I know a lot of PR firms have taken a while to accept bloggers and blogging as a new form of media, but few can deny that it’s now an essential part of spreading news, building buzz, and reaching clients, customers, and people in general. Believe it or not, I can pretty much boil blogger relations down to two words, which, incidentally, also could also serve as the blogger credo: be real. Here are a few friendly guidelines on how (not) to pitch your news to a blogger (but this increasingly also probably applies to any other kind of journalist), in order from first contact to maintaining a relationship:

  1. Introduce yourself – If we haven’t met, say hello! Most bloggers — myself included — are often pretty easy to get a hold of. Believe it or not, I’m a regular guy and I’m not out to destroy your company or your client. If you want to call my attention to something, drop me a line, say hi above the release you’re about to send; don’t worry, I won’t bite (unless you’re with the RIAA or MPAA — even then, probably not).
  2. Read the site – I’ll be honest, I can tell in about 30 seconds whether someone who calls reads or has read the site. Usually because they’re calling about something I couldn’t possibly care less about (a new e-holiday event invite service?). You don’t have to be an Engadget fan — I don’t even care if you think Engadget is any good — but save us both the time and trouble by doing a cursory amount of research.
  3. Email is good, IM is better – I didn’t mention phone. Why? Because I don’t really have a lot of time to take calls. I live in email and IM, not with my head attached to my mobile — which is why email is good, and if you’re someone I can trust, IM is better. (Side note: when my email address changes and I ask to not be emailed somewhere any more, please take note!)
  4. Please don’t call five minutes later – You’d think it goes without saying, but please don’t followup call five minutes after you email. Unless you want me not to look at your press release if I haven’t already, because that’s a pretty good way.
  5. Feel free to pass my contact info around – On Engadget, for example, we don’t publish our contact information on the page — we already get enough bad spam (as opposed to good PR spam), but we’re still easy to find or contact. So don’t worry about sending around our contact info to relevant coworkers and colleagues, but please…
  6. Don’t just add me to your lists – I’m happy to be on email lists — we all are. It’s a great way of getting information in real time. But don’t add me to your list willy nilly, especially if we’ve never had any kind of contact.
  7. Email from a live address – You’d think this goes without saying, but shockingly it does not! Don’t ever fire off a boilerplate PR email blast from a non-live address. And really don’t compound the problem by not including relevant contacts in the release. Man alive!
  8. Don’t “pitch” me – If you start an email with “story idea”, “story pitch”, “hot tip”, or something similar, I’m going to delete it before I even read it. You just told me I’m not smart enough to think up my own stories, and are standing by to tell me how you want it written. No, thanks.
  9. Remove me from your lists when I ask – I had to ask this PR guy Andy Marken to remove me from three of his Markencom PR email lists (none of which I signed up for) a grand total of nine times. Seriously, nine times. The likelihood of my ever writing about something he sends me is basically nil. Learn from Andy.
  10. Followups are ok, within reason – A followup a couple days later is cool, it’s possible perhaps I missed your first email. A followup a couple hours later is not cool. See also #4.
  11. Don’t ignore me when I say something you don’t like – It’s my job, and the job of any self-respecting (citizen-)journalist to be skeptical and brutally honest. Don’t take it personally when you or your client make a crappy product, and I say as much. Ignoring me later will only make things worse for both parties.
  12. Don’t ignore me because I didn’t write about your whatever – Seriously, we can’t write about everything in our scope (although we try!). You don’t have to stop communicating with me just because I didn’t write up your last widget, we still cool!
  13. My editorial is not for sale – Everybody has different editorial policies, but if you want to make sure I never, ever pay attention to you again, send an email asking for a writeup “in exchange” for a product or service. Sorry, I don’t want your product and I don’t want your junket. I do, however, want to have a real relationship with you.
  14. Don’t only get in touch when you need something – There’s nothing that drives me more crazy than a rep that refuses to give me the time of day — until they want something, or they aren’t happy with something I wrote. That’s not how you are with your friends and colleagues, is it?

Hopefully that didn’t come off too grouchy. If it did, see #11.

So, did I miss anything?