This week I’m sharing an interview with some friends of mine who are PR consultants. Hopefully, this will give you an insight into what PRs are looking for and hopefully it will make working with brands and PRs easier.
The PR Panel from left to right is: Lucy Hollister and Stavros Themistocli, PR consultants from Beattie Communications and Katie Portman a Freelance PR, as well as blogger at Pouting In Heels.
1. What are the top 3 things that influence your decision to work with a blogger?
Lucy/Stav – Relevant content and audience to the brands/clients we represent. – Professional look and feel to the overall blog. It is important that blogs are relevant and are easy to use including clear navigation. – Blogger is active on social channels and posts regularly.
Katie – Voice and quality of writing / photography. – Reach (page views/ social media). – Engagement (comments / social media activity etc).
2. Do you regularly work with the same bloggers?
Lucy/Stav – Yes, we like to build and maintain relationships with the bloggers we work with. It is however always exciting to work with new bloggers too!
Katie – Yes. I like to consistently work with bloggers whom I strike up good relationships with and who achieves great results for my clients.
3. What would put you off working with a blogger?
Lucy/Stav – If a blogger is difficult to get hold of it is tricky to build a relationship easily. We would also look at how well written their posts are and also is the content credible.
Katie 1) Poorly written posts or badly produced content – rushed, littered with bad grammar, dreadful photography etc. 2) Zero or little engagement / interaction with readers. 3) Inconsistent posting. 4) Bad attitude!
4. Do you look at bloggers social media feeds before you agree to work with them?
Lucy/Stav– Always. Social engagement is very important, as are the responses they receive from their followers.
Katie – Yes always! It gives me a really good idea of what they are like as a person (what’s important to them etc) and shows me how they do (or don’t) engage with their audience.
5. What are you looking for in an ‘About Me’ page?
Lucy/Stav – Details of what the blogger likes. – Children’s ages (if relevant). – Topics the blog covers. – Unique users. – Email address to contact. – Location (particularly handy for event planning).
Katie – Crucial information like location/ interests / expertise plus personality and warmth.
6. What attributes do you look for in a blog? If the page views are good, do you care about the design/feeling of the blog?
Lucy/Stav– Page views are important, but design/feel and relevant content are equally important. We love looking at a blog with looks great and has warmth and character.
Katie – Other PRs may disagree, but yes personally I do care about the design / feeling of the blog. A blog doesn’t necessarily have to look professional or slick in design, but it needs to work well and look as if the blogger has pride has in it! Page views are of course very important, but for me personally, I like to consider the full package. A smaller, but loyal and engaged, blog audience is more powerful than thousands of page views but little engagement.
7. Do bloggers pitch to you regularly? Do you mind if they do?
Lucy/Stav – We love hearing from bloggers with all their ideas. If it works for us, the brand and the blogger then we are keen to get involved in some capacity.
Katie – Yes often and no certainly not! I’m always happy to hear from bloggers on behalf of my PR clients and often it’s a great way for me to come across a blogger that I’d perhaps not heard of. Just one thing though – please don’t harass PRs. A couple of emails is fine, but if we’re not getting back to you or we haven’t chosen you for a campaign, please don’t endlessly persist. If we want to work with you – now or in the future -trust me, we’ll be in touch.
8. What makes a great pitch?
Lucy/Stav – Honest and open pitches are the best. We want to know what a blogger wants from us and how we can work together in the best way. For some brands, it’s good to know why a blogger wants to work with our brand specifically and how it would work on the blog.
Katie – A friendly, but professional, email or document that supplies key information and clearly outlines the benefits to my client, that would come from working with you. I want to hear creative ideas and suggestions and know exactly why it is, my clients should work with YOU and not another blogger. (Have you won an award? Got an unusual idea? etc)
9. What could a blogger do to become top of your list of ‘go to’ bloggers?
Lucy/Stav – Be yourself and talk! We want to know what you want from us and how we can help. Keep in touch so we know what you are working on and how your blog is advancing. We also love to co-create ideas with a blogger for posts, to ensure they have something unique to offer to their followers.
Katie – Create brilliant content, be professional and a joy to work with, treat your audience well and show me that you care.
10. If the blog stats are similar, what makes you pick one blogger and over another?
Lucy/Stav – If blog stats are similar, we would look at the relevant content on the blog and how it/how often posts are written, level of engagement and online presence. Design of the blog itself is also important.
Katie – Quality and individuality – you’ll always stand out from the crowd to me if your blog posts are consistently of a great quality and you have a unique voice.
11. If bloggers could do one thing to make your life easier what would it be?
Lucy/Stav – Have a media pack or document which includes all stats/address etc. This was we don’t have to hassle you for the small bits of information.
Katie – Make sure your contact details are easy to find on your blog! I’ve lost count of the number of blogs I have come across that do not offer a contact email address or have their details hidden away somewhere in an obscure place. Also – tell me why should I work with you! Shout out about your success with easy to find testimonials / press coverage / award wins etc.
12. What is the first thing you do/where do you go, when you land on a potential blog?
Lucy/Stav – We head to the about you section, this gives us a feel for the blogger and what they do before we read the posts.
Katie – I always read the first post and look at the comment section. Next I jump to the about me page and if I’m still interested, finally the contact page.
13. How do you find potential blogs? Where do you start?
Lucy/Stav – Recommendations from other bloggers and searching online for keywords. We also keep a close eye on Tots100 and BritMums for new bloggers. We often speak to our media contacts, as they always have recommendations too.
Katie – PR directories and social media mainly. I also ask for recommendations from fellow bloggers or work with bloggers that I know myself, through my own blog.
14. For new/aspiring bloggers who hope to work with more PR companies, what would be your advice to ‘breakthrough’?
Lucy/Stav – Make yourself stand out. Engage with PR’s on twitter and don’t be afraid to reach out to us. We are always keen to hear from you and in turn work with you! We want to build a relationship with everyone we work with.
Katie – Concentrate on making your blog the best it can be and trust me, we will eventually find you. Alternatively, it never hurts to drop us a line and let us know who you are and what you’re all about.
15. Put these in the order of the most important to you? Page views/ Social media following/ Skill and tone of writing/ Design of blog/ Frequency of posting
Lucy/Stav; Skill & tone of writing Frequency of posting Page views Social media following Design of blog
Katie; 1) Skill & tone of writing 2) Social media following 3) Page views 4) Design of blog 5) Frequency of posting So that’s the Lowdown! Thanks so much to Lucy, Stav and Katie for taking to time to collaborate with me on this post. I hope you have found this insight interesting and that it helps you break into working with brands, or enables you to do it more effectively.
xxx
Are there any new tips for you here? Anything you will implement?
Comments 97
What a fascinating post to read, Aby! I love the fact that individuality seems to be such an important criterion for selecting bloggers PRs might want to work with. Keep those fab posts coming! I took some of your advice today and worked on a ‘Twitter strategy’. Thanks for sharing all those golden nuggets of information. xx
Author
Ah thanks so much, I really appreciate it and I am glad you enjoy the posts xx
All shared on Twitter and Pinterest. You rock, lady!
Author
Ah thanks so much huni xx
Thanks; really good tips! It’s helpful to know PRs don’t mind being contacted directly, and also that quality will eventually help a blogger to stand out. #aNoviceMumblogvisit
Author
Glad you enjoyed it xx
Another really useful post, thanks hun, you’re a star xx
Author
My pleasure, glad you liked it x
Another amazing post. Thank you lovely. It is great to see that stats aren’t the only thing to draw PRs to your blog. But I do know that I need to post more consistently. Thank you for all the brilliant tips. Hugs Mrs H xxxx
Author
AH thanks huni, So glad you liked it, hope it helps huni xxxx
That’s really interesting to know, especially to see how preferences change person to person – thank you 🙂
Author
Glad you enjoyed it huni xx
Thank you so much for asking me to take part in this Aby! Really enjoyed it. As a freelance PR AND Blogger, I see it from both sides and love the way brands are working successfully now with so many incredible talented bloggers to make magic happen!
I really hope it helps bloggers realise that PR people love to hear from bloggers and that together, we can create some wonderful collaborative work.
Super tips from Lucy and Stav too. xxx
Author
Thanks so much for being involved, I really appreciate it. xxx
What an insightful interview Aby! Thanks for posting. When I used to focus on books on my blog I built up some relationships with publishers, but parenting blogs are a completely different ballgame and I had no idea what PRs would be looking for. It was interesting to see that page views aren’t at the top of the priorities lists too!
Author
Glad you like it hun and hope it helps x
This is SO helpful! Thank you Aby! x
Author
So glad it is helpful huni x
Another great and insightful post Aby, thank you. For me it was really interesting to hear first hand what PR’s are looking for having not ventured down this route yet, but it certainly gives me things to think about.
Keep your fab #BlogClub posts coming; I love them! x
Author
Thanks a lot for your great comment. I am glad you enjoyed the post x
A great idea, Aby – thanks for doing this. It’s great to hear straight from the horse’s mouth about what really matters to PRs (rather than what a blogger thinks matters to them). Plus it’s always interesting to hear Katie’s thoughts, as someone who has a foot in both camps and therefore has a perfect perspective on what works.
Author
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it x
Such a fab post! Given me lots of food for thought! Thanks for sharing lovely xx
Author
Thanks huni, glad you liked it xx
There is a reason your blog is one of the best (the best in my opinion) and that is useful and informative posts such as this. Thank you Aby 🙂
Author
Thank you so much for your lovely comment. It means such a lot to me x
This was really interesting to read Aby! x
Author
Thanks huni x
Fantastic tips and consider them bookmarked, thanks all round from me!
Author
Glad you enjoyed it x
Great idea for a post Aby, and always helpful to hear from the PR point of view what they’re looking for. Guess I should be doing more networking with my existing contacts, and reaching out to a few more. Thanks to Katie, Lucy and Stav.
Author
Thanks huni. It was great to collaborate with them and get their views x
Another great post Aby, really interesting read x
Author
Thanks huni x
Great post, thank you for this information, very useful. I struggle to get myself ‘out there’ so it is good to know what PRs are looking for.
#Sharewithme
Author
My pleasure, I hope it helps x
This is a really really interesting read. Thank you so much for sharing.
Author
My pleasure, hope it helps x
Thanks Aby this is a great insight, as you know I am new to all this and this post is great to read and learn from xx
Author
Glad you like it huni, hope it helps xx
What a brilliant idea for a post, Aby! So helpful to any blogger looking to work with brands, and lovely to see a personal fave on the panel in Katie Pouting-in-Heels. Fab post lovely. xx
Author
Ah thanks so much huni, so glad you liked it x
I love your blogging tips section lovely, has been a big help to me so far! Especially like this post, so thanks!
Stevie x
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Thank you huni, so glad it is helpful x
Very interesting read! Now I know what I need to work on the most to get my blog up to standards 🙂 super tips, thanks!
Author
So glad it is helpful huni x
What a brilliant insight Aby! Sometimes it’s hard, as a new blogger, to know what you should be doing to attract the PR companies and brands. When I bought my domain name in January — and ditched my free blog — I had no idea what I was doing but looking at the tips here, I’ve just got to keep working hard at writing and eventually good things will happen. Fingers crossed 🙂 X
Caro | http://www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk
Author
I’m glad that it is helpful. If PRs have any sense they will be beating your door down soon xx
Really nice post! I am starting on my journey into working with PR and this is really helpful for me. #sharewithme
Author
Good luck hun. Hope it helps x
What an amazingly useful post, I’ve made a couple of changes to my about page and contact page, just to make them more friendly to PR’s 🙂 now I just need a few to find me (or make contact myself).
Author
I am so glad it is helpful x
Really interesting post thanks – I have just totally re-designed my blog, it has gone live today so hoping that helps 🙂
Author
My pleasure, I thought it would be interesting. Ooh sounds fab huni x
Fantastic post Aby which, with my own ex-PR hat on, rings true all the way through. Fab advice from all three professionals, thanks so much for sharing this.
Author
My pleasure huni, I thought it would make for an interesting read x
This is a great read. As usual really useful tips! thanks for sharing Aby! x
Author
My pleasure huni, hope it helps x
very interesting to read from a PR’s perspective! Thanks for sharing Aby! x
Author
Glad you found it interesting huni x
This is a fascinating interview, it’s so interesting to see how a PR’s mind works! Thank you for sharing 🙂
#TheList
Author
My pleasure, glad you enjoyed it x
Fab post Aby and so interesting to find out more about what PRs are looking for when engaging with bloggers. Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
Author
My pleasure huni. Hope it helps x
Thanks so much, this gives me a much more focused idea of what to do with my blog to make sure that I am putting my best foot forward. I can feel the wheels in my head turning! Thanks for hosting, as always, great party!
Author
Thanks so much. I am so glad you found it useful x
Another great Blog Club post. Interesting to know what some PR’s consider as plus points and others don’t 🙂
Author
Glad you enjoyed it huni x
This was such an informative post! Very interesting to hear what PRs are looking for in their own words. As always, you make the “business” of blogging much easier to understand.
Author
Ah thank you so much for your lovely comment. I am glad you liked it x
This is really useful and interesting. The more I read the more I think I need to do a whole redesign.
Author
Glad it was helpful x
A very interesting post, I think it’s funny how much they differed on the last question, shows really that each PR is different
Author
I am glad you found it interesting, hope it helps x
This is possibly the most important blog post that bloggers need to read! It is such an interesting and very, very helpful read. I will be bookmarking it and coming from time to time to make sure I am as PR friendly as I can possibly be. Thanks for writing such a great post. Ray xx @ lukeosaurusandme.blogspot.co.uk
Author
Ah thank you so much. Not possible without the input of all three fab PR people x
Absolutely love love the new blog look Aby it’s amazing!!! Did you design it yourself? Great tips as always and I learned so much and know I have a lot of updating on my about me page now too. hahaha Thanks for linking up to Share With Me. Happy Easter! #sharewithme
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Ah thank you lovely. Yes I did in a few hours last Friday and I am really pleased with the feedback. I was worried it might look too homemade. Glad you enjoyed the post x
Thank you for this, it is really interesting to read. There are some great tips and nice to know we can be a bit more forward with approaching them!
Author
My pleasure. Hope it is useful x
Such an informative post. After revamping my blog, I need to read this in order to know which direction to go.
Author
I hope it helps x
Sounds advice here, fab post. Thanks for linking up to #brilliantblogposts
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They were all so generous with their time x
Fantastic post, great to get a fresh perspective too
Author
Glad you enjoyed it x
Thank you so much for this. I have just gone self hosted & wilol be starting a new blog so these views are just what I needed. Thanks again.
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Happy to help x
What a brilliant post! Great to hear about what PR people are after!
Fantastic advice as always, Aby! And a great follow up to your webinar on working with brands.
Great advice, off to make some changes to my about me page now. #TheListLinky
This is such a great post, it’s so interesting to read what really matters to PRs. Given me lots to think about x
#TheListLinky
This is really helpful information! Thank you for sharing xx #TheListLinky
Thank you for this really interesting insight. It is interesting to see the similarities and also the differences in responses. It certainly gives food for thought to all of us. #TheListLinky
Really interesting to read these PR insights. Think I might need to do some more work on my about me page! Thanks Aby x
I really enjoy reading your posts! I am new to the world of blogging and am fascinated by the importance of social media. Seems like it will be a full time job!
Great to hear though that the PR experts both say that in the end contant is most important and that good blogs will be picked up in the end. Keep them coming your posts! X the Flenglish Mum
Great and so informative blog