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When you are a serious blogger you have to promote yourself and your brand.
And unless you have your own PR firm or publicist it falls entirely to you to make sure that you do it in an efficient, effective way that won’t alienate people. It’s not my favorite part of the job and until very recently, I haven’t consciously given much thought to it. I just did my thing. Doing my thing worked because well…my blog IS MY THING and so in my own way I was absolutely self-promoting just by being myself. If I got on opportunity I SQUEEEEEEEED about it online because I am that kind of excitable person. It’s just my nature.
While self-promotion is by no means limited to financial opportunities online, I have started to give it a lot more structured and organized thought because I have been a lot more involved in the business end of blogging as of late. Not only is it needed in our neck of the woods financially, but it’s a bit of a change of pace and a chance for me to learn something new. I am getting to know more and more wonderful people and doing things I never imagined.
In fact, I am pleased to make a huge announcement on something I have had in the works for quite some time. Since I am going to be promoting it when I attend and speak at Mom 2.0 in Houston this weekend, I thought I would announce it here first: (Drumroll….)
I’m partnering with 5 other lovely, successful bloggers to create a swag suite at BlogHer 2010 in New York. “Girlfriend to Girlfriend: A social swag suite by CraziBeautiful“ and the brainchild of Julie Jann of CraziBeautiful and April from Sweet Life in the Valley, is going to have some seriously awesome swag, people. I am thrilled to be a part of the team putting it on and to learn a lot more about an end of the blogging world that was fairly mysterious up until now.
It’s been a wild ride learning the ins and outs of things. There are big positives and a whole lot of negatives I have run into. I have been quite taken aback at a lot of things I’ve read, heard and witnessed. There are things that I wish I had known before sticking my toe in. Being the rad person that I am I thought I would share some of them with you and also include some of the self-promotion tips that my CraziBeautiful gals have found have worked for them.
(Disclaimer: I am soooo not perfect. This list is as much for ME as ANYONE.)
1. You have to go out and create your own opportunities.
Up until now, all of the opportunities I have gotten have come to me without me doing anything to reel it in. And this does, can and will happen. However, the Internet world can also be a bit deceiving. A lot of people who tweet and blog about the fabulous item they have been given, the squee-worthy trip they just went on or the great paid freelance position they are in did not have the opportunity magically show up in their inbox.
THEY WENT OUT AND ASKED.
It’s called a pitch and it goes something like this:
Dear makers/owners/the powers that be in charge of doling out super awesome item or trip I am dying to go on or paid position I am lusting after,
You are super groovy and I live and breathe for you/your product/your location/your blog magazine. You are pretty and smell nice. (Insert a brief, but killer bio of your blog, experience and why they should hire/sponsor/give you free stuff here.)
Thank you for your consideration n’ stuff,
Super Awesome Blogger
Yes, this is in “Loralee speak” but you get the idea.
I really want to fight the cliche here, but your mother was right…what’s the worst thing that they can say to you if you try? They won’t say ANYTHING if you don’t, so GO FOR IT AND ASK. Also, once you get a relationship with a PR person, brand, business, etc. it often leads to other things. They keep you in mind for other projects and opportunities.
Which is why our next step is so important.
2. Be careful of what you promise, commit to and manage your relationships.
Why, YES! I will write that review, go to this party, write this guest post, edit for this site, tweet with your hashtag, and a partridge
