Blogger Outreach Word of Mouth Marketing
Blogger outreach is an increasingly important component of any word of mouth marketing campaign. While traditional word of mouth marketing relied heavily on people talking to each other and traditional public relations on the media, blogging has cemented itself as the perfect storm of the two. Blogging retains the personal nature of word of mouth marketing and blends it with the presentation, connections and niche reach of public relations.
We all hear a lot about social media, but in those discussions we tend to forget that blogging was really the first kind of social media to hit the big time. Whether it was Mommy Bloggers becoming a word of mouth marketing force or the revelation by the entertainment industry that more people are reading blogs than those magazines in the aisle at the supermarket, blogging has served all of the purposes that social media now strives for, and all of the roles that older medias once dominated.
For these reasons alone, blogger outreach is worth its time and space in gold. The three most important reasons to include blogger outreach in your next word of mouth marketing campaign are:
1. Reach: With bloggers, you know you have individuals who are passionate about what they write about. For that very reason, if you’ve got a campaign around their topic, you already know they are interested. And the people who read their blog are interested in what they write. Just like traditional media, you can be sure that getting an article on that blog means you WILL extend the reach of your campaign.
2. ROI: There may not be an easy, agreed-upon way to measure it, but you can be certain it’s happening. Why? Because the cost of entry for blogger outreach is accessible. Because blogging is still relatively young, alliances between PR people and bloggers are fresh and still forming. If you have the time to put in, you can create relationships with reputable, niche bloggers that will require some maintenance but not a huge monetary investment. That’s golden.
3. Social-ness. With traditional street teams or guerrilla stunts, you get the attention of large numbers of people in a public setting. It’s a great tactic, and blogger outreach is no replacement. What it can be, though, is a way to target your publicity. How many of those people you reach on the street are really going to pass on your message? Probably just a few. But get a blogger and their dedicated readers in on the game and you’ve got a group of people who love to read, create and share content. Make your campaign the content and it will go social.
For more on the details of blogger outreach, read Susan Payton’s article in Mashable.
– Scott James
