Career News 24/7: The Cynical Girl: InfluenceHR: How to Pitch to Bloggers

Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Cynical Girl: InfluenceHR: How to Pitch to Bloggers

Posted: 05 Mar 2013 03:45 AM PST

My good friend George asked me to collaborate with him on a project called InfluenceHR.

Don’t worry. I am not trying to sell you anything. You are not the target audience*. But you should read about it, anyway.

George is launching a symposium for executives who work in the HR technology space. His event will feature the latest HR marketing trends, and the speakers will offer exclusive insight. And there will be lots of talk about go-to-market strategies.

And oh yeah I am working with the speakers and driving some of the content and agenda. I am sorta excited to work with George on this project because I have all this experience as a Human Resources lady. Then I developed my skills as a marketing strategist. And now I get to see it all come together.

One of the sessions I am most excited about will be moderated by Lance Haun. He will lead a panel of seasoned journalists and PR professionals who will talk about what works and what doesn’t when pitching to journalists and bloggers (like me).

Honestly, marketing people should know how to pitch. Many of them don’t. There. Are. Best. Practices. Yes, it is about building relationships, offering a compelling story and demonstrating how your product will solve a problem. But there is a specific way to pitch. And that rarely happens.

Lance recently highlighted some of the garbage that is sent to bloggers. (There are worse examples. He was being kind.) So if you work in marketing, please slow down with your blogger outreach program. Take a little time with your pitch. If you don’t understand the basic components of a PR pitch to digital journalists and bloggers, do your homework or pay an expert. Stop clogging my inbox with your smelly pitches.

Yes, you have to do this.