If you have recently released a product of some kind and want to get some buzz going, you will need some qualified reviews on blogs and related platforms. How to get bloggers to review your product? Keep reading to learn some simple promotional techniques.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- If you want bloggers to review your product, start by finding writers who operate in your niche. In other words, if you have released a spatula, go with recipe bloggers.
- You can also find or purchase batches of email addresses for hundreds upon hundreds of bloggers and related writers.
- When emailing a pitch, be sure to personalize the message as much as possible within the time allotted to the task.
Why Should Bloggers Review Your Product?
Positive buzz can often start in the most unlikely of places, even smaller-than-average blogs. These bloggers are often referred to as tastemakers or even influencers. They write a review on your product and their friends, who also have blogs, read the review and want to hop aboard the hype train. Before too long, you will have a bonafide hit on your hands.
Insider Tip
There are many email lists available online of bloggers, professional writers, and related influencers.
How to Get Bloggers to Review Your Product
There are many strategies when it comes to luring bloggers and even professional writers to your product. Here are just a few things to experiment with.
Find an Email List
There are many email lists available online of bloggers, professional writers, and related influencers. It would be a good idea to find one of these lists and start there. Beginning with a pre-formed list will save you the time of scouring blogs one by one and looking for contact information that way. The writers on these email lists may not always be the right fit for your specific product, so do some pruning once you have the list in hand.
Curate to Match Inventory
Beyond grabbing a one-size-fits-all email list, you can take some time to curate bloggers that are the right fit for your brand. If you have recently released a new spatula, for instance, check out recipe bloggers and Youtube content creators. The same will go with just about any type of product your business manufactures. It would likely not do you any good to approach the owner of a video game blog about your brand new spatula. Curate with care. If you do this correctly, then you don’t have customers wanting to know how to get a refund when it says no refund.
Personalize Emails
These bloggers and writers are getting hundreds upon hundreds of pitch emails every single day. It can be overwhelming, as I speak from experience. If you really want your email or pitch to stand out, take a bit of time to personalize it. Some tricks? Put the writer’s first name in the title of the email and try to always write a bit of original copy for each email sent. Pitches that are exclusively copied and pasted are very easy to skip over. You may have to experiment with email formatting to find the right fit for your intended bloggers. You will get bites eventually, however, so don’t quit. Remember that communication via email is also the first step in encouraging customers to leave reviews.
Insider Tip
You can take some time to curate bloggers that are the right fit for your brand.
Offer to Send Products for Review
Of course, the blogger will not want to pay for the product you are seeking to have reviewed. Offer upfront that review units are available and be transparent about whether or not you expect these items back after the review has been written. Obviously, a spatula should not have to be returned, as it would have been used to handle food. A brand new television, on the other hand, you will likely want back. Once you enter “free stuff” into the equation, however, the bloggers will certainly become responsive.
Build Relationships
Bloggers are people like anyone else and expect to be treated with dignity, compassion, and care. Build relationships with them by being genuine, friendly, and helpful. Try to answer any questions they ask promptly and honestly and go above and beyond when possible. If a blogger feels appreciated, they are more likely to actually follow through with the write-up.
Follow Up
It can be all too easy for a blogger to become swamped by other work and let your product review slip through the cracks. If you have sent out a product for review and have noticed that no actual review has been posted, you are going to have to follow up. Be genial in your follow-up email but be sure to immediately question when they expect to write and post the review. You may have to perform this step multiple times before the review is posted.
Warning
Beginning with a pre-formed list will save you the time of scouring blogs one by one and looking for contact information that way.
F.A.Q.
What’s the difference between bloggers and influencers?
Well, think of it this way. A popular blogger is nearly always an influencer, but a popular influencer is only occasionally a blogger. Influencers can take many forms on the Internet.
Why does your brand need bloggers and influencers?
Bloggers and influencers help get the word out. You could have the best product in the world, but if nobody knows about it, then it will sit on store shelves and stagnate.
How do you connect with bloggers?
Find their email address via a contact page on the blog, though you can also connect on social media, especially if they have their DMs open on Twitter and Facebook Messages.
STAT: In 2017, 87% of B2B buyers said they give more credence to influencer content. (source)
