Of Note (3/23/08)

1. Local bloggers matter, too.

2. The Adfero Group presents another robust and aesthetic congressional Web site, this time for Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ).

3. Turn your blog into a book.

4. The future is approaching, and it's called GrandCentral (now owned by Google). According to the Blogger Buzz blog, simply add GrandCentral's WebCall button to your blog, and your readers can easily call you or leave voicemails without ever seeing your telephone number. An online inbox stores your voicemails and allows you to post them to your blog.

5. "The new company profiles on LinkedIn are a gold mine for reporters who want to get data beyond what the PR guys may want to dish out."

How to Pitch to Bloggers

The below excerpts come from e-mails between Marshall Manson, of Edelman, and Rob Port of the Say Anything blog. They span a two-month period in 2006, though the first four selections all come from the same, original e-mail.

1. The intro (establish credibility and disclose who you are):

Rob: Hello. I hope you’re well. I just wanted to drop you a line and introduce myself. I’m a blogger myself (I contribute to Confirm Them and Human Events’ blogs among others), but for my day job—I do online public affairs for Wal-Mart, working with Mike Krempasky who runs Redstate.com.

2. The flattery (show familiarity with the blogger's work):

Just wanted you to know that your post (http://sayanythingblog.com/2005/11/11/why-wal-mart-works/) taking notice of "Why Wal-Mart Works" was noticed here and at the corporate headquarters in Bentonville.

3. The FYI (connect your client's interests to the blogger's interests):

As you probably know, Washington-based union bosses have been running a campaign against Wal-Mart. And it’s always a challenge when opponents organize to attack corporations. The companies always seem to have one arm tied behind their backs when they try to respond, so it’s nice to see folks like you defending them when it’s the right thing to do.

4. The ask (intriguing but soft):

If you’re interested, I’d like to drop you the occasional update with some newsworthy info about the company and an occasional nugget that that you won’t hear about in the MSM. Let me know.

5. The caveat:

(BTW—I hate to ask, but if the temptation arises, please resist the urge to cut and paste text from this. Others have fallen into that trap, and I’d be sick if someone ripped you because they noticed a couple of bloggers with nearly identical posts.)

6. The follow-up (I'm here for you; don't hesitate):

I’m looking forward to continuing to send little nuggets your way. And, as always, we want this to be a conversation. So your questions, suggestions and rants are always welcome and encouraged.

Why You Should Know Blog Lingo

Earlier this month, Kathryn Stetz of Qorvis Communications e-mailed TechCrunch, the world's second most popular blog, asking to "order[] a reprint on an article" that appeared there.

The response, a couple weeks later, came from the blog's founder and co-editor, Michael Arrington: "We're a blog. We don't do prints, let alone reprints."

Oops. Or as former Qorvis staffer Jesse Thomas comments, "Selling digital PR and not knowing that TechCrunch is a blog is definitely an embarrassment."

Yet before we scapegoat Qorvis, it's instructive to consider the context in which this snafu might have taken place.

First, I'd bet that Kathryn isn't an account executive. People who exclude a title from their e-mail signature tend to be interns. Indeed, the task of requesting a reprint is one usually delegated to interns.

Second, the request to reprint is probably prudent. After all, reprints take place offline, and in the absence of a hyperlink, which is the conventional form of credit online, it's worth asking if the blogger wishes to be cited in a particular way, or if he wants it noted that the material is copyrighted. (Indeed, one benefit of such a seemingly trivial request is that it establishes goodwill and opens the door for future pitching.)

Still, the fact remains that Qorvis screwed up: Bloggers should be treated with the same respect accorded to their old-media counterparts.

Of course, if such blunders can happen at a powerhouse firm like Qorivs, can't they happen at your firm, too? In fact, it's likely they already have.

Odds and Ends

1. Rachel Zimmerman, "don't 4get ur pills: Test Messaging for Health."

2. Walter Pincus, "State Dept. Tries Blog Diplomacy."

3. Jeff Bercovici, "Vanity Fair Gives Hitchens-Hatred a Home."

4. "Bill Gates Links Up with LinkedIn."

The Role of Bloggers in Crisis Communications

Q: [I]f bloggers have picked up that you are having customer service issues, but these issues are going to take a little while to fix, how do you keep a lid on the grumblings in the meantime, before they take on a life of their own?

A: The key thing to do is to make sure that the bloggers who are grumbling know that you are listening and you're doing everything in your power to help them, even if it's going to take some time.

How many times have you been at the fast food counter and watched someone get irate? They rant and rave and scream until someone with authority at least listens to what they have to say and then begins to act on it, even if it takes time. Then they calm down. This is the same in the b'sphere.

"Blog Buzz" [Washington Post]

Which Bloggers Should You Invite to a Conference Call?

Last year, I compiled a chart showing which presidential candidates had hosted conference calls with bloggers. (Then, as now, John McCain toped the list.)

Yesterday, Mitt Romney joined the pack. Rob Bluey runs down the good and the bad in his typically comprehensive and fair-minded way:

Jennifer Rubin of Commentary, who reports daily about the presidential race, thought Romney’s outreach to bloggers stood out in stark contrast to McCain’s operation. McCain holds calls every other week, invites a variety of bloggers (some of whom openly disagree with the candidate) and usually takes every last question.

“It seems apparent that McCain’s team has a far more sophisticated and more inclusive new media operation,” Rubin told me. “The frequency of the McCain calls, the length the calls, the opportunity for substantive follow-up questions and the number of invitees dwarfs anything the other campaigns have done. Perhaps it has something to do with the results McCain is achieving.”

In fairness to the Romney campaign, I asked [Stephen] Smith [Romney's online communications director] to explain the campaign’s rationale for limiting the number of participants on the call.

"The selection process was more art than science,” Smith said, “but we considered factors such as the size of the blogger’s readership, the geographic location of that readership, and the amount of influence that each blogger has within new media generally or within more particular audiences (former supporters of Mayor Giuliani or Senator Thompson, for example).”

The result was 14 bloggers who called in to chat ... [most of whom] have either endorsed Romney or are publicly working against McCain. Romney’s outreach strategy appears to be somewhat similar to the approach of Huckabee’s blogger calls. The last time I attended one, I was the only blogger who wasn’t backing Huckabee.

Here’s how Soren Dayton of eyeon08.com described the Huckabee calls: “Every question, except mine, started with an expression of support or love. This is not how it works for Rudy Giuliani or John McCain. The people on those calls are high-traffic national blogs focused on politics. The people on the Huckabee call were, at least, local blogs, often focused on things other than politics.”

Romney’s campaign was apparently trying to find something in the middle: high-traffic blogs favorable to Romney. Apparently, it worked. Smith told me “the invited bloggers asked meaningful questions and gave fair reports of the call.”

Kudos to Romney for finally doing a call with bloggers. It’s just too bad the campaign limited its impact by selecting such a small group of participants.

My take: Obviously, and rightly, candidates will invite their biggest supporters and fellow-travelers, so the real question is, Who else should you invite? Stephen's criteria—readership, geography and influence—offer excellent parameters.

To wit: Phil Klein, one of the participants, has written posts that have broken news, has written articles that RealClearPolitics has linked to on its home page, and writes for a blog whose Technorati authority is 1,799.

Who in Corporate America Is Hosting Conference Calls with Bloggers?

1. The American Petroleum Institute. See this recap from Outside the Beltway, 1/18/08.

2. Exxon-Mobil. See this recap from Wizbang, 5/3/06.

Related: "Which [Presidential] Candidates Are Holding Conference Calls with Bloggers?"

Odds and Ends

1. Who you're reaching matters more than how many you're reaching. "A blog that is read by the vast majority of your colleagues, particularly younger ones, is as powerful a weapon as exists in the working world; that most of the blog is unintelligible except to a certain media class and other types of New York [journalists] does not diminish its impact on that group." [NYM]

2. Bloggers like to be engaged. Of John McCain, who holds regular conference calls with bloggers, Redstate's Erick Erickson says, "Even if bloggers disagree with him, they give him credit for engaging." [SFG]

3. A flack who is himself a blogger brings credibility to his pitching. McCain's blogger outreach coordinator, Pat Hynes, has found that "bloggers know when they're getting pitched, and some of them do get resentful. Knowing they're getting pitched by another blogger takes away some of that edge. I'm not a corporate PR guy." [SFG]

Indiscriminate Pitching

I once e-mail-pitched a reporter at the Washington Post, who replied and asked to be removed from my press list, since his beat did not overlap with my own. I complied immediately, and that was that.

Others have not been so lucky, as was the case recently with Wired executive editor Chris Anderson.

Deluged with news releases from, as Anderson put it, flacks who "can’t be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they’re pitching," Anderson posted on his blog the addresses from 329 unsolicited e-mails he had received.

The list included people from some of the leading pr firms who should have known better: Edelman, 5W Public Relations, Fleishman-Hillard, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, and Weber Shandwick.

Beyond the public shaming, since their e-mail addresses were made public, the publicists soon found themselves on the receiving end of real spam. "[T]urnabout is fair play,” Anderson opined.

Moral of the story: Indiscriminately pitch a reporter, and you may just find out what indiscriminate e-mail feels like yourself.

Update (12/1/07): Valleywag reprints "some best-practice guidelines for engaging with bloggers":

• Don't pitch, talk: Bloggers are for the most part well-versed in PR spin and hyperbole and react poorly to it. Help the writer do a better job.

• "A-List" blogs that consistently receive attention. It's a better tactic to find someone smaller interested in the "pitch." A worth story will find its way up.

• Use links.

• Be brief.

• Don't send attachments.

• Make sure you're not asking for coverage you've already gotten.

• Make sure you're not asking for coverage someplace that just trashed your client.

• Rushing through outreach efforts—to traditional media or online media—is no excuse for being sloppy. If something doesn't look right ask for help.