Piaras Kelly PR – Public Relations in Ireland

Assumptions are the termites of relationships – Henry Winkler

PR practitioners are starting to pitch bloggers as well as journalists to write about their clients these days, not always with great success. One of the topics I’ve seen come through in feedback is that how can a Public Relations practitioner pitch a blogger, if they themselves or the company they work for doesn’t have a blog? So my question is do you need a blog before you pitch a blogger?

My opinion is that they don’t. It’s like saying how can a PR practitioner pitch a journalist if they’re not a journalist themselves. However, before pitching a journalist they should know what the journalist writes about (i.e. sport or business), their working habits (i.e. deadlines or the fact that if it’s a Sunday title, the journalist typically won’t be in the office on Monday) and their interests (i.e. is their a particular field they are interested in within the sector they cover)

Now substitute the word journalist in the last paragraph for blogger. Any major differences? I don’t think so. Therefore in my opinion, having a blog isn’t a major necessity for pitching bloggers.

It obviously helps if you have one because it gives you a better understanding of the medium. From the outset you will inevitably get it wrong. I’m relatively new to the PR profession so I don’t have as good a relationship with journalists as some of my peers, but I’m always trying to improve. You can’t just pick up a phone and call the editor of the Irish Times on your first day and expect to get onto the front page. In the same respect PR practitioners shouldn’t be expected to have telepathic abilities and instantly know if a blogger wants to be solicited.

Rather than say that having a blog is a prerequisite for pitching a blogger, people should tell PR practitioners to subscribe to blogs relevant to themselves and their clients, and make contact with target bloggers to start the building blocks of what will hopefully turn into a good relationship.

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