Fellow bloggers totally get what I am saying with this. What am I suppose to do with these press releases??? I know myslef I get at least 5 a day and sometimes I get way more. They are not addressed to anyone. There is not instructions to post. Nothing to review and no sense of personal touch at all. If lucky there may be a “contact us for more info” Or my favourite and I know a few others who chuckle at this “contact me for some high res pictures”
So are these press releases expected to be put on my blog?
I work with many many PR reps, agencies, brands and company managers and owners. The ones who know what is going on are great. The ones who send me a request and tell me why they think their product would suit my blog and my readers are awesome. I really like to see when a company and their employees and representatives get it.
So why after all this time and all these blog posts (I have seen many bloggers complain about this same thing) are we still getting these generic form letters with very little actual information?
A few times I have not posted. Not responded. Especially if I have NEVER worked with these people before. In my eyes it was not a good first impression. If I have worked with them before then I often give them a reply asking what they are looking for me to do and if there is a review available. Sometimes I ask for payment.
Yeah I said it. The dirty blogging word “PAYMENT”. Really, why not? If they are not supplying a review, and there is no giveaway. All they want is for me to post an ad (that is what a press release is after all) on my blog. Then there is no difference than having an ad on my blog. Why should I give them a break and not ask for payment?
On a side note: I often post third party information, contests, and promotions for no other reason than I want to. I often post info for companies I worked with before or will be working with in the future. But again, these are companies that “get it” . I am similar on my blog as I am on any other social media site. I RT on twitter if I see something that I think interests my readers. I will share a post on Facebook if I think it will help out my friend who posted it and so on. However when I get a press release that is clearly US only, I can not help but get a bit frustrated. I wish everything I posted was open to both US and Canada, but it does not work out that way. I know many bloggers post these, but I am in Canada. I want to post stuff that I can walk out and get for myself 🙂
So if you are PR rep and you are looking to work with bloggers, please talk to us as you would like us to talk to you. Introduce yourself or your company/product. I understand you send out the same letter (email) to tonnes of bloggers, but would adding our name or a “Hello” be too much to ask? Maybe some instructions on what you are looking for too? And do not be shocked when we reply that we want something in return for posting. After all, you are not working for free, so why expect us too, right?
Oh and high resolution pictures are NOT a review item 🙂
This post is NOT directed to any of the companies I work with, have worked with or will be working with
I'm a blogger. I also have worked in PR for over 11 years. Like with reporters, we PR folks don't always expect to have our press releases covered. But one thing a GOOD PR pro does is send the press release to each reporter with a custom note with some story angle. A good PR pro will do the same when reaching out to a blogger. As a blogger, I appreciate receiving press releases that SOMETIMES result in a blog post. If there's a personal touch to the email, I will respond politely if it doesn't suit my blog focus or if I could re-purpose the info better as a link on my Facebook page or via Twitter. One thing I never do is ask for payment, and the reason being is that it is no longer a newsy blog post, but an advertorial. I lose focus of myself as a blogger who writes about things she is interested in and wants to share with the world. And of course, I don't want to have a reputation which may result in fewer inspiring press releases sent my way.
I have some PR reps who send me press releases and if we have worked together I am cool with it. I actually post the Disney Junior posts all the time, because for one it is somewhere for me to check when I wanted to remember the dates for my own boys. I also do it because it brings me traffic. But many times I do reply back with a I usually post these for $XX sort of thing. Most I don't hear back from, some have said "cool, but we aren't paying for this". The ones that annoy me the most are the ones that reply back with a "hey this is info your readers would love to hear about, you are lucky we are sending it to you". No I am not. I have more work than I can handle and I get paid for that, so bugger off!I do actually post the US only ones, since I have about 55% of my traffic from US, and 45% from Canada, a few sprinkled around the world, but the main ones are from CAN/US. So if I think they would like to know about it I would. Yes, and any admin can show a PR rep how to do a little email form where you add in the person's name!!
I refer to this as junk mail lol it's true, it has nothing to do with me or my blog and is just some form letter/press release, much like junk mail that shows up in your mail box. I have no interest in helping to promote any of it unless it is a Canadian contest that I think my readers might want to know about and then I respond asking what their budget is for the post. I either never hear back or get 'there is not budget' which just means they expect me to post about their client out of the goodness of my heart. lol I hear ya doll, it is time consuming and annoying to get email after email where you have to sift through all the garble to find out it is nothing more than junk mail masked as a 'great opportunity' (for them)
I agree. If there is something that seems like they actually looked at my site and took a moment to see who I was and who my readers are, I am more likely to at least look at the release.
Or worse, the ones that are directed at "Dear Mommy Blogger"
yep. Junk mail unless it is personal and/or appeals to your audience. Good PRs know how to do this:)
I agree with you. Much of the PR world does not yet seem to understand that blogging, for many of us, is a job. Yes, there are bloggers out there just having fun and willing to post anything for free. But, a lot of us are actually trying to supplement our family's income in a crap economy. I get tired of getting press releases that have nothing to do with my blog content from people who have clearly never even been to my blog. Bloggers are not newspaper reporters. We don't want to sift through a bunch of releases just to fill some inches in a column. Just not how we work.