How bloggers can best work with PRs and Brands: what the PR professionals say

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Do you want to work with PRs and brands on sponsored posts and collaborations? Do you wish you knew how they choose which bloggers to work with on campaigns? How to pitch? What should be in your media kit? How to negotiate the best fees? And what you should definitely NOT do? I asked 7 PR professionals how bloggers can best work with PRs and Brands. Here’s what they said… 

 

OK, so I’ll be super honest with you, my original idea for this post was to share my hints and tips for working with PRs and brands on sponsored posts and collaborations. But as I began to put it together, it occurred to me that if I really wanted to share the best advice with you guys, I should cut out the middle man (AKA me!) and go directly to the PR professionals themselves….

And so I did! Armed with a bunch of questions I reached out to PR professionals to find out exactly what they are looking for when they choose bloggers to work with, how bloggers can make themselves more likely to get picked, what PRs are looking for in a media kit, what they love about bloggers (and what annoys them!) AND of course I asked how bloggers can negotiate better fees. 😉

And I am so glad I took the time ask these questions, because the answers offer a real insight into the world of PR and Brand Management. A world that we as bloggers don’t often get to hear about or really understand. I have often read tips from other bloggers on this subject, but rarely have I read what the people on the ‘other side’ have to say.

So, if you want to find out what the people who REALLY KNOW have to say about how bloggers can best work with PRs and Brands… you NEED to read this post!!

 

1. What do you look for when choosing bloggers to work with?  Is it page views? Genuine interaction? Good quality content? Photos? Social media following? Something else?

We look at a combination of things when selecting bloggers to work with. Most importantly, we want to ensure that the audience aligns with the brand as the best partnerships are with those bloggers that have an audience who are truly interested in the product. Then of course we look at the quality of the content and interactions of followers. A good following is great, but if you’re readers or followers don’t care what you’re saying, then it’s not beneficial in the end.

Mary Jo Spletzer, Account Director, Brand Dialogue

 

For me personally, it’s a mixture. The first thing I would look for is the bloggers demographic; are they vegan friendly? Eco-warriors? Sports enthusiasts? From that I can determine which, if any, of my clients could benefit from exposure on said blog. The next most important thing is, understandably, followers and engagement. Again this is a matter of personal preference, but I believe that engagement is more important than mass following. I don’t just want to reach your audience, I want to know that they’ve responded to it, and really absorbed the message. To me, that’s what matters.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

We just want to know that the blogger is genuine, and really seems to put some heart and soul into what they do. Obviously the bloggers who write review after review have a place, and offer a great place for information, but the chances are that a blogger who puts out unique content will have an engaged readership and that’s what we want.

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

Every blogger outreach campaign has its own unique requirements so it all depends on what you’re looking to gain from each collaboration. If brands are looking to increase SEO then sourcing blogs with a high domain authority is crucial, whereas, if a brand wants to be introduced to a new audience, they might look to a platform that attracts a high number of genuine engagements from the target audience group.

Whatever the objective, a blog needs to look and sound great. High quality content, be it copy or images, is a must. You don’t necessarily need a professional camera to do this; with the right techniques and editing tools, using the camera on your smartphone can achieve brilliant results.

When it comes to written content, it’s important to sound genuine and to deliver something personal. The reason I love working with bloggers is because they are real people, individuals that can offer their own thoughts and views to a mass audience, and it’s important that this comes across in their content.

Finally, the overall design of the blog needs to look polished and professional. It doesn’t matter how great the content is, if the layout and design is messy or uncoordinated, it can instantly put people off

Sarah Jane Thoms, Account Executive, Fourth Day PR

 

The amount of pages viewed on a blog is essential and one of the first things we look for – there is no point having great content if no one sees it. Great bloggers normally have great stats.

A large social media following is a must. Like anything these days, social media presence is crucial for promotion. From a PR point of view, we provide a blogger with content or a product and we need it to be visible to as many of the correct audience as possible in as many places a possible. The blogger should share the story more than once on their social media pages for us and our client to engage with.

Good content is always crucial. The blogger needs to be able to write engaging copy that’s well written. We would also expect a backlink to the relevant website to be included. It’s the new journalism and we hope that bloggers understand that.

The website has to look appealing with high resolution and quality images. The website also needs to be easy to navigate. Without this, people will drop-off the website without giving the content a chance.

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

Above and beyond anything else, it’s about looking at brand fit and values. We want to work with a blogger whose values are similar to our client’s, and likewise a blogger will want to work for a brand that they would genuinely recommend.
Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

All of these but depends on context, I see bloggers as influencers so it’s about evaluating the extent of that influence.

Marc Duke, Marketing Consultant, Marc Duke Consulting

 

2. Do you encourage bloggers to contact you directly with a pitch? If so how do you suggest they do that? What would you like to receive from them?

I appreciate when bloggers approach me with potential opportunities. It makes my job easier and everyone wins! My only caveat would be – make sure your proposition is one that the agent in question would at least be interested in. You might have the best blog post idea in the world but if you’re pitching to someone who doesn’t work in that sector (i.e. pitching a blog post about market trends in wholesaling to someone who usually works in b2c pr) you may not get the positive response you’re looking for. Try opening a line of dialogue by asking if they know a colleague best suited for this pitch.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

It’s great when bloggers directly contact me, it introduces me to new people and allows me to visit blogs I may not have found myself. A simple introduction about the blogger, what sort of content they post and links to the blog and any social pages tends to be enough as a starting point. I always take the time to visit any blogs that land in my inbox, even if I’m not currently working on a blogger outreach campaign and will refer back to those emails when I start working on a new project.

Sarah Jane Thoms, Account Executive, Fourth Day PR

 

We have in the past, but to be honest it varies. The main two approaches are to either field requests as they come, or to actively go on a campaign and approach people directly. Only on a few occasions have we asked for pitches, and I think that can come across as a bit needy!

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

Depends on context but as a vendor or PR you would expect to have to go to them
Marc Duke, Marketing Consultant, Marc Duke Consulting

 

We’re always happy for bloggers to contact us directly. The best is by email, but we’re on Twitter and Instagram and welcome a DM as well. Because we need to follow our clients’ planning schedule, we might not always be able to work together right away, but we’ll keep bloggers who’ve reached out to us in mind for future projects.

Mary Jo Spletzer, Account Director, Brand Dialogue

 

Yes, we’re always interested to hear from bloggers – existing and new. For us, email is best, or phone, but we need the information to make a considered decision etc. so email can do that. We would always like to see a media pack, links to example features & their success.

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

Yes, definitely – drop us a line to tell us about who you are, why you believe you’d be the best fit to work with one of our clients and we can go from there.

Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

3. What do you want to see in a media kit from a blogger? And what do you really NOT want/need in a media kit??

Keep it short, visual and factual.

Key information:

• who you are
• demographic
• page views
• average entries for competitions
• links to feature example

We don’t want to see the following:

• the bloggers life story or personal information
• poor images – resolution, lighting etc.
• poor use of language
• poor or no examples

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

While costs aren’t the final deciding factor, they do help us understand the best way to utilise the budget. We need to know rates to determine how many bloggers we’re able to work with. Readership, social media following, and an audience breakdown are also useful.

Mary Jo Spletzer, Account Director, Brand Dialogue

 

It’s helpful to understand things like follower numbers, engagement etc. as well as the obvious – any potential fees. Examples of previous campaign work with a brand is also really helpful.

Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

I think it all boils down to one thing. Honesty. Rate cards shouldn’t be inflated, metrics should be accurate if possible. In a media kit I just want to see a bit about the blog, the audience, reach figures etc, and costs.

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

 

4. What can a blogger do to make themselves be more likely to be chosen for a paid campaign?

Come up with something unique if you can. Various options means more flexibility, and that means we are more likely to spend money. Entry level budgets all the way up to big campaigns; this give us somewhere to enter and somewhere to scale up.

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

Demonstrate influence.

Marc Duke, Marketing Consultant, Marc Duke Consulting

 

Be higher profile. (We would probably know them already as they would be a key figure in our industry.) Offer as many statistics and data as possible, we like to see proof of deliverables.

Investigate the products/feature their looking to promote so they know what they’re talking about before making contact with PRs.

Offer a thorough review/feature with a minimum word count, number of images and backlink to the relevant website and guarantee regular engagement on social media, using the right tags and hashtags.

Be willing to negotiate on price. Smaller clients don’t always have a large budget and product offerings can be pricey for them.

Include engaging imagery in blogs/posts. If it’s a product and you can’t take good photographs, ask to be supplied with imagery to use.

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

Quality content, high engagement and a quick response time hahaha. In all seriousness, if content is king, then engagement is the queen. Check out other successful blogs and question what it is about their content that makes them so attractive to partnerships, and how they engage their audience so effectively.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

Show why they’re the right fit to work with one of our clients – from the quality of content they share to the values they have that make them the right pick. And as above, success from previous campaigns they’ve worked on is really helpful.
Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

For the majority of campaigns, I have a set budget for all blogger outreach. I’m more inclined to pay a higher fee to collaborate with a blog that has a high domain authority or a large social media following. Of course, this isn’t the determining factor, but a high DA does reflect how well the blog is constructed, cared for and how popular it is. I would advise bloggers to take the time to create a plan around improving their blog’s DA in both the short and long-term – not only does it make the blog look more appealing to potential collaborators, it also helps your blog become more successful over time.

Sarah Jane Thoms, Account Executive, Fourth Day PR

 

5. What advice would you give bloggers in negotiating the best fees for a project?

Working to a budget means brands, and the PRs representing them, may only be able to offer a set fee, which might be lower than a blogger’s typical rate. This doesn’t mean bloggers should necessarily accept anything lower than they’re happy with, but you can look at different ways of collaborating. It might mean fewer social posts or looking at different types of content but this ensures that a productive collaboration can still take place, with both parties feeling valued.

Sarah Jane Thoms, Account Executive, Fourth Day PR

 

Know thy market; know thy worth. But be realistic. What I mean by this is, work out how large a market your particular demographic is; for instance, vegan bloggers carry a huge amount of sway in the food industry at the moment, and if you have a huge vegan following your value is increased when it comes to marketing vegan produce. Based on how attractive your demographic is to an agent will determine your worth to them too.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

Be open and honest, and we’ll be the same when it comes to talking about budget.

Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

Know your PR and the clients you want to work with. Generally the fee will be relevant because you know your audience and what you are writing about.

There is an art to negotiating, but the outcome needs to suit both the PR and blogger.

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

Ask what the budget is and have a day rate in mind.

Marc Duke, Marketing Consultant, Marc Duke Consulting

 

We’re never going to want to spend lots of money, so we’re always going to try and play hard ball. Think about who approached who, and I said before, be honest. Rate cards quite frankly do my head in! There is no point in a £750 reduction off a rate card, just give me the real price and we can work from there.

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

 

6. There is often a lot of frustration in the blogging world about lack of fees/low fees. How can we work together to best improve that situation?

Fees in traditional media came from advertising and the two rarely crossed over. Editorial was about a good story.

Everyone wants value for money and the above and below the line has become blurred. A PR knows when they should be paying for something because they will see the value.

PRs get approached several times every day and many bloggers are happy to feature for free if the content is good and will get them good engagement.  This is because in the end it is win win.

Offer a series of features over 12 months – a long term partnership will have ongoing engagement is the way we like to work.  As its relevant for all.

We get asked for a lot for paid for entries, but the bloggers statistics just aren’t big enough to warrant our clients paying for a feature.

Invest the time, resource and relationships to get a great looking blogs and increase your social media following before asking for paid for activity.

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

This is a tricky question. Bloggers are providing brands with a valuable service and they should be rewarded accordingly. The Keynesian economist within me would argue that the invisible hand of the market will eventually determine the price of fees if at all, but honestly, I’m not sure. I’d argue that as new age comms and digital marketing is still maturing, the answer may have to be ‘wait and see’. The best blogger / brand relationships come from open communication and ensuring that expectations are clear and agreed at the outset. If bloggers are consistently meeting and exceeding those expectations, then they will have a strong argument to open the discussion around fees.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

From my side, I actually think this is a bit odd. There is a huge lack of tangible benefit to outreach with bloggers and that is why we are often hesitant to spend lots of money. How can I tell whether a link on a site has really had the uplift I am after?

If you can show some kind of tangible benefit, then you’ve got a real USP.

Price consistency across the board would be great, which would of course scale up based on blog size. But then you’re getting into price fixing so maybe not!

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

Be open and honest about what you charge, and why you charge it. We’ll be transparent with our expectations too. Communication is key!

Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

You can’t if a market is commoditised but quality will out at the end of the day.
Marc Duke, Marketing Consultant, Marc Duke Consulting

 

7. What do you like about working with bloggers?

Bloggers are a fantastic way to get a product or brand in front of an engaged audience in an authentic way. We usually provide key messages for use in the post, but the content always turns out best when a blogger presents the messages authentically, allowing the product to be featured in the best way to their audience.

Mary Jo Spletzer, Account Director, Brand Dialogue

 

Their independence.

Marc Duke, Marketing Consultant, Marc Duke Consulting

 

Interacting with people is great. Who doesn’t like a chat! When you see a really well put together a piece, that’s also great.

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

Again this is very subjective, but my personal answer would be that working with bloggers/influencers can often be a little less formal than working with journalists. I appreciate building a slightly more colloquial rapport but remember not everyone feels the same! My advice would be to test the waters and see how the agent responds. Based on their reply you’ll know whether you can take a more informal approach.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

The chance to get creative and try out different styles of working together, developing fun, engaging content, and meeting new people that you can hopefully work with again.

Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

That they’re open to ideas and features opportunities. It’s great to work together on specific angles.

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

 

8. What do you wish bloggers did better when working on sponsored posts? Do you have any pet peeves about the way bloggers work with PRs?

If you want to collaborate, be prepared to collaborate! I wish some bloggers would be open to a bit more direction in their posts. I’m aware that you are creative spirits and you want to tailor the post to your own style and tone, but remember that you are also providing a service for money so you need to find common ground if both parties are going to get what they want from the collaboration. Put it this way, you could create the most amazing cup of coffee with a fantastic artisanal decorative foam and delightful chocolate sprinkle art piece, but if your client asked for a simple black coffee, they won’t be happy.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

I often see a lot of basic copying from about pages and site copy. If you are a blogger, then you should have your own voice and be able to write a unique perspective.

I do think there is a lot of similarity. The whole “look at my crazy life” thing can become white noise. Everyone has something unique to say, but don’t try and be unique. Your voice/life will do that for you.

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

Most bloggers are really clear about when a post is sponsored or not, but there are still some that you’re not sure on. We want to make sure we are giving our clients the latest and correct information about what they can expect from a sponsored post, so again it goes back to being honest and transparent about what we can expect, so we can manage the campaign in the best way for us, the blogger and our client.

Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

9. What would you like to see more of in the blogging industry?

Willingness to communicate, and especially, meet in person wherever possible. The more we can talk, the more we’ll understand each other, and learn how to best work with one another. Right now, it can seem that bloggers are a little hidden away and only communicate via email – any face to face contact is so valuable and helps us to build a long-lasting relationship.

Amy Ronge, Associate Director, Hotwire UK

 

I do feel that the actual quality of some blogging can be poor. Grammar, spelling and basic syntax often go out of the window. Yes, I can understand it, but if you are putting yourself out there as a writer, there should be a degree of quality to it. So I’d like to see a focus on the quality of content, not the quantity, even if it is driven by brands and ads.

Dan Gee, Social Media Manager, BVG Group

 

Bloggers coming back to PR’s every quarter to see if we have any news to share. We try and keep our contacts updated with all the latest news, but it’s great to touch base and check in every now and then. It also strengthens the relationship.

More thorough features/reviews, not just one or two sentences. It’s very disappointing to see, especially when there has been an investment, either in a fee or by sending a product to the blogger.

Better quality images. There are no excuses these days. Mobile phones and Instagram filters means that anyone can have great images.

Sara Tye, Founder & Managing Director, redheadPR

 

More visibility on influence.

Marc Duke, Marketing Consultant, Mark Duke Consulting 

 

Going back to question #2, I’d love to see bloggers being a bit more proactive. Services like Tribe have made it easier for influencers/bloggers to reach PR agents, but you definitely put yourself in the spotlight a great deal more if you come direct to the client/agent.

Tobias Sansome, Client Executive, Nexus PR

 

My huge thanks goes to Dan Gee from BVG Group, Tobias Sansome from Nexus PR, Mary Jo Spletzer from Brand Dialogue, Marc Duke from Marc Duke Consulting, Sara Tye from redheadPR, Amy Ronge from Hotwire UK and Sarah Jane Thoms from Fourth Day PR for taking the time to answer my questions and provide us bloggers with some really useful advice.

 

My personal take on all of this, is that, as an industry, it’s time to get more professional and business-like. PRs want to work with reliable bloggers who have a strong, focused and engaged audience (and can prove it with their stats!) and consistently deliver quality content and measurable value. I think this also shows that if bloggers step up and become more professional about their work, they will be compensated appropriately.

Another huge take home from these responses is that PRs are super keen for bloggers to approach them! We as bloggers need to stop waiting for that email to drop into our inboxes and start getting more proactive. And finally, I think this shows that there is still very much room for passion and authenticity in the blogging world, PRs are actively looking for bloggers whose values are clear and which align with their brands’ values, and who truly have something unique to offer.

 

So over to you.

So, what do you think? Were any of these answers surprising? New information? Helpful? I’d love to know if you learnt anything new today or if there’s anything you are going to put into action as a result of reading this article.

 

More on this topic…

• How to work with brands (and get paid!) – a guide for bloggers and influencers
• 11 benefits of attending a blogging conference
• How to treat your blog like a business (and start actually making money!)
• PR for bloggers: Be more visible, create more opportunities
• 10 tips for pitching to brands

 

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