Blogger-outreach-for-pr-pros

CIPR Scotland 18 April 2013

Are you speaking to Bloggers? Influencer Outreach for PR Pro’s

Hugh AndersonForth Metrics

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Outline

• Context

• Why Blogs?

• The Benefits

• The Process

• Measurement

• Example

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The changing world:from this ...

• Traditional “paid” media

• Media relations

• Journalists

• Press clippings

• Control of the message and who distributes it

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The changing world:to this ...

• Digital media

• Social media

• Mobile

• Bloggers, influencers

• NO control of the message and who distributes it

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The changing world:consumer consumption

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The changing world:new media models

Source: previewnetworks.comThursday, 2 May 13

Marketing has changed

• Outbound marketing

• Inbound marketing

• Content marketing

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Lord LeverhulmeFounder of Unilever

“I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I’m not sure which half”

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• Cold calling

• Direct mail (press releases)

• Email ‘blasts’

• Print ads

• Radio and TV

Outbound marketingTrying to find your audience using;

Interruption

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• Through search

• Through social media

• Through blogging

Inbound marketingBeing found by your audience

Permission

Be visible to your audience using content

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• Be visible to your audience and attract them with content

• Think like a publisher

• Don’t be dull

• Educate, entertain - and be relevant

Content marketingTeach, don’t sell

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Why blogs matter: stats• 78% of internet users conduct product research online.

• Greater than 70% of consumers state that blogs affected their purchasing decisions.

• Trust in online customer opinions of 70%, vastly outstrips traditional media.

• Sources used to begin a search on branded products: 57% search engine.

• The average budget spent on company blogs & social media has nearly tripled in three years.

• There are more than 180 million blogs globally

Sources: Hubspot, Econsultancy, eMarketer, Nielsen

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Why blogs matter

• Earned media = Trust

• Consumer point of research

• Engine that drives ideas on the Internet

• The realm of experts

• Panda/Penguin updates

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Benefits of blogger outreach

• Precise: rifle-shot target audience

• Create loyal communities & brand advocates

• Reliable

• SEO performance

• Measurable: campaign & business

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Important points

• It's about developing relationships

• You need to be creating compelling content

• It's a two way process

• You have to have a lead capture strategy

• It requires an investment of time & energy

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Preparation

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Objectives

• Know your business objectives (how much money do you want in the bank by what date)

• How many physical conversions does this translate into (total money needed / unit cost price = conversions required)

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Example:

• Business Objective is to generate £4K of sales for ‘Our Well Received Debut Album’ by the end of July 2013.

• Campaign Objective is to get 571 people to download ‘Our Well Received Debut Album’ by the end of July 2013.

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Customers

• Know your target customers

• Who are the people who are going to deliver the business objectives by actually spending their cash?

• Where do these people ‘hang out’ on the Internet?

• Have some sort of a clue about why this audience is going to care about your offer

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Lead capture

• Every campaign requires a lead capture strategy.

• People don’t buy when you want them to buy. They buy when they’re ready to buy.

• Capture the leads and follow up with them

• Use a landing page

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Process

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Find the influencers

• Find the influential bloggers that your customers follow

• Estimate the visibility they might achieve for you

• Use this to estimate conversion rates based on reach. Are the numbers high enough to achieve the objectives?

• Big does not equal best; find the “magic middle”

• Assess engagement and other factors

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Reaching out• Be sane and be normal

• Follow on Twitter

• Read their blog (really)

• Retweet occasionally

• Get to understand them

• Comment sensibly once in a while

• Behave like a friend

• Keep a record of your level of interaction with them

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The content offer• Devise and create a compelling content

offering that will appeal in the strongest terms to your audience (customers and influencers)

• Teach, don’t sell

• Educate, entertain, and be relevant

• Think about the expertise you have and how it will help your target audience.

• Prepare a content strategy that includes anticipation

• No spammy emails or press releases!

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Types of content• Videos

• Infographics

• Ebooks

• Interviews

• Surveys

• Event invitations

• Samples

• Etc.But, make it really genuinely useful. And make it compelling.

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Putting it all together• Get your influencer friends to review content

• Even get them to contribute to it

• Then, plan a content release strategy

• Build up some anticipation

• Set a launch date

• Get you influencers lined up to talk about it

• Release, and watch the sales or leads come in

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But, to re-emphasise, success is based on developing relationships and putting effort

into making really useful content

Neither of these is too hard to achieve

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Measurement• Weekly meeting (not sit down!)

• Visibility achieved?

• Engagement achieved with the offer?

• Conversions to leads?

• Are the numbers going up?

• Discuss ideas to increase conversion

• Assign actions to improve now before next week

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Example

• ‘The Best Practice Guide for Effective Blogger Outreach’ eBook

• Released July 2012

• 12 main influencers

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In Conclusion

• Don’t be put off by nomenclature;

• Embrace digital outreach - it’s here to stay;

• Think strategic goals, not tactical gains;

• Compelling content/story is key;

• Be human - it’s about relationships;

• Demonstrate value.

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blog.forthmetrics.com

Hugh [email protected]@hughforth

Thank You!

www.inkybee.comhttps://www.facebook.com/inkybee.outreach

Thursday, 2 May 13