5 Tips for Getting a Blogger To Review Your Product

If you are a blogger with traffic, you become a person of interest to anybody out there looking to attract eyeballs to their product. I get requests routinely for both of my main blogs to check out and review various products. Unfortunately for them, I don’t really respond to most of them. Why?

Andy, from CloudBerryLab (a file explorer for Amazon S3), recently posted a comment here which asks:

How would you recommend to approach bloggers if I want them to review my product and get the answer?

The question stood out because I KNOW it can be frustrating for him (and anybody else looking for blog publicity). Many times, bloggers won’t respond unless they’re desperate. The more successful bloggers might not respond.

Put Yourself Into The Mindset of the Blogger

Newer bloggers are usually flattered when a company takes enough interest to ask for a review. This is why newer bloggers are usually much easier to get publicity from.

The veteran bloggers with more significant traffic aren’t as easy. Why? Because we suffer from sheer information overload.

Over at PCMech, we field several requests every single day from companies looking for coverage. Here on this blog, I don’t get quite as many, but I still get quite a bit. When you combine that with all of the regular email I get, social media input, a stacked to-do list – the simple truth of the matter is that most emails looking for product coverage end up being just part of the general din.

So, how do you get noticed? How do you get a blogger to want to shed any light on your product?

Be Personal

I get emails from companies that look like form emails with my name injected into it. My first reaction is that they are just peppering the blogosphere with emails looking for bloggers to bite on their bait. No thanks! You need me more than I need you, so don’t waste my time with form email.

So, if you want a blogger to take notice, be personal. No form mails. Actually send a real email to the blogger that is actually personable.

On a related note, build a relationship with the blogger. You might consider emailing the blogger and simply offering something of help. Don’t pitch your product at first. If your very first email is simply a pitch, it is like a blogger’s version of speed-dating. Take the time to just introduce yourself and offer something of assistance.

Connect on Twitter before ever emailing the blogger and take the time to build some form or reality.

Be Helpful

Yes, be HELPFUL to the blogger. What do most bloggers want? Content. Publicity.

So, perhaps offer a guest post to the blog. Make it unique and relevant and not a sales pitch. You can link to your site in the author description that goes with the post, but the post should be pretty much pure content that is helpful to that blog’s audience. See this checklist for guest posting on other blogs.

Offer publicity. I know it is ironic because you’re probably contacting the blogger for publicity yourself. However, is there an opportunity for mutual back scratching? For example, do you link to press coverage? If so, let the blogger know that you’ll link to their review on your site in the press section. That helps the blogger’s credibility and bloggers like that.

Be Relevant

It goes without saying, but make damn sure that your product is very relevant to the audience of the blog you’re contacting. An irrelevant product pitch is likely going to just be deleted by the blogger without a reply. That’s what I do.

Over on PCMech, I’ve got some PR agency who emails me press releases for books which have nothing at all to do with computers or tech. It is completely stupid and that PR agency is obviously run by a bunch of incompetent people. Don’t be like that.

Also, look at the blog’s content and see if they even DO reviews. Not all blogs do.

Be Unique

Don’t have your email come off as typical corporate drivel. Realize that this is marketing. You have to apply a few marketing rules to getting the attention of even one person. Does your email subject line invite curiosity to open the email? Does your email opening invite any kind of reality with the blogger or is it just a pitch fest?

As an example, I raised eyebrows on this blog several months ago by declaring Traffic Geyser a waste of time and money. I ended up getting a very well-written email from the CEO of Traffic Geyser, Mike Koenigs. It impressed me. Then, recently in Las Vegas, I met Mike in person. He obviously knew who I was. He singled me out in the middle of his presentation and made me look good. He also threw me a free Traffic Geyser t-shirt after his talk. The next day, I was wearing a Traffic Geyser t-shirt around Las Vegas. This was the same company I BASHED on this very blog and now I was a roaming billboard.

I was very impressed.

What can you do to stand out to bloggers? What can you provide them to get their attention?

Hopefully these tips will help you get more coverage by bloggers