Carl Sputh.
4. Publish Original Research
If you have recently surveyed your customers or peers on a particular subject, why not create a report for your industry? Find a niche that hasn’t been covered by your peers and create an interesting survey. Sharing the acquired knowledge will greatly enhance your expertise while giving valuable information to your audience. And remember, the content can then be re-purposed to design infographics, blog posts, white papers, eBooks and more.
5. Compile Data
Every industry needs someone to collect and organize data and statistics, so consider doing some of the legwork yourself. Create an eBook or white paper filled with statistics and data relating to your industry, and then share it with others. If you plan to do your own research, create your survey questions by keeping this content strategy in mind.
6. Resource Round-Up
You are most-likely already doing the research for yourself, so why not put it through a basic design process to turn it into a great content offer. Round-up the best industry publications, blogs, websites, Twitter feeds, Facebook pages or Pinterest boards and present them in a visually compelling eBook, slide share or whitepaper.
7. Glossaries
Like any industry, yours probably has dozens of buzzwords, jargon and lingo that can leave your prospects feeling out of the loop. Help them become familiar with your industry’s vocabulary by creating an easy to understand glossary of terms. Keep it short and simple and consider regrouping terms by subjects or products.
8. Case Studies
Demonstrate how your products and services solved actual problems for specific clients by highlighting your accomplishments. Explain the initial problem, demonstrate the methods and tactics used and then share your results. Case studies are a great way to generate new leads for your company.
If you want to become a thought leader but need help with the curation and creation of appealing content, reach out to us for a complimentary consultation. With over 1000 blog posts, dozens of eBooks and infographics under our belt, our team has become a leader in luxury and luxury travel content creation.
What content marketing strategy will you take to generate new leads in 2014?
Six Reasons To Get Your Brand Blogging Now
There has been talks around the office about starting a blog but no one has put their foot down and said "let's start today". There is obviously several reasons for this. You don't know where or how to start. You have doubts about the return on investment and the overall results. You might not have a good writer on your team. All excuses are good, but here are a few reasons we think might make you start blogging today.
1. To give your brand a voice
Every brand has a story to tell and there is no better way to start then with a great blog. Share some of your team's highlight such as a community driven action, a new success story or the addition of a new team member. It's your blog, so basically, you can write about anything and everything.
2. To generate traffic with SEO.
If you build a great website but never update it, it basically becomes a forgotten particle of content in an ocean of newly created information. But with a blog, you become pertinent and important every week or, even better, every day. Google continuously rolls out new changes to its algorithms but one thing is for sure, they will always put a great deal of value on fresh original content. You want Google to send traffic your way, right? Then give it some great content to chew on.
3. To establish your brand as an expert
You can't be recognized as an expert is you hide your skills. Think about it, you probably spend at less one hour each day researching a subject or another online. You read dozens of article on any particular subject before you make up your mind. You probably even follow a few bloggers in your industry to get the inside scoop on what's new. What if you turned the table around? What if you shared your knowledge with others and they started to follow you? Wouldn't that be great? Start a blog, share your knowledge and become an industry expert.
4. To become customer focus.
You probably get the same questions from your clients over and over. So why not write a blog post with the answers, given them the information ahead of time. They will love you, follow you, brag about you and most likely, do business with you. And as a side result, Google will see that you create relevant content for your industry and will index you to the top of search results. It's all win-win.
5. To learn something new.
Sounds strange. But really, you can't write a good article without doing a good deal of research on the subject. And as you probably know, reading one good article ultimately leads you to reading 10+ good articles. Also, you will most likely get a few user-generated comments with each new blog posts. Replying to these comments is a fabulous way to dig deeper into a subject.
6. To become social.
Once your brand starts blogging, you will inevitably want to start sharing it too. This is great. The web has become a playground for brands and you will be surprised how easy it is to make new friends when you have something interesting to say. You first have to put yourself out there with awesome content to then be invited in the expert's inner circle. Don't forget that social media is not about self-promoting but about relationship building.
If you are still not convinced and need some numbers about blogging and content marketing, check out our curated list of statistics that might convince you otherwise.
Now, give us one good reason not to start blogging today?