Author Archives: Jeremy Toeman

Digital photography to me represents both the greatest and least tapped potential of all the digital media formats.  People who rip CDs (which, of course started digital, but that’s a pesky detail) into MP3 (or other) formats tend to listen to those files, probably on an iPod.  People who have DV cameras create videos that they are either instantly consuming and sharing, or archiving for the distant future (read: to embarrass friends and family members at the right moments).  But digital photos tend to be as much a nuisance as a blessing.

On a recent weeklong trip to Mexico I took over 300 pictures.  What happens next?  Well, now I have lots of pictures that take up lots of space on my hard drive.  I throw some of them online (I use Flickr personally), but am faced with the growing backup/archive dilemma (since I don’t currently trust any online service enough).  I’ll never delete them, since I don’t want to risk losing a single “memory”, and I’m terrified of a hard drive failure, so I need a backup.  I have a networked hard drive (currently a Maxtor Shared Storage Plus, but I’m about to migrate to an Infrant NV+), but frankly that’s still not enough for me because I live in San Francisco and one quick natural disaster and my backup’s gone too.  This spirals on from here…

So now I have all these pictures, what the heck am I supposed to do with them? I certainly can’t email them all to anybody, there’s just too many.  SO I need to pick a few here and there and share them explicitly.  I can print them or make a nice album (with Shutterfly).  I can make a t-shirt, hat, thong, or mug (with CafePress).  I can buy a relative a Presto-enabled printer, and send prints of my favorite pictures as I take them (full review of Presto coming soon – I think it’s a great concept, and I hope the implementation is as clean as it should be – if you haven’t heard of them, go to presto.com).

These are all good solutions for me sharing with others, but none really address me consuming my own photos on an ongoing basis.  I’ve liked the concept of a digital picture frame for years, but only now is the category actually emerging.  I noticed on Dave Zatz’ blog today a link to a recent report stating over 1.5MM units were sold in 2006.  Personally, I don’t really believe these numbers, it just sounds much too high and there’s a lack of sources from both the retail and manufacturer side.  But I do believe that this is a rapidly growing category that is poised for explosive growth.  For a glimpse into my “ultimate” digital picture frame, check out my post this week on NETGEAR’s blog.

I interact with a lot of different bloggers, ranging from the “A-listers” (yes, you exist, and it’s okay, just stop denying it) to others barely out of the gates with their own blogs.  While it seems quite common to hear complaints about how PR firms should treat bloggers, I think bloggers could use a little advice as well on how to work within the marketing and communications industry.

This list is a second part to another one I wrote, aimed at PR People: 10 Thoughts on Improving Blogger Relations.

Incidentally, while some seem to loathe the term blogosphere, I like it.  Maybe it’s something that’ll fade away down the road, but for now, it’s here, and I use it pretty liberally.  Sorry ’bout that.

1. Respect the efforts.  This is probably the most important point I’d like to make: like it or not, we are right now in the midst of a huge amount of flux in the marketing and journalism worlds.  The rules are changing, and changing fast.  Sure we can all want every PR firm on the planet to instantly adapt to the blogosphere and they should all “just get it” but that’s simply unrealistic, and more to the point, it’s unfair.  If someone from a PR firm approaches you and is clearly making an effort to reach out to you as an individual blogger, give them a little respect for that.  Want to make a change or improve their relations, well, give them feedback.  You’d be surprised how far it might go.
2. Keep your ego in check. I read a lot of bloggers who want to be treated “extra special” all the time because of who they are or how big their readership is.  As much as I urge my clients to learn about and reach out to the blogosphere, I also give caution on understanding exactly how big the readership is.  Only the top-tier bloggers have audiences that truly warrant extra-special treatment.  Don’t act like some bigshot just because you have a few thousand readers a day, it just makes you look like you’ll take extra work to manage.  And from the other side of the business, when a PR firm has to pick and choose who they want to spend their time and resources managing, it’s going to be the “best bang for the buck” people, not the “pains in the rears” who can’t justify the efforts. 
3. PR people are human too.  PR teams typically work long hours.  When big planned news hits, they may have worked around the clock to get it out on message and on time.  When big unplanned news hits, their lives are in chaos.  Trade shows? Fuhgedaboutit.  It’s not an excuse for rude or bad behavior on their part (which is unexcusable in my book), but remember that the person you are dealing with might be juggling literally dozens of conversations on an issue and might just mix up a detail here or there, or might forget to return your email within an hour.  Save the ‘tude for when you are on a real deadline – it’ll get you a lot further. The more mindful you are of what’s going on in their world, the better a job you’ll do at becoming a trusted resource in their eyes. 
4. Learn the rules, and play by them. If a firm’s policy is to give review units for only 30 days, then expect the products back, it is up to you to mark your calendar.  They aren’t babysitters.  Ask for permission before posting emails, don’t assume you can just do whatever you want.  Blogging is not a license to do whatever you want in life – you can certainly request special/different treatment, but you must accept that you aren’t going to get absolutely everything you ask for!  While on the subject, it certainly wouldn’t hurt for you to start reading the occasional press release – it’s not the perfect form of communications, but you’ll sound a lot smarter if you avoid asking questions answered clearly within the release!
5. Respect embargos.  I can’t stress this one well enough, so I’ll keep it short and simple:  you can either become known as a trustable outlet, or not.  Whichever one makes more sense to you, go for it, and don’t be surprised at the ramifications (either way).
6. Be mindful of long-term relationships.  PR people are used to building relationships with journalists they work with.  They understand who covers which kinds of stories.  They know who is more likely to be accomodating of quirky products.  They also tend to have long memories and share with each other.  Obviously you can treat these relationships however you want, but the more you invest into it, the better you’ll get treated in the long term.
7. Position your blog well.  Are you trying to be a “first scoop” site?  You want to have in-depth reviews?  Cover all the news of a particular niche?  Whatever you like to do with your blog is your prerogative, now make sure you position those goals clearly to the PR firms that approach you.  If you rarely/never write reviews, don’t be afraid to tell a firm you’d rather get the scoop than the product.  Easy hint here: make sure your about page talks through this!
8. Create stories and pitch them.  Once you’ve created some relationships with PR teams, it’s okay to reach out to them.  For example, maybe you want to compare two MP3 players – tell your PR contacts what you are planning to write about, when it’s going live, and what aspects of the products you want to compare.  This is actually a great method of furthering your relationships with PR firms, as it makes you a lot more interesting in their eyes (being “another gadget site that shows the latest in gadget news” is a lot less interesting these days).
9. Be mindful of being negative.  This doesn’t apply to everyone, but if you are new or an “up-and-coming” blogger, be very thoughtful before you go on some rampage.  If you tear apart some product or service, don’t expect them to reach out to you in the future.  It’s not to say you can’t be honest or critical, but be aware of what you are writing, and make sure it’s something you can stand behind in the long term.  Nobody wants you to say you loved a product you really didn’t like, but you can most certainly use your discretion before writing a post on “it’s the single worst gadget ever made, they should order a recall, dismantly every one by hand, then throw them into an acid pit to ensure nobody ever rebuilds the device the same way ever again”. You may want to consider notifying your PR contact that you had a bad experience or generally didn’t like a product before you go live, and constructive feedback is typically welcomed.
10. Set expectations.  If you’ve begged and pleaded with a company to get a review unit, then take 180 days to write a review, you probably aren’t going to reap those rewards.  When a company offers to send me something to test out, I try (yes, try, because I’m not perfect either!) to let them know when I think a review will go live.  The better a job you do at managing expectations, the better they’ll think of you for future news items.

As a comment here, don’t forget that many of us (not all, I know) may have full-time jobs, and blogging is just something we “felt like doing” one day.  Maybe it’ll become a career for you, maybe you’ll give it up next week.  Expecting the entire PR/marketing industry to make a complete overhaul to their world in the span of a year or two to accomodate us isn’t exactly fair.  Change is afoot, and happening all around us right now, but don’t forget that it takes time.  My personal belief is I’d rather try to change the system from within than sit on the side and yell and scream about how stupid everyone else is…

To me, part of what’s so exciting about blogging is the reflection of the individual.  While I’ve clearly outlined some recommendations above on how to better interact with PR staff, I hope you understand this is about maximizing your potential as a blogger.  I’ve worked in marketing departments before and have personally engaged in blogger outreach and I can say this: it ain’t easy stuff. 

It’s not exactly a new topic (see similar suggestions from Ryan Block, Lee Odden, Guy Kawasaki, Mike Arrington, Brian Solis, Tom Foremski, or Ken Yarmosh), but it’s one that I seem to get asked about a lot, so I figured I’d do my own diggbaiting Top Ten List on the topic. 

Also, this is one of two articles on the topic, the other is for the bloggers: 10 Thoughts on Working With PR Firms.

1. Read the blog.  You don’t have to subscribe and read all the time, but take 2 minutes to scan even the last week’s worth of posts before approaching a blogger.  Whether we admit it or not, most some amount of blogging is ego-driven, so showing us that you read the content we write can make a huge difference in the response you’ll get.
2. Have a goal.  Not every blogger is the same in the content they’ll write.  For example, I enjoy hands-on work with products but rarely just cover a product announcement, whereas other blogs prefer the opposite.  So if you want a review, make sure the blogger you are approaching actually writes reviews!
3. Approach bloggers by name.  I rarely, if ever, respond to “Dear Editor” or unaddressed emails.  “Dear Jeremy” tends to get my attention over 90% of the time.  If you have the time to add me to your mailing list, you should have the time to add my name to it.
4. Augment the press release.  The PR people who get my attention are the ones who add a few sentences or a paragraph to the body of the email in advance of the copy-and-pasted PR text.  The best ones take the time to tell me why they are sending me the release, especially if it’s in context to something I’ve covered before.  Many bloggers don’t like the conventional press release, so if you want to target them, you need to stay conscientious of this.
5. Be ready for follow-up.  You have to be ready for us to respond to you and ask questions.  More importantly, you must have review units ready for bloggers.  I can’t stress this one enough – if you send me a release about a new product and don’t respond to my email asking for a review unit, I never cover it.  Even worse is when a firm sends me a product announcement, I respond with interest, and the rep asks me to tell them more about my blog! My recommendation here is if you aren’t going to let bloggers have review units/samples/freebies, then you probably shouldn’t bother them with your announcement.  Insert your own “cake and eat it too” metaphor.
6. Categorize the blog.  Not all tech bloggers are the same.  Got a cool new digital camera?  You probably should approach Thomas Hawk before Dave Zatz or Mike Arrington.  Got a new Web service?  Hit up Mike, not the others.  New DVR or other home convergence device?  Dave is your guy.  Sure there are a lot of “tech generalists” out there too, but even they have their home turfs.  I, for example, do cover some Web services, but tend to focus more on consumer electronics and gadgetry.
7. Build relationships.  PR firms tend to emphasize their strong relationships with key journalists such as Gary Krakow, David Pogue, Ed Baig, etc.  These are relationships built over time and are key to the longevity of the firms and the individuals working there.  You should put the same energy into your blogger relationships, or else not bother at all. Another important point here – if you’ve established an embargo on a topic, and you lift it early, it’s your responsibility to notify the bloggers too!
8. Do your homework.  Most blogs have an ‘about’ page, in which you’ll discover the blogger’s full-time job (assuming it isn’t blogging), region of the country/world where they live, topics they prefer to cover, how they’d like to be contacted (bonus tip: IM or email is almost always the answer, not the phone), etc.  Read this and understand it.  Furthermore, doing a little background research will quickly tell you whether or not the blogger is good at keeping secrets/embargos (some do, some don’t – learn the difference).
9. Understand their influence and influencers.  Something I tell all of my clients is to get to know the domino effects of bloggers and their circles.  I’ll use my blog as an example again: on a relative scale my readership is low in quantity, but extremely high in qualiy.  Nothing in PR is guaranteed, but it’s probably a lot cheaper, faster, and easier to get me to read something than the “top” bloggers out there (regardless of whether or not there is an A-list), and it’ll probably catch their attention faster to see me write about it than for you to inundate them with story requests.  The really good news is there’s lots of other influential, mid-tier bloggers like me out there to approach!
10. Manage your stories.  If you want to send me something, great, but let me know in advance what your expectations are.  Do you want the unit back? If so, when?  Also, am I going to need anything to get the product working?  If so, what, and did you send me that too?  When I was at Sling Media, we made sure that we know about someone’s home network and TV setup before we sent them a unit!  For example, anyone who follows my blog knows I do not personally own an iPod, and probably should ask me how I’ll review an iPod accessory before they send me one!  Furthermore, stay in touch with us after you’ve sent something – is it working for us?  Do we like it? Also, as Ben from EngadgetHD reminds me, it’s fairly likely we aren’t working on “some” deadline, bloggers are typically in “I need this now” mode, so keep that in the back of your head!

If you’ve managed to read all the way through here, you’ve probably noticed a recurring theme around being involved with the blogger you are targetting.  We don’t have news bureaus scanning the wire.  We (typically) don’t have assistants to help us manage our time.  We probably have other jobs that are time-consuming.  More than anything else, my central theme is this: if you want to target a blogger, you must treat them with respect.  I’m not talking about butt-kissing here, I’m talking simple respect.