The 7 Deadly Sins of Pitching Bloggers

My latest white paper has been published and describes common mistakes companies make when pitching bloggers -- and how to do avoid those pitfalls.  I've talked about most of these individually on my blog before, but the paper has examples and strategies for doing a better job at getting your message out online.

1 Failing to Be Transparent

2. Appearing to Bribe

3. Lacking Your Own Blog

4. Making a Bad Pitch

5. Being Scripted

6. Forgetting Everything is “On the Record”

7. Making Claims That Can Be Easily Disproved

Ultimately, the point of the paper is to encourage companies to open a dialogue with bloggers.  By joining the conversation and communicating effectively, companies can benefit from this great medium.

Hopefully you will find this interesting.  And, as always, I welcome your feedback.  Did I miss any sins? 

You can download the paper here for free without having to register.

Technorati tags: blogs, PR, pitching bloggers, whitepaper, white paper

Comments

[Jonathan Bernstein]

Chip, I love these "seven deadlies" but how does one open a dialogue with a blogger whose intent is clearly hostile, kind of a "National Enquirer" approach to the truth?

[Chip Griffin]

Jonathan, fair question. These 7 Sins are really focused on when you want to proactively get your message out, not when you are engaged in a crisis situation. In the circumstances you describe, if the blogger is truly unreasonable, there is little that you can do. In fact, reaching out may only exacerbate the situation. These are judgment calls that need to be made based on everything you know about the blogger and their point of view on your company or client.

I have had success in the past with dealing with hostile bloggers who were willing to listen to alternative points of view and solid fact. I have also seen situations in which no matter what was said to the blogger, they refused to accept that the facts might be different from what they were claiming.

So, like so much of what we do in communications: It Depends!