Why Targeting Mommy Bloggers is a Broken Outreach Model

by Robyn Wright on August 23, 2012

in Social Media

appinions ebookFor all of my fellow bloggers and all of the brands and PR people who reach out to them, this is a must read eBook (free). Well worth the download, I promise. Appinions really lays out how our industry is changing in Why Targeting Mommy Bloggers is a Broken Outreach Model. I am fairly verbal on this topic myself (remember my post Perfect Examples of Bad “Mommy Blogger” Pitch Emails?) This really is a great part of the explanation of why BlogHer ‘12 was such a different experience this year for many of us as well. I think that many of the sponsors at the conference would have benefitted greatly from reading this.

And as much as we all love unicorns, I agree that in this case it’s not the best thing to be!

© 2012, Robyn Wright. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: blogging, social media

  • http://www.facebook.com/ErocUSA Erik Schwenke

    Thanks for sharing the book- lots of great advice for those wanting to interact with bloggers. I’ve found my best success has come from the notion they suggest, of pitching “a story, not a product”.

  • http://twitter.com/Mindyvol Mindy S

    I’m not a blogger and find the amount of blogs available truly overwhelming and many of them are repetitive. One thing that bothers me is when I receive a lot of blog emails with the same subject line such as “Win a $100 Gift Card from Company XYZ.” It’s obvious that those bloggers are receiving something for posting the contest and I know that my odds of winning are almost non-existent when the word is getting out by so many blogs. I rarely enter those contests and my opinion of those blogs decreases significantly.

    It seems like it would be very hard to be a well-known successful blogger that stands apart from the crowd. I like your blog because you post like you are a friend and you not trying to get me to sign up for several offers that earn you referral rewards. I truly wish you much success. :)

    • http://www.RobynsOnlineWorld.com/ Robyn’s Online World

      It really is very hard to stand out for sure! For those posts you see on multiple blogs, if they are receiving something you should see a disclosure of some sort on the posts hopefully. I try to include that even if it is just to say that a company shared the info with me.

      I’m so glad that you are enjoying my blog. I do think of my readers as my friends always! That is how I write actually, just typing whatever I would actually say to a friend in real life J

      • http://twitter.com/MeHimAndTheCats Diane

        Like Robyn said, you SHOULD see a disclosure. We HAVE to disclose if we received ANY sort of compensation from a company, whether it be a free product, a coupon or payment as per Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials In Advertising.

  • http://twitter.com/kristinnw Kristin

    Just read the e-book. (I’m getting no work done!) More and more, I’m getting “pitched” by PR people, as in “Story Idea,” etc. Really? Coincidentally, I worked as a journalist for 5+ years. I get the difference between journalists and bloggers. I had an u-g-l-y exchange with a PR person a few days ago who called me all kinds of names (including my favorite, “arrogant”) for stating that “I don’t work for free” because he thought I should be grateful for the opportunity to just write about a product he was trying to get advertising for. (Let’s ignore the fact that HE got paid to get that advertising.) His argument was that the “media” write about products with no compensation (like the actual product) because it’s a conflict of interest to do otherwise. He didn’t quite get that there’s a difference…the “media” gets paid by their company. Bloggers, on the other hand, don’t work for anyone. Ugh.

  • tannawings

    I could echo what Mindy said- and no Robyn, I am seeing less disclosing or if they do they arent disclosing fully. I also am having a really hard time with the huge ones that people are paying into and you never know the outcome and you later find out it was a ploy to get you to join XYZ on their affiliated links.

    One of the reasons I come back to you is you are so open book – we know exactly if you are being compensated for your opinion, and if we don’t like the product you don’t delete our comments nor do you act juvenile for a difference in opinion. EX: I have no clue what this Lincoln mess is but as you know I read (yes read) maybe 200 newsletters a day- for the past week a bunch have been about this. Well being the nice reader I am, I made the effort to go to a blog and comment when she left an open ended question and I hadnt visited in awhile. She asked something along the lines ‘doesn’t he make a convincing Lincoln?’ I answered I wish they had chosen an American actor and I hoped his accent didn’t sound silly and asked if it was going to be historically accurate about his life or whatever. She chose to delete my comment – I assume because I didn’t gush about the actor. This is something I know you never do- and for this reason I love following you- you like us back thru the good the bad and the ugly :)

  • @rkosully

    That sounds fascinating. It looks like the e-book lays out how to target lifestyle bloggers the “right” way…there is probably more than one “right” way, but it’s worth reading!

  • Tiffany Winner

    it must be hard for PR and marketing folks though to reach such a diverse group like ‘mommy bloggers’ when they are all soooo different!
    thismomwins@gmail.com

  • Ravzie

    I don’t think you can pigeonhole any particular group, but I do think mommies have a lot in common….

  • http://appinions.com/ Nyerr Parham

    Thanks for sharing our ebook, Robyn. We both agree that there are just so many things wrong with the model many folks are following these days. Not only should PR and marketing people be taking context into influence, they should be building relationships with bloggers. It’s really more of a win-win situation when a brand and blogger can work together to come up with the best type of engagement, don’t you think?

    - Nyerr Parham, Appinions

  • Shannon Whitfield

    I’m not a blogger, but I can certainly see how the term “Mommy Blogger” is offensive (I have often felt this way about how people refer to the job “stay-at-home-mom”.. sounds like I’m home relaxing and enjoying myself all day.. just ridiculous.) It seems like as a company hoping for endorsements you’d be very careful about offending this specific ever-growing and powerful community of bloggers.

Previous post:

Next post: