October 2, 2007
The question: how do I effectively pitch to blogs? is a fairly common one– and is even discussed in the post below. Seth Godin would answer that question by suggesting, as the title of his book puts it, to turn ’strangers into friends and friends into customers’ (define the terms ’strangers’, ‘friends’, and ‘customers’ however you like to apply to your position).
The first thing you need to know: Bloggers do not care about you, or your company; bloggers care about whatever it is they blog about.
Imagine you’re at a cocktail party. You don’t walk up to someone and immediately jump into a conversation about what you’re selling. You scope out the room, sip your drink, and create small talk until you make an intelligent connection with another party go-er. This is the same strategy that should be used in approaching bloggers.
Your first step is to research your target blogger. You have to really understand what the blogger writes about, and wants to write about. If your pitch doesn’t interest the blogger, you’re wasting everyone’s time. Consider your business model. Evaluate it until it makes you blue in the face. But keep in mind, bloggers don’t want a summary of your business model, they want what’s interesting. You have to think big. Exaggerate if you must– but make your business model: ground shifting, life changing, economically effective, etc. These are the things bloggers want to write about.
Now you need to take your “perfect pitch” final draft edition, and throw it away. Bloggers are a new school of PR; they don’t want your press release or media kit– this is online PR. Pitching to blogs starts with building a relationship.
- So now you have an idea of who your blogger is, and what interests them, right? If not, go back three spaces.
- Now you need to figure out a way to spin your pitch off of whatever it is that interests this particular blogger. If it’s not possible, then cut the line, and cast again. Trust me, there are plenty of bloggers in the sea.
- If you’ve made it to step three, the last step, then your final mission is to master and execute the proper approach.
Remember, bloggers want to hear what’s interesting, and phenomenal. They don’t care about your site, they care about the large-scale economic effects your site may have on the supply and demand economy.
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Posted by Kelsi
September 6, 2007
My biggest pet peeve since working for a website:
Neglected Terms and Conditions, Agreements, and Privacy Policies.
It wasn’t until after I started working for HireAHelper that I realized how necessary Terms and Conditions are to a website- especially one with active members, policies, and procedures. The first time I wrote the T&C’s for HireAHelper, I admit, I had NO idea what I was doing. I loosely followed the outline of some other big sites, and tried to sound like I had as much legal authority as possible.
I just realized today how important these documents are to a website- and how no one bothers to read them. I’m currently working on producing the best T&C’s HireAHelper has seen yet, not only to protect us, but also explain to users what they need to know before signing up. I’ve spent all afternoon on these little babies- I’m not close to being done, but already mighty proud of my work. I’ve included so many things that our last T&C’s didn’t even mention, yet are crucial to understanding our procedures and policies.
I can’t help but worry though, that even after I’ve perfected my T&C’s they will go unnoticed, and unread by too many viewers. I have no idea how to force people the T&C’s, but I cannot stress enough how important it is to do so.
The bottom line is this: the Terms and Conditions of a website, HireAHelper, or other, are like the bread and butter, the instruction manual, the way the cookie crumbles, the bees-knees, the 10 (or 100) Commandments…I could be writing ANYTHING in the T&C’s, like every time someone commits a spelling or grammatical error in their Helper Profile, or when e-mailing Support@HireAHelper.com, they owe me a dollar. (That’s really not a bad idea, think about it Mike).
So please, read the T&C’s before you agree- they aren’t just for decoration. You may even be surprised by what you find.
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Posted by Kelsi
June 5, 2007
I was just thinkin the other day how 95% of the emales I get in response to a friend of family member loking at HireAHelper is letting me know they found a speling or grammer error.*
Seth posted this: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/06/maybe_not_so_du.html
Same idea I guess…. I’m thinking about spelling something wrong on the site and throwing a “find the error” contest…
* (Grammar errors on purpose)
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Posted by mikeglanz
May 8, 2007
I was busy writing a sweet post on my thoughts about Seth’s latest post when I ran accross someone who already said what I was looking to say.
(Sometimes you just can’t say it any better… )
Stu writes:
Seth Godin today writes that when a store helper asks, “May I help you,” it’s equivalent in its uselessness to asking a teenager “How was school today?”
It’s funny because I was thinking about the same thing when I walked into Radio Shack the other day. The RadioShack employees are paid on commission, so helping you is pretty important to them. When I walked in, the sales rep asked me if he could help me today, and I politely declined. I tend to decline most of the time, perhaps because I’m stubborn and perhaps because I’m a man.
At the same time, though, I was thinking, “If I were him, I would be asking customers something they don’t have a predetermined response for, like, ‘What are you looking for today?’” It’s a little tweak in language, but it would make all the difference in getting a response.
“Oh, you want headphones, it’s over here – follow me.” In this way, I am not supposing the customer is helpless or incompetent (which is what the customer feels when you ask him “May I help you”), but rather, I am now cutting down his or her time in the store. I am suddenly a value added.
Tweak your questions, and you’ll get a much better response.
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Posted by mikeglanz
Posted by mikeglanz 