Why Blogger Outreach Is Crucial For Your Business

As bloggers- whether you are part time, in between or a full time blogger, learning how to pitch to brands, create stellar content and market ourselves as businesses in our right is all part of the trade. But what if I was to tell you that learning the ‘in’s and outs’ of blogger outreach was also integral to how we can organically grow our brand and network with other key figures in the industry at the same time? For example let’s say that you have pitched to 50 brands in one day and yet have not ‘personalized your email pitches’ or made them relevant to the brand in question, meaning that you have not fully put across how ‘compatible’ a partnership with you and the brand would truly be. And while its easy to use a mass template to get across your portfolio of work to a ‘wider selection’ of brands, when you choose to target the ‘right brands for you’ it results in a more satisfying and collaborative partnership for you both. It’s the same with brands as well; all too often brands are not targeting the right content creators for their campaigns and are flummoxed when they do not ‘get the results’ that they so crave. Plus some brands will also choose to ‘ignore a certain group’ of micro-influencers- I can name a few off the top of my head but that would be shady- and are thus criticized for their ‘lack of diverse choices’, editing their brand to only target a very select audience that does not represent the population as a whole and of course in more severe cases exploiting blogger outreach services so that the content creator is not paid on time, is not paid at all or being underpaid for the amount of work they have been given.

So naturally we can assume that the reason why blogger outreach is so important to utilize for our businesses – whether that be a blog, brand or agency- is because it helps us ‘reach the right people’ and get paid for our time. From the perspective of a blogger that might be scouring hashtags on Twitter such as #bloggerswanted #prrequest , using Facebook groups like ‘UK Blogger Opportunities’ and directly pitching brands, offering your ‘outreach services’ and the rates you would put forward for your time. Whereas from a brand’s perspective that might be creating GDPR compliant call out’s for bloggers to add to your database for future opportunities, contacting bloggers directly through email or a contact form on their blog and of course creating campaigns for your clients whilst using ‘influencer marketing’ to grow the brand’s portfolio in an engaging and innovative way, that would appeal to it’s target audience. For some bloggers there is also the option to be part of ‘Influencer Platforms’ such as ‘Get Blogged’, Mention Me and ‘Influencer’ which matches bloggers to ‘relevant opportunities and you are paid for your time. In some instances a brand might choose bloggers payments based on their ‘DA’ whereas in other cases social media following might be more relevant to the brand in question.

But What Is Blogger Outreach?

In order to understand why blogger outreach is crucial to growing a business-whether that be personal or professional- we must first explain exactly what ‘outreach stands for’ from the perspective of a brand and a blogger. So for brands ‘blogger outreach’ is where you use people who own blogs (like myself) to write about your brands and services, whether that be through a blog post, social media activity or event sponsorship whereas for bloggers ‘outreach’ is finding brands, agencies and companies to work with so that you are able to get paid for your time as a blogger. So while some companies refer to ‘blogger outreach’ as another way of saying ‘influencer marketing’ put simply blogger outreach is usually paid blogging jobs that can occur on a long or short term basis. It’s important to remember that not all blogger outreach services outsource ‘paid work’ however as many brands-both established and start ups-choose to ‘gift content creators’ in exchange for content, which while unpaid is still an example of what blogger outreach entails today.

Good Point. What Are The Main Reasons Why Blogger Outreach Is Beneficial For Both Brands And Bloggers?

Put simply blogger outreach is centered around ‘organic growth’ by tapping into your chosen niche of bloggers who have the ‘credentials’ that you need to take to your business to the next level. For example lets say you are a new clothing brand who has a small budget to pay bloggers, meaning you can only work with a few bloggers to spread the word about your range of clothing. You pick 5 content creators who you will be paying and gifting items to promote, based on their engagement, interaction and quality of content. As you have a small budget you are working with micro-influencers and are not concerned with a content creators ‘social following’ more looking into how engaged their audience is, using a engagement calculator like Geek Smash to see how much they should be paid for their time. The campaign ends up being a roaring success because you used blogger outreach in a ‘cost effective’ way instead of wasting time and energy on blanket marketing which would generate very few leads. Speaking of which blanket marketing is something that bloggers should also take into consideration when using outreach services and here is why. I mentioned earlier that sometimes using generic templates is not always the best fit for approaching brands to work with, which is why personalization i.e. addressing them by name or mentioning their products is a better way to introduce yourself to brands. Which leads me onto my next point…

Stop Blanket Marketing. Blogger Outreach Is Time And Cost Effective 

Blogger outreach is optimal for growing a brand because it cuts out the middle man, meaning that time is saved and money is well spent, meaning more value for your buck. And it’s the same with bloggers too, when they choose to work with brands that best represent their personal aesthetic, values and relates to their audience, it means that it is not just the brand that is getting targeted exposure, but also the blogger too who might be shared on their social media channels, newsletters and be asked to collaborate with on future campaigns. Which is why I personally will only target brands that are relevant to me and my audience, because I don’t want to waste anyone’s time and I want to create long term authentic partnerships with brands that I actually like and would want to promote. So while I do approach at least 50 brands across a multitude of genres each week, it is brands that I truly believe in and would like to share with my audience. Plus I make sure that I also utilize social media channels to find blogger outreach such as Linked In, Twitter and Instagram to find paid and gifted collaborations.

But what is blanket marketing I hear you ask? While it has evolved in modern day, blanket marketing is a type of agreement that offers a discounted advertising rate to a company that promotes numerous products or uses more than just one advertising agency to market their goods or services. While that might not ‘sound too bad’ a blanket marketing strategy is actually detrimental for both the brand and the blogger because alongside a lack of relevant leads it is also an example of ‘untargeted retargeting’ meaning that the ‘consumer’ whether that be the blogger themselves or the consumer will be turned off by the content because there is a lack of context to what they are interested in. For example if you have a dog food company, you are not going to want to target people who don’t own dogs so while a ‘blanket marketing approach’ might show your content to a wider audience, at the same time its targeting people who are ‘outside of your niche’ rendering the whole campaign useless.

Blogger Outreach Creates A Professional And Collaborative Relationship

I have always stood firmly by the mantra that ‘networking’ is the key to fostering genuine human connections and its the same with blogger outreach. When I choose to work with a brand, it is with the hope that we can develop a mutually beneficial partnership where we share each others work, support each and learn how to help each other grow. And while some brands will only work with a ‘content creator’ once-whether that be because they have the link they need or they rotate influencers around- I much prefer being able to work with brands on a long term basis because it not only builds trust and mutual support but it also allows you to to organically promote a brand, over a long period of time. The reason why I think it’s more organic to work with brands regularly because it not only shows your audience that you are genuinely interested in the brands products but also that you ‘believe in the brand’ and their potential. It is the same with brands as well, by creating a roster of bloggers who are suited to your niche and who you would genuinely like to develop a working relationship with, it shows the consumers that you are ‘friendly, ‘approachable’ and interested in building upon that human connection that I mentioned earlier.

Blogger Outreach Increases Your Online Presence 

It goes without saying but partnering with the right brands or the right bloggers can dramatically increase your online presence as you are targeting people who are the best fit for you. For example lets say you are a new restaurant and are planning an online launch to celebrate your range of vegan food in Central London. In order to get the right bloggers to help spread the word about your restaurant you want to target a mixture of micro and macro-influencers who are either vegan, vegetarian or have an interest in ‘vegan’ food and actively speak about restaurants, food and drink on their website and social media channels. By inviting them to your launch and them creating content to promote your range of vegan food, they are not only spreading awareness and interest in your brand but it will also help elevate your online presence as their audience might click through to your website and social pages to find out more about your restaurant and whether it is somewhere that they would like to go to. For example if a blogger I am following tags a brand in their Instagram story or post, I am very likely to click on the tag and research more on their brand, if it is something that would not only interest me but also appeal to my audience.

Bloggers are trustworthy sources for product/service research

One of the most crucial reasons why brands should consider using blogger outreach is because bloggers are trusted sources of information and share personal commentaries which make them seem more relatable to their audience. In comparison to magazines bloggers are a ‘tangible presence’ because they are an individual as opposed to a collective. They don’t mince their words, have honest opinions and typically will only promote brands that they are genuinely interested in. Keeping that in mind, a brand will know that by partnering with bloggers, they are able to get honest feedback about their brand which can help them improve i.e. a restaurant who has a lack of vegan options might see that after looking at the feedback that they need to have more vegan dishes on the menu and so forth. With 31% of online shoppers being influenced by blogs, for fashion brands especially, using blogger outreach to target bloggers with an interest in fashion to promote their brand will be a trustworthy and reliable collaboration to partake in, so it makes complete business sense to use bloggers.

While there are plenty more reasons as to why both bloggers and brands can benefit from ‘blogger outreach services, the main mantras that we need to keep in mind is ‘genuine human connection’ , ‘organic growth’ and ‘reliability’ all factors which should make any working partnership mutually beneficial.

 

Why Do You Think Blogger Outreach Is Crucial For Growing Your Business?

*Collaborative Post