Oct 01
The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)
by Kaitlyn Wilkins
Category: Best Practices, How-To, Influencers, Research & Insights
The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics below is the revised version of our Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics — Take 1. It is the result of a two-week collaborative discussion by bloggers and individuals in the PR/social media industry.
The original Code of Ethics can be found here, and the key trends and take aways from the resulting dialogue live here.
Ogilvy PR’s Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics
OUR APPROACH
- We reach out to bloggers because we respect your influence and feel that we might have something that is “remarkable” which could be of interest to you and/or your audience.
- We will only propose blogger outreach as a tactic if it complements our overall strategy. We will not recommend it as a panacea for every social media campaign.
OUTREACH
- Before we email you, we will check out your blog’s About, Contact and Advertising page in an effort to see if you have blatantly said you would not like to be contacted by PR/Marketing companies. If so, we’ll leave you alone.
- We will always be transparent and clearly disclose who we are and whom we work for in our outreach email.
- If you tell us there is a specific way you want to be reached, we’ll adhere to those guidelines.
- We won’t pretend to have read your blog if we haven’t, and we’ll make a best effort to spend time reading the blogs we plan on contacting.
- In our email we will convey why we think you, in particular, might be interested in our client’s product, issue, event or message.
- NEW! As available, we will provide you with links to third party information/blog coverage of the campaign we are pitching to you. (via Web Strategy with Jeremiah and MC Milker)
- Our initial outreach email will always include a link to Ogilvy PR’s Blog Outreach Code of Ethics.
BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP
- NEW! Whenever possible, we will articulate how blogger outreach, and your blog in particular, fits in with our overall campaign strategy. (via Neville Hobson)
- NEW! We will seek to present you with a range of opportunities to work together around a campaign, so that you can create the best experience possible for your audience. We acknowledge that, when it comes to knowing your audience, you are the expert.
- NEW! We’ll let you know who we are by providing you with a link to some background or bio information on the individual contacting you. (via 93 Colors)
- We won’t leave you hanging. If your contact at Ogilvy PR is going out of town or will be unreachable, we will provide you with an alternate point of contact.
- We encourage you to disclose our relationship with you to your readers, and will never ask you to do otherwise.
- You are entitled to blog on information or products we give you in any way you see fit. (Yes, you can even say you hate it.)
- NEW! We understand that when you agree to blog about a campaign it’s not going to happen overnight. We’ll work with you to develop a reasonable time line for posting that fits with your schedule - and we won’t pester you to put up your post. (via LA Daddy)
- If you don’t want to hear from us again, we will place you on our Do Not Contact list — which we will share with the rest of Ogilvy PR.
- If you are initially interested in the campaign, but don’t respond to one of our emails, we will follow up with you no more than once. If you don’t respond to us at all, we’ll leave you alone.
COMPENSATION & PRODUCT ACCESS
- NEW! If we reach out to you with news about a product, campaign or issue, we will not provide monetary compensation, because we believe it is unethical to “buy” favorable reviews and not want to appear as if we are.
- NEW! If you have advertising opportunities on your blog, we will counsel our clients to consider purchasing advertising as a way to reach your readers. We will make it clear, however, that paying for advertising does not mean that you will post about the campaign or that, if you do, you will do so in a way that is favorable to them.
- NEW! If we ask you to review a product and, therefore, provide you with the product to enable you to “experience” it, we will ask that you be transparent and reveal that you have been given the product temporarily, or permanently.
- NEW! If we engage you as an advisor on a specific project, we will consider providing you with compensation (agreed upon at the start of the project). This compensation will solely be for your time as an advisor and will not include an expectation that you will write about the project — favorably or unfavorably.
The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics is an ever-evolving document, if you feel that we missed something, or have a new item to add — let us know by commenting on this post or emailing Kaitlyn Wilkins (Kaitlyn.Wilkins@ogilvypr.com) and Alison Byrne Fields (Alison.Byrnefields@ogilvypr.com)
24 Responses to “The Ogilvy PR Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics (Take 2)”
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- @eshintaro @kazzwatabe 確かに。既存／新規の媒体に縛られない展開ができる今こそ面白いよね！
about 33 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - @kazzwatabe おっとっとｗ
about 35 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - @kazzwatabe @eshintaro うらやましいなぁ。笑
about 36 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - やっぱ「投げ銭」のコンセプトでますよねー (#nlabo live at http://ustre.am/ndtC )
about 38 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - モノに宿るストーリーをコンテンツに昇華させる？ (#nlabo live at http://ustre.am/ndtC )
about 39 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - @eshintaro @kazzwatabe 企画して草の根で呼びかけていかなきゃなので、そうかもw あとは、日本に閉じないで、メディアを噛ませられれば…面白い
about 39 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - influential dinner @ armando's last night: flattered i'm now being followed by BIG TEX (@texyumsdesigner) and Mexican Food (@mexicanfood).
about 40 minutes ago from rcaggiano - あ、スコアリングシート自体を参加者で作っちゃえばいいのか。
about 42 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - @lero003 そう、そこに戻るｗ
about 43 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - @kazzwatabe 一法人がやる代物じゃないね。（笑）社会実験的なもんか。。
about 44 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - @miyasho88 スコアリングシート的なものがあるとスムーズになりそうだね。その設計が恐ろしく大変そうだけど…
about 46 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - このust見て「ブドウ糖差し入れたい」とか「ピザお届けしたい」ってコメントがヒントになりそうな個人的な予感。。。 (#nlabo live at http://ustre.am/ndtC )
about 47 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - まぁ、仮に無形物となるとリレーしやすいのは「一日一善」的な、代わりに何かをやってあげる系が想像しやすいなー (#nlabo live at http://ustre.am/ndtC )
about 49 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - @kazzwatabe ですよねー
about 50 minutes ago from kenmountnorth - Interesting! 10 Useful USB Thumb Drive Tricks. http://bit.ly/bUtuYc (via @smashingmag)
about 51 minutes ago from violetile
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October 1st, 2007 at 11:42 am
Oustanding as usual. Very insightful discussions all around and applause from here on a revised Code. I would be interested in your take on the timing issue discussed at socialmediaexplorer.com today. What happens when your new client’s timing demands prevent appropriate relationship/dialog-building front end work.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Nice set of guidelines, I’ve given you a mention in a post scheduled to appear on the Sciencebase.com site on Friday at 11h00 EST.
http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/how-not-to-grab-the-blogosphere.html
In it I discuss an incident in which every single one of your guidelines was broken.
db
October 16th, 2007 at 12:26 am
I like the concept of the code of ethics, but is it self serving? Blogger ethics are no different than regular ethics.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:30 am
I want to thank you all for your dialogue; it has been tremendously helpful. The PR company I work for is getting ready to pitch to bloggers for the very first time, and your code of ethics and comments provide the exact information we need to get started. I’ve read all the posts and checked out other’s mentioned by name to gather as much info as I can. We’ve yet to get our own blog going, our client has had theirs up and running for a while. Anyway, thank you!
Rose
April 26th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Excellent post. It’s great to see that Ogilvy PR is intentionally and thoughtfully working on collaborations with bloggers.
May 14th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Thank you for this great post.
Ethics are universal, but the clarity is very helpful nevertheless. It has provided the inspiration and foundation for our own Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics which we are currently formally implementing.
Much appreciated.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Yes Ogilvy - certainly a very insightful set of ethics..
If followed of course
http://blogtillyoudrop.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/pr-pitches/
October 19th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
@Jack PoP - Sorry you were displeased with an email you received. We’ve passed along your feedback, and will put you on the UK office’s do not email list.
If you have specific suggestions of what we could add to the code, please let us know as it is a living breathing doc we’re always looking to improve.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:25 pm
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March 25th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Great foundational piece that sets the stage for more authentic and therefore, I believe, successful conversations and insights.
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July 10th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Great job with the updated Code!
You should add these to Scribd so the community can easily share the Code around. It is something that anyone pitching bloggers should adopt or use as the foundation for their own Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics.