Welcome to the The PR Desk! Written monthly by PR professional Heather Travis, it guides food bloggers on the ins and outs of working with PR agencies and brands. This month, Heather talks about the value of showing brands your blog is PR friendly.
Are you a PR friendly blogger?
You can tell me you love me all day long, but show me you love me and well …you’ve found your secret sauce. A sauce that isn’t all that secret after all. When it comes to relationships, including those you seek with PR and brand representatives, you must show us — not tell us — that your blog is PR friendly.
After reading this article, I’d love it if each of you promptly removed the words “PR friendly” from your bios and media kits. It’s the social equivalent of walking around with “I’m a really nice person” on your forehead. While it may be true, it’s off-putting. Why? We’ve all heard the expression “actions speak louder than words,” and in the case of showing the PRs and brand reps you hope to work this couldn’t be any truer.
How Do You Show You're PR Friendly?
Here are three simple ways to show (not tell) you're PR friendly.
Treat others the way you want to be treated
Just as you don’t like getting a "dear blogger" email showing lack of research and authentic relationship building, neither do PRs or brand reps. Do your research, like I’ve shared here in Pitch Essentials, and show the value you bring to campaigns by sharing it on your LinkedIn and in your media kit. Approach every interaction with new and existing PR contacts as an opportunity to move the relationship forward, to become "friendlier."
Be professional
People will want to come back and work with you over and over again if you’re a professional they enjoy working with. If you meet deadlines, deliver on your promises, add value, and continuously seek to build the relationship you will get called in for another campaign.
I’ve mentioned before that the PR/marketing/brand world is a small one and connections move and change. A PR rep "friend" of yours who moves to a new agency and tells the team about a blogger they love working with (you) is ten times more valuable than any Twitter bio saying “PR friendly,” don’t you think?
Be reader friendly
A PR-friendly blogger is a reader-friendly blogger
In order to show me, as the PR, that you’re a blogger I want to work with I need to see how much you care about your readers. Do you engage with them? Do you have meaningful interactions? Do you build community? Do you tell your truth and build relationships? A PR-friendly blogger is a reader-friendly blogger, because caring about your readers shows me you care about sustaining and growing your blog. And that’s the kind of blogger PRs want to work with.
MORE READING
- PR Desk: Money — Defining Your Value As A Blogger
- PR Desk: Blog for Hobby or Work — Is There a Difference?
- The PR Desk: Branding in Uncertain Times
Heather Travis is a PR professional and lover of all things creative. She has extensive experience developing and implementing integrated public relations and marketing programs for agricultural brands, producers and processors, as well as high end sporting goods. She’s a DIY junkie with a mean power tool addiction, and can often be found painting, refinishing, and scouring both junk yards and antique markets for her next fix … err, piece of content for her blog heatherinheels.com. Find Heather on Twitter @heathertravis and Instagram @heathertravis.
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