In earlier comments on Performancing, I argued that writers should pitch their own blog projects – cherry picking the organizations they want to write for.
But what if your target doesn't sell direct? What if you can't tie the blog project directly to the revenue stream? What if you're lost in the space between PR and CRM?
How do you make a compelling pitch based on blogging for the brand? Simple. Ask...
Ask them...
If they've created an online community for committed product loyalists – a place that offers customers a voice, but doesn't sink into the “cesspool of content” that typifies message boards.
Ask them...
If their customers can talk back to a $10,000 ad. Or if they've noticed the ROI of those “interrupt” ads shrinking.
Or why they're spending thousands on ads making one impression of one message instead of a blog delivering dozens of impressions of a dozen messages (weekly!).
Ask them...
Why their PR staff aren't leveraging a channel that rapidly disseminates information in an insanely networked world – one that multiplies the reach of your information instead of diminishing it.
Ask them...
Why the CRM tool that actually engages customers (instead of “managing” the relationship via largely cold, impersonal media) isn't a part of their arsenal.
Ask them...
When they're going to add humanity and passion to their marketing mix, or how they'd feel about a steady flow of Web traffic so qualified that no search engine or sales effort matches it.
Of course...
You'll want to ask nicely. You'll want to be professional. You'll want to avoid pissing them off. So you'll want to put it terms more favorable than mine.
But you'll want to be absolutely clear about the brand benefits of blogging – and its advantages over the other media competing for their budget. ("Blogs are cool" gets you nowhere.)
After all, they might have heard about blogs, but probably don't understand them. It's your job to help.
And oh yeah - once they've said “yes,” ask them...
If they want a blog that truly engages readers - one that unites them behind the company's vision. Or a cheesy PR effort that delivers tired "interrupt" content through a new (and now largely wasted) media channel.
Good luck with your pitch. (Coming soon - the elements of a successful corporate pitch.)
Great post
Great Post TCWriter-- you answered a few questions I've been working on recently and trying to put into a more concrete concept. Thanks.
@TC
Great post, TC. Please consider changing the category of your post to "Exchange". There are two categories that are similar, but one is for blog content and the other is for the classifieds. [Not necessary, but it's relevant to that category.]
Thanks...
I switched it to "Performancing Exchange" (closest to your suggestion). And thanks for the nice words.
Excellent Post
Coming out of the corporate world approving marketing budgets, I could see some marketing managers and decision makers responding very favorably to your pitch as its written.
Excellent points made!
Great post. Everyone who is
Great post. Everyone who is pitching to companies should read this. It gets my thumbs up.
Not a pitch, exactly...
Brett:
Thanks for the nice comment, though to be clear, this isn't a pitch. My pitches are positive documents and this is a bit adversarial. I do belive that blogging - due to its "new media" status - must aggressively demonstrate its value vs. "traditional" media. Or a lot of pitches are going to fall short.
I could envision the conversation
Understood, I've worked with several people and groups that for good or bad respect the adversarial pitch more sometimes, or to be more accurate will close a deal after receiving the adversarial pitch while a friendly pitch will trigger them to do more research and sometimes go elsewhere. I'm not talking about best practice decision makers here, but I'm basically pointing out that this could be a useful tool for the toolbelt in the right circumstances.
I'd posit that any of the individual items might make good rebuttals in the right circumstances. They might also fit nicely in a FAQ's section under the proper context.
Offer them ... I just did it
Offer them ...
I just did it in public :-) I criticized a local state department responsible for public catastrophe shelter that they have news on their site but no email newsletter and no RSS Feed and no possibility for subscribing to SMS messages. They purely believe that giving out information to the media will be enough. Very old school thinking! I politely "asked for" the reasons by phone and received the good old "what is RSS?" answer.
I wrote an article and in the middle of the whole thing I thought it might be a nice idea to offer them some service. In fact I told them to look at my site how to do it :-)
And the responsible press department and the leader of that department also got the offer and a link by mail.
The article was picked up by some local news services. Let's see and wait :-)
Oh, and I will call the leader of the department again in ten days and ask if I ever will get an official answer from their press department ... If they don't accept my offer I will have something else to follow up to ...
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