Reasons Why Bloggers don't want to Work with Brands
I was scrolling through my twitter feeds and my attention was caught to these few words
These two articles (click on Source for link) are written by Greg Goodson on 'The Hangar: A Rafflecopter Blog' few months ago. As a blogger myself, I would be intrigued and speed read through this interesting topic. I'm going to re-state the gist of the content and add in some of my opinion to share with my fellow friends, bloggers and etc.
Viral marketing or blogger outreach shown great prove that it is one of the great ways to get your brand known but sometime, brands will get bloggers rejecting an offer to work with them. I guess what we have to understand here is that not all bloggers will want to work with all brands, not all bloggers are desperate to get free goods from the brands. I have friends telling me to not blog for free because it will not only drop the blog sphere's market but also the blogger's blog market. Thus, brands will lay back and take advantage of the blogger industry by not providing equal return for advertorials. Of course, this is not the only reason why some bloggers don't want to work with brands.
In the part I of the article listed 6 reasons and here goes:
1. Your Product Don't Fit The Blogger's Niche
As the blogsphere is growing and getting even more condensed these days, bloggers learn to focus on the kind of things they want to blog about. Of course, as a brand, you would want to target and filter the bloggers you advertise with. It is ineffective if you just pick any random who-ha, brands must be targeting the same niche. I totally agree even through I blog a variety of topics but as my blog readers grows, I am slowly filtering my invites as well, not everything I would say yes to.
2. You are Not 'Personable, Yet Professional'
They say dealing with media and dealing with bloggers are different. So True! We like professional but also we love fun people. I personally do enjoy brands & PR who are able to talk and chat with us, it feels nice as we don't feel like "we are invited because you just want us to blog for you". Bloggers understand business is business but doesn't mean you have to be formal all the time.
3. You are Not Open Minded & Never Listen To what The Bloggers Has To Say.
Bloggers who are in the industry for long might have been working and partnered with many different brands before, thus are rather exposed to all types of marketing campaigns and approaches from myriad of companies. Sometimes is good for brands to be open-minded and willing to listen to ideas and suggestions that bloggers might have because brands might know what works for them but bloggers know what works for their blog. For me personally I like the way Murad Malaysia handles themselves as during the mingling session while we are having great food, they would listen to ideas that we have to offer that might help them to generate ideas for the next blogger session or so. Maybe because they are new in this blogger outreach thing but marketing constantly evolves thus to keep having fresh new ideas to help brands and bloggers, why not?
4. You Aren't Trustworthy
There are times some brands over-promise and under-deliver, it is not only annoying but upsetting to see brands lack of commitment towards the blogger just because, well, some thinks that we are "just bloggers". Brands will have to understand that the products also needs to be able to meet the expectations of the claims stated, not just talk or else it would be hard for blogger to blog and explain on negative comments in their blogs. What if we are the one being not trustworthy, brands would feel the same way.
5. You Don't have a Relevant Mission Statement
Personally, this doesn't really bothers me as I'm not an extremist advocate on things like Eco-friendly and stuff but it is a plus point if the company has that kind of mission statement. I understand companies wants to be able to give back to the community as it is goodwill and good CSR, it does no harm anyway.
6. You Don't Stand Behind your Product
So far, I have not encounter any brands who talks less about their products. Most of them are rather passionate on what they are trying to sell/market. Though, I do agree that it would make a bad impression because if brands themselves do not believe in their products, why should the bloggers.
7. Your Brand isn't Socially Minded/ Responsible/ Eco-friendly
Similar to no.5 in prior, I am not an extremist but tendency for me to support the brand for a good cause would likely be higher because I want t do my part to contribute to the community as well. There are some bloggers who blogs about eco-living and etc, so this might be more applicable to them, again, niche.
8. You Have Poor Email Etiquette
In the article, it is said that when you are emailing the blogger for the first time and you start of with "Dear Blogger" you are losing by a lot because it kinda feels like saying "I want to work with the blogger, but I don't care enough to look at their site to even find their first name". First impression failed as you don't seem to shown enough interest to want to get to know the blogger.
I personally agree and I've encountered this many times. I never really cared about this until I've read this article and it make sense. I was told by my executive in Genting while I was interning that impression counts, even in emails. If the person sending don't seem to care, why should you.
9. You are a Poor Communicator
"Wow, if my experience communicating with the brand is this bad, I shudder to think of the difficulties regular customers might encounter." he said in the article. In these era of technologies, everyone expects quick response time in everything including replying emails, facebook, twitter & etc. Nobody likes it when any brand takes their own sweet time to respond to an enquiry, even if you don't know the answer to their question, reply and let them know you've heard them and will check into the matter.
10. Your Brand has No Social Media Presence
This is sad, if brands really want to make it in the viral world, no social media presence will fail them even before they start. In the article stated that "this probably means that brands don't understand social media which also means that the same brands don't understand blog outreach fundamentals. Though, it is not very obvious in Malaysia because most of the time brands who approached Malaysian bloggers usually already have at least an FB page for the world to Like & be a Fan, so without realizing, most bloggers do want to check out FB pages of the brands that they are partnering with just to understand the brand better. Also it is because sometimes, bloggers would want to see if the new brand is legit.
11. You are Not Interested in Creating A Mutual Relationship
Brands have their targets to meet, equally for bloggers too. Blogger have goals too. It would be great for brands to help share the blogger's posts on their FB page or even in their website because when brands help bloggers to grow in readers, most likely bloggers would be appreciative and help brands grow as well. Plus, fans who liked the brand's FB page would love to read what blogger has to say on their brands. If bloggers are running a giveaway for the brand, they should support by sharing too.
12. You are Approaching Blogs Without a Clear, Organized Strategy
Brands should have a clear, organized strategy before forming a relationship with the bloggers. Communicating the plan with the bloggers will help bloggers to be less confuse on what brands want to do or achieve. If bloggers don't have a clear view of what brands want, they would blog a blurry post that might confuse the readers too. Fail marketing when brands fail to communicate effectively.
Again, I am sharing what I've read on http://blog.rafflecopter.com/. The blog writes good content sometimes that I feel is good knowledge if we are in this field.
xo,
My Twitter | My Bloglovin | My Nuffnangx
Viral marketing or blogger outreach shown great prove that it is one of the great ways to get your brand known but sometime, brands will get bloggers rejecting an offer to work with them. I guess what we have to understand here is that not all bloggers will want to work with all brands, not all bloggers are desperate to get free goods from the brands. I have friends telling me to not blog for free because it will not only drop the blog sphere's market but also the blogger's blog market. Thus, brands will lay back and take advantage of the blogger industry by not providing equal return for advertorials. Of course, this is not the only reason why some bloggers don't want to work with brands.
In the part I of the article listed 6 reasons and here goes:
1. Your Product Don't Fit The Blogger's Niche
As the blogsphere is growing and getting even more condensed these days, bloggers learn to focus on the kind of things they want to blog about. Of course, as a brand, you would want to target and filter the bloggers you advertise with. It is ineffective if you just pick any random who-ha, brands must be targeting the same niche. I totally agree even through I blog a variety of topics but as my blog readers grows, I am slowly filtering my invites as well, not everything I would say yes to.
2. You are Not 'Personable, Yet Professional'
They say dealing with media and dealing with bloggers are different. So True! We like professional but also we love fun people. I personally do enjoy brands & PR who are able to talk and chat with us, it feels nice as we don't feel like "we are invited because you just want us to blog for you". Bloggers understand business is business but doesn't mean you have to be formal all the time.
3. You are Not Open Minded & Never Listen To what The Bloggers Has To Say.
Bloggers who are in the industry for long might have been working and partnered with many different brands before, thus are rather exposed to all types of marketing campaigns and approaches from myriad of companies. Sometimes is good for brands to be open-minded and willing to listen to ideas and suggestions that bloggers might have because brands might know what works for them but bloggers know what works for their blog. For me personally I like the way Murad Malaysia handles themselves as during the mingling session while we are having great food, they would listen to ideas that we have to offer that might help them to generate ideas for the next blogger session or so. Maybe because they are new in this blogger outreach thing but marketing constantly evolves thus to keep having fresh new ideas to help brands and bloggers, why not?
4. You Aren't Trustworthy
There are times some brands over-promise and under-deliver, it is not only annoying but upsetting to see brands lack of commitment towards the blogger just because, well, some thinks that we are "just bloggers". Brands will have to understand that the products also needs to be able to meet the expectations of the claims stated, not just talk or else it would be hard for blogger to blog and explain on negative comments in their blogs. What if we are the one being not trustworthy, brands would feel the same way.
5. You Don't have a Relevant Mission Statement
Personally, this doesn't really bothers me as I'm not an extremist advocate on things like Eco-friendly and stuff but it is a plus point if the company has that kind of mission statement. I understand companies wants to be able to give back to the community as it is goodwill and good CSR, it does no harm anyway.
6. You Don't Stand Behind your Product
So far, I have not encounter any brands who talks less about their products. Most of them are rather passionate on what they are trying to sell/market. Though, I do agree that it would make a bad impression because if brands themselves do not believe in their products, why should the bloggers.
7. Your Brand isn't Socially Minded/ Responsible/ Eco-friendly
Similar to no.5 in prior, I am not an extremist but tendency for me to support the brand for a good cause would likely be higher because I want t do my part to contribute to the community as well. There are some bloggers who blogs about eco-living and etc, so this might be more applicable to them, again, niche.
8. You Have Poor Email Etiquette
Trust me, I will sling shot your mail if I can do it virtually.
In the article, it is said that when you are emailing the blogger for the first time and you start of with "Dear Blogger" you are losing by a lot because it kinda feels like saying "I want to work with the blogger, but I don't care enough to look at their site to even find their first name". First impression failed as you don't seem to shown enough interest to want to get to know the blogger.
I personally agree and I've encountered this many times. I never really cared about this until I've read this article and it make sense. I was told by my executive in Genting while I was interning that impression counts, even in emails. If the person sending don't seem to care, why should you.
9. You are a Poor Communicator
"Wow, if my experience communicating with the brand is this bad, I shudder to think of the difficulties regular customers might encounter." he said in the article. In these era of technologies, everyone expects quick response time in everything including replying emails, facebook, twitter & etc. Nobody likes it when any brand takes their own sweet time to respond to an enquiry, even if you don't know the answer to their question, reply and let them know you've heard them and will check into the matter.
10. Your Brand has No Social Media Presence
This is sad, if brands really want to make it in the viral world, no social media presence will fail them even before they start. In the article stated that "this probably means that brands don't understand social media which also means that the same brands don't understand blog outreach fundamentals. Though, it is not very obvious in Malaysia because most of the time brands who approached Malaysian bloggers usually already have at least an FB page for the world to Like & be a Fan, so without realizing, most bloggers do want to check out FB pages of the brands that they are partnering with just to understand the brand better. Also it is because sometimes, bloggers would want to see if the new brand is legit.
11. You are Not Interested in Creating A Mutual Relationship
Brands have their targets to meet, equally for bloggers too. Blogger have goals too. It would be great for brands to help share the blogger's posts on their FB page or even in their website because when brands help bloggers to grow in readers, most likely bloggers would be appreciative and help brands grow as well. Plus, fans who liked the brand's FB page would love to read what blogger has to say on their brands. If bloggers are running a giveaway for the brand, they should support by sharing too.
12. You are Approaching Blogs Without a Clear, Organized Strategy
Brands should have a clear, organized strategy before forming a relationship with the bloggers. Communicating the plan with the bloggers will help bloggers to be less confuse on what brands want to do or achieve. If bloggers don't have a clear view of what brands want, they would blog a blurry post that might confuse the readers too. Fail marketing when brands fail to communicate effectively.
-The end-
I hope this doesn't bore you out as it is different from what my blog is all about but I want to share this because I know many bloggers are facing the same issue with brands who doesn't understand blog outreach.
I do it because
My Twitter | My Bloglovin | My Nuffnangx
Comments
Advertisers should really pay heed to blog posts like these. I realized a lot of companies in Malaysia are extremely snobbish and taking bloggers for granted.
I blogged about bloggers and advertisers as well
http://ericleeh.com/bloggers-and-advertisers/
Cindy, lols is true, i do get abit annoyed when they reply so late. :(
Msxeroz, Thanks for reading!
Eric, Agreed!