I read a post by beauty blogger Krizia on Problogger today who feels that PR people are getting pushier with bloggers due to the recession. The post left me with two questions: 1) Are PR people really getting pushier? and 2) Is it really the recession that could be causing this?
To address the first question, what are PR people’s expectations, and are we as bloggers meeting them? The factors I see here are:
- Do bloggers review products in a timely manner? The beauty blogger said she tests products for 2-3 weeks before reviewing them. In my experience, publicists send me follow up emails only days after I’ve received the book, asking when the review will be up. As a blogger, I need more time to read the book (because, you know, I actually do read it before recommending it). Are these timelines acceptable to PR professionals? Do they compare to traditional media timelines?
- Do bloggers say the right things in the review? Do PR professionals expect to see a review no matter what, even if the review is lukewarm or bad?
- What success indicators do PR professionals want to see? Comments, page views, social media mentions? Are we as bloggers communicating this information back to PR professionals?
For the second question, my intuition is that the “pushiness” is not due to the recession at all. Here are some other reasons PR professionals might come across as pushy:
- Bloggers don’t respond like traditional media - I’ve written before about the reasons that traditional media outreach is vastly different from blogger outreach. The main gist is that bloggers often have different goals than traditional media, so the incentives are different.
- Bloggers are getting greedy – It seems like every blogger wants a sponsorship deal these days. Whatever happened to blogging about things you like, as opposed to blogging about things so you can make money from them? The world of blogging sponsorships is about as fragmented as you can get, so it’s hard for companies to discern 1) who should get sponsorships and 2) what those bloggers should be paid.
- Bloggers are not a sure thing – I know many bloggers who say, “Send me a sample, if I like it I will write about it.” This partly due to the idea of disclosure, and it’s partly due to the idea of trust, and it’s partly due to the fact that bloggers have limited time and resources compared to traditional media. But if a company isn’t even going to get a mention from a blogger, why should they send the products? It’s a business, not a charity.
- Bloggers can’t deliver on ROI – PR people are extremely pressured to show return on investment these days. Even sending a book to review costs at least $5 – from an author’s perspective then, the blogger must be able to sell at least 5 books to see an acceptable ROI.
- Bloggers are numerous – It’s too easy to start a blog these days. While it’s not easy to build a community, it’s certainly not as hard as say, building a newspaper or a magazine. This means there are a lot of bloggers out there with a couple thousand subscribers who could get traction for a product. A company has to eventually ask, “If I keep giving my product away to anyone with a blog, who will actually buy it?”
What do you think?
- PR professionals, are bloggers meeting your expectations? Are bloggers producing the results you need to get the job done on behalf of your clients?
- Bloggers, are PR people getting pushier in your experience?
- How can we improve relationships between PR professionals and bloggers?
Over 70% of people get a job from networking. As a entrepreneur, you technically already have a job; but you will inevitably go to informational/networking meetings to sell an idea, convince clients to hire you, or secure funding. Here’s how to get started:
Action Item #1: Land the meeting
It’s not easy, but I get meetings with many CEOs and other executives in the Chicago area. When people ask me how, I tell them it’s a fairly basic process – I email people and convince them to meet with me. If I’m trying to reach the CEO, I sometimes schedule a call with one of his direct reports first. I sometimes send a couple of follow-up emails. I sometimes ask other people in my network for referrals.
Be persistent. There are many ways to ask for something, but the key to getting it is almost always persistence. Everyone calls once, some call twice, but the people who land the meetings are the ones who called for as long as it took.
Action Item #2: Ace the meeting
It is not as difficult as you would think to research a company or a person thanks to Google. I research all sorts of things, from industry statistics, to competitors, to website statistics, to hobbies of the person I’m meeting. I also read through press releases and media coverage (all found on the internet) to understand the history of the company, the pain points, and what the management team cares about. If you do your research beforehand, you can make a good impression at the meeting.
Based on your research, you should know how much you can actually contribute to the networking meeting, and how much information you will have to ask for. This will help you set expectations for yourself and the person you are meeting with.
It’s essential to set expectations for a networking meeting so you don’t waste someone’s time. I have gone to meetings where a CEO just wants to chat over beers, and I’ve gone to meetings where the CEO wants a PowerPoint deck of my ideas and how to implement them. If you set expectations well, you can avoid being under-prepared and making a bad impression.
Also, don’t forget to articulate your interest and your value. There are two things people want to see in a networking meeting: enthusiasm or passion, and what you bring to the table. Make sure that you incorporate both these answers into your story about your history and your goals.
Use language that ties both of your interest and your value to the company, the person you’re meeting with, and yourself. It’s a tough balance, so practicing beforehand helps!
Action Item #3: Follow up
Often, you will not get an immediate offer from a networking meeting. That doesn’t mean it was a waste. Instead, you’ve gotten a contact, information, or a referral. Or you found a way to help the person with one of these three things. Be open to what someone can help you with, and good things will come.
Because networking meetings are not for closing deals, you have to follow-up and check in on the person within a reasonable time frame. This reminds the person of what you discussed, what you want, and what value you have to them. I generally follow up with a thank you email to begin with, and then follow up once more within a month.
What’s your most outrageous networking story?
Image Source: notsogoodphotography via FlickR
It’s job hunting season – but if you are looking for a job, the last thing you should be doing is building a network. Counterintuitive, perhaps, but here are three reasons why:
It’s Too Late
Building a network is a lot like planning your retirement; it takes a lot of little inputs over a long period of time. Both are built so you can cash in when you need it the most – at retirement, or in this case, when you need a job (or some other huge favor).
But if you need a job now and you haven’t been building your network, you are screwed. You may as well try opening your 401k at 50 – the math just doesn’t add up. And just like you won’t get by for 20 years on $100,000, you won’t land a great gig on a network held together by shoestrings.
So stop trying to build your network in hopes you will get a job from it. It’s too late. Instead, work on your charm and get a job that way. Then work on building your network in case your charm runs out and you need a job again.
The Law of Diminishing Returns Doesn’t Lie
Here’s what it takes to build a network: Emails. Lunch dates. Networking events. Social gatherings.
All of these take time. In fact, each thing on this list takes the same amount of time the first time you do it and the twentieth time you do it. So when you build a network, you are giving the same amount of time to each network connection. After a certain number of people, though, you start building very weak ties that aren’t going to help you in the end – when you need a job.
This is the law of diminishing returns. Same amount of input for each person, less results as you spread yourself too thin.
So consider first, how many people you can actually fit in your network. A strong connection is worth much more than ten weak ties – put your time where it matters, preferably before you need a job. Then when you need a job, use the strong connections you’ve built to get one, instead of wasting your energy on creating more weak ties.
You Already Know the Right People Anyway
Here’s the thing about getting a job: no matter how much you need a job to pay the bills, you should still try to get the best match that you can for your personality. Not only will you perform better, but you will also stay longer, which means less job hunting. Finding a job that matches your personality comes down to finding the types of people you should be working with.
It turns out you already have plenty of good network connections to find a group of people you will work well with. Like your ex-boyfriend you still talk to sometimes. Because really, good dating skills = good working skills, and people are drawn to others like them. So if you know someone you thought was a good date, he probably works with other people you will like too. Or if you have a friend you meet up with for lunch regularly, she might be able to score you an interview with her manager pal in another department.
In the end, your friends will get you a job, not your “network,” because your friends will connect you with people they like, who are probably like them. And you like your friends, right?
How would you use your network to get a job? Leave your thoughts in the comments section!
I recently spoke with one of the marketing reps at a large brand company that I might be talking about more in the coming months. During our conversation, she said something like, “This feels so strange. I know so much about you because I’ve been reading your blog for a month.”
I laughed, because I know the feeling; I find myself a little thrown off when talking to more popular bloggers. It’s hard to have an introductory conversation or meeting with someone when I know what kind of sneakers they wear and they barely know my name. Then that midwest southern Illinois charm kicks in, and the urge to make small talk nearly gets the better of me. “Hi, nice to meet you. How’s the weight loss resolution going? I read about your daughter, are things getting better? And how in the world do you run a popular blog with twelve kids?”
Ah, the dawn of the microcelebrity. Clive Thompson of Wired Magazine describes a microcelebrity as “the phenomenon of being extremely well known not to millions but to a small group — a thousand people, or maybe only a few dozen.” Becoming a microcelebrity is inherently good for you and your career, because people start gravitating towards you. It’s a pull rather than a push to grow your network, and that means you can work on strengthening your network rather than extending it.
Consider it the second layer of an onion, reversed. There’s the innermost layer of the onion, which consists of you passing out your business cards rather aimlessly and trying to contact CEOs you don’t have any connection to (for the most part, a complete waste of time). Then there’s the second layer where people find you: through your blog, through your LinkedIn profile, through your friends. That’s where you want to be, and that’s why you need to become a microcelebrity.
There are three things that will help you become a microcelebrity:
Put yourself out there. Talk about your successes and your mistakes. Talk about how you’ve grown and changed over the last year. Talk about your opinions and the reasoning behind them. Talk about sex and love and politics and religion and other things that are supposedly too personal. Be authentic. Be eccentric.
Tell people about what you do. I can’t keep track of how many times I tell people I’m a software engineer and they reply, “Do you want to work for my company?” Sure, if I’m ever in need of a job, I’ll give you a call. Perfect. Effortless.
Get others to put themselves out there when around you. Be a great listener. Be the person who makes the shy guy in the corner feel at ease. Be the person who reaches out to the girl on the fringe of the group.
If you can’t do these things, you’re going to come across as dull. And dull people don’t have large networks or draw people to them. Dull people are still networking in the first onion layer.
There is a reason blogs get popular – because the people behind them talk about themselves in a way that creates tension. There’s a reason magazines sell – because people love drama and fascinating lives.
Case in point: I met a few bloggers last night at Tech Cocktail in Chicago, including the founders of Brazen Careerist, and guest what? They were each exactly how they sound on their respective blogs. No wonder they’ve gotten so popular. No wonder they draw people to them. No wonder they have no need for traditional networking tactics.
So just be yourself already. It’s that simple.
According to the newest Small Business Marketing Health Check report from Hurwitz, the top business challenge for small businesses is by far attracting and retaining customers. As a result, most small businesses are turning to digital marketing channels. Over 70% of small businesses surveyed are using social media channels like blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, while nearly 50% are using email marketing techniques.
Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
