How to Analyze a Pitch
Today I’ve got Fadra (that’s FAY-DRA) from All.Things.Fadra and Social Dialect. Fadra is a blogging friend and an I-live-near-her-and-call-her-too-much friend too. She’s also a fellow marketer and damn good at analyzing pitches. Her are her killer tips!
You’ve been blogging for a while and hoping that an opportunity might come along to work with a brand. The one day, you check your email and you have a pitch! Your very first pitch!!
What do you do?
I remember that day as well. I was so excited that anyone beyond my friends and family read my blog. I couldn’t believe that a company was wanting to work with me.¬†I felt like I had arrived.
The truth is that I had arrived… via one of many email lists.
How you get pitches in your Inbox is a separate conversation all together but I will say that the majority of them show up after attending a major blogging conference. However, I have had quite a few pitches that come to me simply because someone found my blog and thought it was a good fit. When it is, it’s blogging-brand magic but it’s easy to miss.
When I first started getting pitches, I realized that the majority of them were worthless. It usually involved me posting some content for a company for free on my blog out of the goodness of my heart because my “readers would be interested in this information.” But I almost missed one of the best pitches I’ve ever gotten.
The email arrived from a PR firm that was unfamiliar to me and referenced a major brand in the first line of the first paragraph. Being as I was a pretty small blogger, I didn’t have high hopes so I skimmed the email. I saw language like “We’re working with (brand name) on a new, interactive marketing program, and I thought it might be something of interest to you.”
The language didn’t catch my eye and so I planned to return to read it later. I’m glad I did. It was actually an offer to meet the PR rep in person (she was traveling to my city the next week) and possibly be selected as a program host and brand ambassador. As it turns out, we met and I’ve been a brand ambassador with them ever since.
So if and when pitches start heading your way, how do you figure out the ones worth your time and those that should go straight to your trash? How do you ensure you don’t let the big one get away?
Glad you asked.
I started a whole series on my blog called “Pitch of the Week” where I take some of the best and the worst pitches circulating out there and dissect them in a constructive way. I’m going to teach you to do the same.
Here are the things you should look for in a well-crafted pitch:
1. Salutation
That’s really just a fancy word for how they address you. The best pitches use your first name, given you’ve provided it on your blog somewhere. It’s personalized and shows they at least know who you are. If a pitch starts with “Dear Blogger,” it’s probably not going to be the one you’ve been waiting for all your blogging life but it still might be worth a look. However, if you get something as bad as “Dear Amazing Blogger” (yes, it has happened), you might want to run in the other direction.
2. Personalization
To really capture my attention, I look to see how personalized the pitch is. It’s not just about using my name in the opening. And it’s definitely not about using my blog name. There are plenty of email programs that can quickly merge a list of blog names into separate emails.
I look to see if they’ve read. They don’t have to be a subscriber or long term reader but I do like to know they have at least read one post and looked around the site. When someone says “I see you are accepting guest posts” (when, in fact, I never have), it’s a dead giveaway that it’s a form email.
I remember getting what appeared to be a standard email from a company’s PR rep. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but at the very bottom of the email she had written: “P.S. I love cheese, too. Like, a lot.” My post that day happened to be about my love of cheese and her personalized touch made me smile and also made me interested.
3. Approach
Whether or not there is money exchanged, working with a brand is a business transaction. You should be treated like a professional. In one of the pitches I received, the company rep wrote “We’d be honored to have a product review from you.” Sometimes, flattery will get you everywhere.
If I’m using my personal corner of the web to promote a brand in any way, I expect to be treated with respect by that brand.
4. Offer
What’s the give? What’s the ask? If a company is sending you a product to review, be sure you understand requirements and expectations. Be forewarned. There are many companies that think that sending you a product to review makes them entitled to dictating your posting schedule and posting content.
Also, make sure that whatever pitch you agree to is worth the compensation being offered. Compensation can be monetary or in the form of products. That doesn’t mean you are paid to review a product (which most people consider unethical). It simply means that you should consider the value of a product when considering the time you might spend writing a post about it.
5. Fit
Once you start getting several pitches, it can become tough to say no. You don’t want to turn anything down for fear it will prevent you from receiving future opportunities. While this may be somewhat true, you have to consider if the content you will produce makes sense for your blog and for your readers. If you write a blog about vegan cooking, you probably don’t want to review the latest breakfast sausages just because your brother really, really likes them.
If you feel like you have a really good pitch but that the fit isn’t right, it’s worth responding with a polite “no, thank you” and an explanation about why it isn’t a good fit for your blog. Then, feel free to tell them what is a good fit for your blog. Often PR folks represent several brands and just might find the right opportunity for you.
Working with brands definitely involves some foresight, planning, and most of all, balance. This is the hardest lesson for bloggers to learn, myself included. I’ve seen many bloggers lament the fact that their work with brands has taken them away from what they love so much about blogging: the freedom to write. There is room for compromise but it helps to know what you want and make sure you scrutinize the pitches that come your way.
Fadra Nally left the world of corporate marketing and fell quite accidentally into the world of blogging. These days, she divides her time between three different blogging endeavors. She writes about the world around her on her personal blog, all.things.fadra. She’s put her knowledge to good use by consulting with businesses on social media and the art of engaging with bloggers through Social Dialect. When she’s not behind the computer, you’ll find her at home in North Carolina with her husband, young son, toy poodle, and fat cat.
