360DigitalInfluence

I came to Ogilvy 360 DI — and social media strategy — via a slightly different route than most of my colleagues. In short, I was a longtime blogger (and journo) who’d become frustrated at how poorly blog outreach was being handled by brands that, under any other circumstance, would’ve been impeccable with their approach. They’d finessed relationships with the press and customers, but when it came to bloggers, they ended up botching it completely (clunky outreach, poor planning, uneven execution) — and as a result, not capitalizing on all that blogs and social media could offer. Ogilvy was the first place I saw that truly got that blogger relationships were not a one-size-fits-all kind of endeavor. I signed on for the job.

Even though I’m now at Ogilvy, I’m still a blogger — my fashion blog, FashionisSpinach.com, has been tapped for a wide number of influencer campaigns for brands like Chanel and Gucci — and I’m still the target for many brands stepping into the social media sphere. Not a day goes by when I’m not completely amazed at how companies try to use clunky PR methods to reach out to bloggers like me.

Here are three of my most frequently seen pitfalls.

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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)