What Goes Into A Blogger Outreach Campaign?
Once you decide that blogger outreach is a marketing tactic that you’re going to embrace, there is a strategy and a campaign to plan. Knowing what goes into a good blogger outreach campaign can help you plan more effectively. You can then tackle the process, step by step.
- Identifying Your Goals – Ah, you probably assumed that the first step was going to be to find relevant bloggers. We’ll get to that soon, promise. The first step of any strategy must be to establish a goal. So, what do you want to achieve from your campaign? Increased traffic? Great, how much of an increase? Increased sales? What’s the percentage increase or dollar goal? Growing your list? Awesome, how many new subscribers? Establish a measurable, and specific, goal.
- Finding Relevant Bloggers – The second step of your campaign is to research and find relevant bloggers in your niche. There are many different tools and tactics to accomplish this. Consider giving this step a week or two of work. You might outsource some of it to an assistant who can do the research for you. Identify the criteria you want/need in a blogger. Look at their audience; who is following them? Look at the size of their following and explore how often they post, what they post about and if they’ve blogged about your competition.
- Building Relationships – This can be a time-consuming part of your outreach campaign. You have a few options here. You can build a relationship with them by following them on social media, engaging with them on social media, and their blog, and establishing a rapport. You can also send them a pitch email or message.
- Your Pitch – Whether you build a relationship before you pitch, or you send a cold pitch, this process is the meat of the outreach campaign. You’ll want to introduce yourself and state your case. What are you offering and what do they have to gain by promoting your blog? Are you asking for them to review a product? Are you asking for a guest blogging opportunity? Are you offering a joint venture? This is the reason why it’s important to have a goal established before you get too far into your campaign.
- Taking Action – Once you have a few connections and your chosen bloggers are talking about you, work hard to not only track those efforts and results, but to also further build your relationships with them. Relationships and partnerships with other bloggers can be quite profitable for the both of you. Seize the momentum.
Once you’ve implemented your first blogger outreach campaign, you’ll be able to repeat the results. It’s an effective strategy and it’s one that can reap results for many years. Consider starting small, for example reaching out to three to five different bloggers, and build on your success.
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