Bloggers and PRs: how to pitch, how to receive

Rich Leigh has written an excellent piece on the art, science and occasional nightmare of PRs and marketers pitching to bloggers – including the rarely mentioned obverse, namely tips on how to respond when someone is pitching to you.

The gems in the piece include this:

Be friendly: I’ve worked with many bloggers who have, at least at first, treated me with very little respect no matter how targeted my approach. If you appreciate that marketers can be of benefit to you too, in all the ways I mentioned above and more, you’ll hopefully appreciate that respect is a two-way street. The junior agency employee contacting you might one day soon be in charge of the marketing for a company you’d very much like to work with.

Don’t be a walkover: Some marketers will, conversely, treat you with little respect. If a pitch is irrelevant, you can either ignore it or politely tell the marketer so. Some will try to ensure you write positively about their clients. Again, you don’t have to put up with that. The second they contact you or send you a product to review, I believe marketers relinquish the right to dictate what you can and can’t say. For instance, I know certain bloggers or journalists wouldn’t like some of my clients’ products or services, so I just don’t contact them with them.

The full piece is well worth a read and you can find it here.