What PRs Look For Before They Consider Working With You

This is a great guest post from Laura who writes over at London lifestyle blog six out of ten. She has worked in marketing and PR for the past five years so gives a great insight, having both points of view. She lives in a house with a bright blue door, and has a cat called Manbearpig.

I’ll admit, I don’t work with bloggers as much as I used to. Working in a London boutique PR agency early 2011, though, the situation couldn’t have been further from where I am now. Back then, bloggers were easy wins for me and my client. But we had a few guidelines.

They had to be active bloggers. They had to be good photographers. They had to have an engaged audience, and for real high value comped reviews or products, they had to have a following of over 20,000 real people on twitter.

So what do PRs look for on your blog, before they’ll even consider working with you?

PRs

 

A Media Pack

A media pack, press kit, or media kit (whatever you like to call is) is a simple page on your blog or PDF which allows PRs access to your most current stats and metrics. Your page views, unique visits, top posts, etc. I created a handy guide here of what to include. And note the word ‘current’. I don’t care what your stats looked like 3 months ago. Lots can change. You might have more followers and fans, you might have less. Make sure stats are updated every 3-4 weeks.

A Name

Your blog might be named Kittens and Cuddles, but I’m not going to email you without a name and risk getting called out for being a bad PR. Many bloggers get tetchy about receiving emails starting Dear Blogger, or Dear Writer – I’ve seen the ranting tweets. Come on guys, what the heck am I meant to call you if your identity is as watertight as a superhero’s? Use a faux name if needed, but include something.

An Email Address

Have this on your about page. Make it a part of your media kit. And ideally have it in text, not an image, so I can scrape your site for it. There are a few tools PRs use – one will scan your site for contact details and add it to a spreadsheet automatically. Makes my job easier, makes you visible.

A Location

Six out of ten doesn’t immediately say what I’m about, where I’m from or even what the heck it means. So I have to pay real attention to explaining my focus. Stating I’m a London blogger helps PRs who might be based up north or abroad to narrow down the likelihood of me getting to their venue or hotel – so ensure you add your general location. Even SW or NE helps.

Good Style and Design

This is a subjective one, and to be honest, site design is much of a muchness. Just ensure it’s easy to use, is aesthetically pleasing and well thought out. Even better if you have categories so visitors can search for posts easily – better to have a slightly cluttered sidebar which is navigable than a pretty blog where I can’t find a thing.

Learn ‘Tog’ Basics

I won’t not work with you if your photographs are less than amazing – but they really are important. This doesn’t mean whizzing out to buy whatever SLR camera kit is over at least £700. It means spending time getting to know whatever camera you have, regardless if it’s an iPhone or a point and shoot. Learn about focus, exposure and depth of field and that gets you on the right path.

These are the main things most PRs look for when considering bloggers for their client’s campaigns. Follow these simple tips, and it’ll really help a PR out. Who knows, you may be number one on their list the next time they have a must-buy product that needs a review…

Laura Zito
Editor
six out of ten magazine
 
VISIT      www.sixoutoften.co.uk
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