How not to do blogger outreach

I think I’ve probably mentioned before that I get a lot of PR / “blogger outreach” emails. There’s something about having squeezed a baby out of your nethers that makes companies think you’re happy to hawk their wares.

Most of these mails go straight to the bin. Either they’re generic “hi pls link our product” spam from a mass mail program or are from an agency that has picked my email from a list of mommy bloggers and hasn’t bothered to read my contact / PR page (it’s always obvious).

Rarely though do I get mails which, on the surface seem OK, but scratch away a little and you can see that they’re actually bloody awful. Case in point:

bad outreach mail

Let’s count the ways in which this fails:

  1. Misspelled my name – probably my biggest pet peeve (but at least they didn’t call me Jim…)
  2. Address from “Sandra” but mail headers say it’s from Ivan
  3. Empty compliments – since when has my site been approachable? People are usually complaining that my tagline puts them off!
  4. Bollocks about loving giveaways. I think I’ve done 2 over here?
  5. Wrong niche – I talk about parenting and household stuff primarily, not BS nutritional supplements
  6. Wrong side of the planet – why is a US based company wanting a UK based mum to promote them?

Blogger outreach. Is it really that hard to get it right?

Jem Turner jem@jemjabella.co.uk +44(0)7521056376

6 comments so far

  1. Rhys said:

    I sit on both sides of the fence (as a digital marketer & as somebody who gets these messages) I am surprised how bad many people are.

    Do you use Rapportive? That can be good for spotting less than wholesome ones (people connect their linkedin accounts to their outreach accounts, so “Debbie” could actually be Colin).

    • Jem said:

      Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against genuine enquiries and if a company is polite and respectful but not the right ‘fit’ I will suggest someone else for them to get in touch with or just gently turn them down. It’s shit like the above that gives guys like you a bad name!

      I’ll have a wee lookie at Rapportive :)

  2. Charlie said:

    I think it would be forgiveable (bad but forgiveable) but for that Ivan/Sandra.

    To summarise, “dear book blogger in Britain, will you review our sunglasses? We’re only looking for bloggers in the US”. Though perhaps the worst part was where they said giveaway winners would have to pay for the shipping. They didn’t appear to be a small company.

    • Jem said:

      Shit, I hope I’ve not pissed off a trannie outreacher. That thought didn’t even occur to me :O