blogger-outreach-for-pr-pros
DESCRIPTION
A presentation for the CIPR on influencer outreach with a focus on blogger outreach and an introduction to Inkybee.TRANSCRIPT
CIPR Scotland 18 April 2013
Are you speaking to Bloggers? Influencer Outreach for PR Pro’s
Hugh AndersonForth Metrics
Thursday, 2 May 13
Outline
• Context
• Why Blogs?
• The Benefits
• The Process
• Measurement
• Example
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The changing world:from this ...
• Traditional “paid” media
• Media relations
• Journalists
• Press clippings
• Control of the message and who distributes it
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The changing world:to this ...
• Digital media
• Social media
• Mobile
• Bloggers, influencers
• NO control of the message and who distributes it
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The changing world:consumer consumption
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The changing world:new media models
Source: previewnetworks.comThursday, 2 May 13
Marketing has changed
• Outbound marketing
• Inbound marketing
• Content marketing
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Lord LeverhulmeFounder of Unilever
“I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I’m not sure which half”
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• Cold calling
• Direct mail (press releases)
• Email ‘blasts’
• Print ads
• Radio and TV
Outbound marketingTrying to find your audience using;
Interruption
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• Through search
• Through social media
• Through blogging
Inbound marketingBeing found by your audience
Permission
Be visible to your audience using content
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• Be visible to your audience and attract them with content
• Think like a publisher
• Don’t be dull
• Educate, entertain - and be relevant
Content marketingTeach, don’t sell
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Why blogs matter: stats• 78% of internet users conduct product research online.
• Greater than 70% of consumers state that blogs affected their purchasing decisions.
• Trust in online customer opinions of 70%, vastly outstrips traditional media.
• Sources used to begin a search on branded products: 57% search engine.
• The average budget spent on company blogs & social media has nearly tripled in three years.
• There are more than 180 million blogs globally
Sources: Hubspot, Econsultancy, eMarketer, Nielsen
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Why blogs matter
• Earned media = Trust
• Consumer point of research
• Engine that drives ideas on the Internet
• The realm of experts
• Panda/Penguin updates
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Benefits of blogger outreach
• Precise: rifle-shot target audience
• Create loyal communities & brand advocates
• Reliable
• SEO performance
• Measurable: campaign & business
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Important points
• It's about developing relationships
• You need to be creating compelling content
• It's a two way process
• You have to have a lead capture strategy
• It requires an investment of time & energy
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Preparation
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Objectives
• Know your business objectives (how much money do you want in the bank by what date)
• How many physical conversions does this translate into (total money needed / unit cost price = conversions required)
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Example:
• Business Objective is to generate £4K of sales for ‘Our Well Received Debut Album’ by the end of July 2013.
• Campaign Objective is to get 571 people to download ‘Our Well Received Debut Album’ by the end of July 2013.
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Customers
• Know your target customers
• Who are the people who are going to deliver the business objectives by actually spending their cash?
• Where do these people ‘hang out’ on the Internet?
• Have some sort of a clue about why this audience is going to care about your offer
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Lead capture
• Every campaign requires a lead capture strategy.
• People don’t buy when you want them to buy. They buy when they’re ready to buy.
• Capture the leads and follow up with them
• Use a landing page
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Process
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Find the influencers
• Find the influential bloggers that your customers follow
• Estimate the visibility they might achieve for you
• Use this to estimate conversion rates based on reach. Are the numbers high enough to achieve the objectives?
• Big does not equal best; find the “magic middle”
• Assess engagement and other factors
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Reaching out• Be sane and be normal
• Follow on Twitter
• Read their blog (really)
• Retweet occasionally
• Get to understand them
• Comment sensibly once in a while
• Behave like a friend
• Keep a record of your level of interaction with them
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The content offer• Devise and create a compelling content
offering that will appeal in the strongest terms to your audience (customers and influencers)
• Teach, don’t sell
• Educate, entertain, and be relevant
• Think about the expertise you have and how it will help your target audience.
• Prepare a content strategy that includes anticipation
• No spammy emails or press releases!
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Types of content• Videos
• Infographics
• Ebooks
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Event invitations
• Samples
• Etc.But, make it really genuinely useful. And make it compelling.
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Putting it all together• Get your influencer friends to review content
• Even get them to contribute to it
• Then, plan a content release strategy
• Build up some anticipation
• Set a launch date
• Get you influencers lined up to talk about it
• Release, and watch the sales or leads come in
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But, to re-emphasise, success is based on developing relationships and putting effort
into making really useful content
Neither of these is too hard to achieve
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Measurement• Weekly meeting (not sit down!)
• Visibility achieved?
• Engagement achieved with the offer?
• Conversions to leads?
• Are the numbers going up?
• Discuss ideas to increase conversion
• Assign actions to improve now before next week
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Example
• ‘The Best Practice Guide for Effective Blogger Outreach’ eBook
• Released July 2012
• 12 main influencers
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In Conclusion
• Don’t be put off by nomenclature;
• Embrace digital outreach - it’s here to stay;
• Think strategic goals, not tactical gains;
• Compelling content/story is key;
• Be human - it’s about relationships;
• Demonstrate value.
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blog.forthmetrics.com
Hugh [email protected]@hughforth
Thank You!
www.inkybee.comhttps://www.facebook.com/inkybee.outreach
Thursday, 2 May 13