From the category archives:

Blogging Rants

The post about Predatory PR I’ve been waiting to write

by selfmademom on August 24, 2010 · 60 comments

In June, I wrote a lame-ass blog post where I alluded to a PR pitch I received that was g-d freaking awful and made me want to crawl through the computer and shake silly the account person at the marketing agency who sent it. I was tired then, and could only allude to the awfulness.

No more.

Because isn’t it ironic that today, while sitting with my friends in attendance at the wonderful Windy City Social Media Masters Summit, where we were learning about how large companies like General Motors, Con Agra, Kenmore and Edelman (a former employer) are handling social media outreach in the RIGHT way, I got another bad pitch by another grunt from the same marketing agency on behalf of a very large company who is doing it ALL WRONG? (The person at the agency, that is.)

I thought so. I’m using names now.

Someone named Emily (who apparently replaced Lindsay the old account person) from Lead Dog Marketing sent me, and apparently, the rest of the momosphere, a PR pitch today on behalf of Toys R Us to join their “I Want To Be A Toys R Us Mom” awareness campaign for the newly combined Toys R Us and Babies R Us megastores (There’s one down the street from me. I love it. Isn’t that ironic too? I also worked on the Toys R Us Account for Edelman back in 2004 so I know the company well. At least the old company.)

The email said in part (paraphrasing):

“As we celebrate each grand opening, we are looking for community and online partners to help spread the word so that local area families can take advantage of grand opening savings and fun. Because your blog/website reaches moms and Chicago-area residents, we’d like to extend an invitation for you to be our promotional partner during the Toys“R”Us grand opening celebration …

Ok, fine… then the kicker:

As our partner, you have the opportunity to be involved in raising awareness for our “I Want to be a Toys“R”Us Mom” campaign. This viral campaign encourages local moms to visit our microsite, iwanttobeatoysrusmom.com to download a ‘secret coupon’ and bring it to the store during the grand opening weekend to reveal their shopping discount; up to 50% off one item! And if that is not enough, the first 100 Moms to arrive at each Grand Opening will receive a special ‘Toys“R”Us Moms’ gift bag bursting with gifts and offers.

We are seeking your partnership to help drive local moms to the iwanttobeatoysrusmom.com microsite and create buzz about the grand opening, using tactics like email blasts/newsletters, social media posts, strategic banner ad placement and news or editorial features highlighting the grand opening weekend.

You will also enjoy benefits, such as logo placement and information about your blog/website on the webpage affiliated with your grand opening market on the iwanttobeatoysrusmom.com microsite, the opportunity for exposure at the grand opening celebration with on-site table presence, as well as free Toys“R”Us gift bags, give-a-ways and more.

We look forward to discussing this exciting opportunity with you in more detail. In the meantime, please see attached Partnership One Sheet for additional information.”

I was shocked. I not only rejected this pitch 3 months ago when I got it (so take me off your pitch list please), I have a fundamental issue with the approach and expectation of what the agency expected me as a blogger to do on behalf of her client Toys R Us. I’m calling it predatory PR. It’s a predatory practice when the PR agency who’s getting paid by a big time client asks YOU, the blogger to do what she’s getting PAID for (advertising/ marketing/ local PR/ social media) for free or for cheap. Liz already wrote about this once. But I’m saying it again.

This pitch and the ask of it is outrageous. I tried to be nice to Lindsay about it the first time around by telling her I only do giveaways/contests/banner ads if they’re in conjunction with a PAID advertisement. You PAY me, and I will help to PROMOTE you. It seems easy enough, right? She responded with this:

98% of our partners are on-board through barter, as it is added value to provide this incentive to their mommy viewers, members…We are offering incentives to mommy bloggers with huge reach in the millions. Can you send me your reach?

I think that your mommy viewers, followers, members will be quite happy if you tell them about a $100 value gift bag that will be given away for free! Our first city is in Colonie, NY and the moms are going nuts over it!

We’d be happy to feature you with your logo, a click through and 300 characters of copy on our micro-site. Just think how many moms will have access to that site!?!? We already have over 20 million impressions from our already on board partners.

Let me know if you’re interested in barter.

Thanks,

Lindsay

The only thing I’ve ever bartered for in my life is sex in exchange for my husband allowing me to watch “The Bachelorette” finale in his presence. But I digress.

Hmmm… so in exchange for a link and 300 chars on the crappy iwanttobeatoysrusmom.com microsite (which has a page rank of ZERO according to Liz so the 20mm impression numbers have GOT to be made up) you want me to post on my site, put up banner ads and host a giveaway? Back in June, I nicely said no, not for me, shoved my anger away, did a lame ass post and shut the hell up.

But now that they’re back, and apparently aren’t paying attention to their initial outreach, there must be a call to action. The promise of “links on a microsite,” “on-site exposure (which, if you read the fine line in the attachment is “limited”),” and giveaways are not enough. There might be some of you who find glamour (like a whopping 20 of you) in all of this. Maybe it’s exciting to be contacted by a big, brand-name company that has products you and your kids like. Maybe you just don’t know how lame and circa 1999 microsites are. Maybe you love, love doing giveaways and you accept any pitch that come your way.

I do not believe that in these brand/ blogger exchanges there is all right or all wrong on either side. I think Lindsay and Emily probably work for a good agency, but are unfortunately uneducated in the practice of social media outreach. They think their offering is good enough that if they spam pitch 20,000 mom bloggers some will stick and that’s good enough. I can’t imagine that they’re pleased that only 20 sites bit on their campaign. So they’re at it again. I also think it’s safe (hope) to say both Toys R Us and Babies R Us don’t have an inkling that this is going on underneath them.

I also think the problem lies with us. There are a lot of naive bloggers out there who just don’t have the PR experience that others and I do and who cannot see through the BS that is this campaign. For example, Akron Moms (I’m only picking this site because that’s the example Emily used in the email) got really excited about the promotion (back in June, mind you) and posted it on their site because they actually believe they are a “sponsor” of the Toys R Us Grand opening in Parma and Chapel Hill. Akron Mom, you weren’t a sponsor of anything. You are just a pawn in this bad pitch campaign.

And, poor Melissa. She participated too and all she got was a bag of crap samples, no links and a bunch of rude email exchanges. Michelle got zilch, she said. Shannan complained about the rudeness of Toys R Us’s agency. And there are many more stories.

That’s why I stayed up two hours past my bedtime to write all of this down. Because there are uneducated PR folks like Lindsay and Emily out there preying on either naive, too nice, or too willing bloggers with the promise and glory of links and badges. But that’s not enough anymore. It doesn’t cut it when there are real companies and real dollars paying real money elsewhere.

As Lucretia put it:

.@Mom101 @tothink @selfmademom @mommyinstincts @PBinmyhair – sadly, some still think giving away milk for free increases cow salesless than a minute ago via webLucretia M Pruitt
LucretiaPruitt

I think the bloggers expected the best from the company and agency but got let down instead. They got preyed on and it’s up to us well-educated bloggers to keep the conversation going to stop it from happening again. At least in this instance.

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Chicago Not BlogHer Meetup a Success!

by selfmademom on August 5, 2010 · 3 comments

I’m always on the fence about BlogHer. I know it’s the hot place (literally, temps will soar into the 90s over the weekend in NYC, ouch!) to be every year, but I’ve attended it twice before in 07 and last year and, well, I never felt like I figured it out. So I opted out this year.

Which is why when Kim approached me about putting something together for local folks, and said she had the veritable social maven of Chicago, Hope, on board I couldn’t resist helping out.

It was down to the wire, but we put together an awesome night at Theory Chicago and the fact that Melissa Pierce was there to show us her new movie, Life in Perpetual Beta, in person, ON HER BIRTHDAY, made it all the more special. Her film is amazing and it filled me with a revived creative energy.

Also, I love how I always think I know all the (mom) bloggers in the Chicagoland area and every time, I’m proven wrong.

What a great group of gals. Plus, we raised money for Tutus for Tanner (an amazing initiative) and took some silly photos to raise a little dough so a very sick boy can spend his days at home. Here’s me in my tutu and Kim posted the other photos on her blog, here. (The Droid didn’t break, but I have to figure out the dang flash!)

(This photo definitely accentuates the height difference between Kim and I. I’m like jolly the Green Giant compared to her cute little self.)

All around, it made me feel a little okay that I’m not in the Big City for the Big Conference. Hoping you all have fun out there, though!

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We done good.

by selfmademom on July 14, 2010 · 4 comments

Before there were endless PR pitches, link contests, product reviews and the feeling that if your blog doesn’t have 72 ad banners and 25 comments per post you’re a complete failure, there was just writing on your blog for fun, meeting up for a good time and feeling that you were a part of something special.

I’ll be honest that as the blogosphere and mom-o-sphere have grown, I’ve had that feeling less and less. Maybe it’s my fault. Perhaps all the personal gains and losses I’ve had over the last four years sent me further away from the blog community when it should have been pulling me toward it. But, whatever the case, I had an experience today that made me remember all the things I love about being a blogger and why I continue to write and post.

I was part of a select group of bloggers participating in a program coordinated by The Motherhood to partake in a day of good deeds: “Do Good Day.” It was sponsored by 77Kids, a new store for girls, boys and babies by American Eagle. I love Cooper and Emily having connected with them in blog years past, and was really excited by the opportunity to work with them.

Led by the mighty Hyacinth and Melissa here in Chicago (there were teams of 7 bloggers in 10 other cities around the country doing good today too), we agreed on a Do Good Day program: Bake for the tenants of the Ronald McDonald House and then pass out $77 worth of $1 bills at random in the afternoon on our own.

Thanks to resident bakers Emily and Michelle, we made a cake and thumbprint cookies for the residents of the RMH. In a conversation with a resident couple before we started cooking, I was told of the hardship families must endure when their kids are at Children’s Memorial Hospital, but the family residence is in another city completely. For these families who are already shouldering the burden of the high cost of healthcare, saving money on meals and hotel rooms is a necessity. RMH pays for 100 percent of their living expenses. Residents can stay there for as long as they want. Soda only costs $0.25 from the vending machine. Amazing.

Also, 77Kids included for each of us a “goodie” box filled with the $77 to pass out as well as goodie bags, an adorable (and high quality) tee shirt for my eldest and thank you notes to pass out at the organizations at which we were volunteering.

Since I brought baby burrito, I was not in charge of baking. Which is a good thing, because there’s nothing I do worse than bake. So baby burrito and I wrote some thank you notes, clipped money and gave all of Theresa’s (count ‘em) SEVEN kids someone to watch and play with. We laughed, shared stories and learned a lot about how lucky we are.

I had to leave early to go to an appointment for baby burrito, but I wish I could have stayed longer to chat and gab with the amazing women in the room. It was that intangible good feeling I had when I left that I had done a good deed and had a nice morning with interesting women that reminds me why I stay connected and committed to the blogosphere.

And it was nice to be a part of a company-sponsored experience that didn’t feel pushy, sales-y. Just Good-y.

Full disclosure: I was compensated to be a part of the 77Kids team and to post and tweet about my experience. However, the mushy, gushy bloggy-love feelings are all mine. You can’t pay for that.

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Social Media Tips for Small Businesses (Chicago-style)

by selfmademom on June 29, 2010 · 2 comments

Am I allowed to link and rant while on “hiatus?” (which is turning out to be the worst hiatus evah.) Because, I am.

As I think about what it is that I want to “be” or “do” as it relates to blogging, writing, social media consulting, I keep going back to being local. I know local people, I am a patron of local products and businesses. I like helping out the neighborhood and the small shops.

So I was very interested to read what Cassie Boorn (thanks, Kim) had to say about marketing your small business online in response to Jessica Gottleib’s thoughtful post about why small businesses should not engage bloggers. In Jessica’s mind, it all comes back to providing customers with the best product or service you can give them. If those suck, well, no good blog campaign can fix it. And Cassie gives some good tips in her post like having customers review your business. While I don’t necessarily agree that customers should be given discounts just for reviewing on Yelp (it may look like they’re being “paid” for a positive review), I think that third-party validation like Yelp always helps when making decisions about what service or business to use or shop at.

IMHO and from limited experience, at least locally here in Chicago, I think there are four keys to local social media outreach:

Make genuine online conversation with your customers. I love, love what The Bleeding Heart Bakery (also a neighbor of mine) has done with their Twitter feed. It’s not sales-y. Rather their banter is light, funny and to the point. And always responsive to people’s opinions and thoughts. Sunda does the same thing. It has the benefit of local celeb Billy Dec to Tweet about, but when I replied to one of their Tweets, they responded immediately and genuinely.
Tie in-store promotions and events with an online presence. Whether it’s a post offering an in-store discount to Facebook “fans” or mention a Twitter update for a free soda with your purchase of a sandwich, there has to be a connection between the bricks to the clicks. Not all people are on Twitter and Facebook all day long, but most people have an account to either service and would more than happy to check online for an in-store deal.
Be an online personality. Most of the local small business people I’ve chatted with are terrific personalities in and of themselves. Cassie rightly says that small business owners should start a blog to talk about news, specials, post links, and have a conversation. But it’s more. Blogs are a showcase for the unique and individual nature of a small store owner’s personality and interests. And it’s a great way to get a niche following of other like-minded and interested bloggers and potential customers. (Hello, Krista K?? Why isn’t your blog updated!?)
It’s not one size fits all. I agree with Jessica that blogger outreach isn’t for everyone or every store. I’m finding the more I talk about the topic, the more I find that the blog world in a lot of ways is a small, insular place. Every mom blogger event I’ve been to in Chicago has the same 75 person target list. Not all of those moms (many of whom I know and love) are going to all want to blog about the same thing. Some of my friends who are avid Facebook updaters don’t even have blogs. But they have a great audience on Facebook. There’s something to that as well. I think good marketing is an integrated mix of social media, traditional online media, print and good (emphasis on GOOD) PR. Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, foursquare, etc., are all good to have on the roster, but not necessarily all good to use in every situation.

So what are your keys? What am I missing here?

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Summer Blog Break

by selfmademom on June 21, 2010 · 2 comments

This inevitably happens every summer, but on the heels of finishing a big article, a semi-big event and a scathing Red Eye article I think I need a bit of a blog breather. At least until after the July 4 holiday.

I won’t go far, though, because I also, inevitably, will get bored of my self-imposed blog break and want to get back on track with my ramblings.

But, until then, I’m going to enjoy my delicious baby, ensure that my eldest is well-fed and clothed for camp, try to cook a few dinners, and help my parents relocate (!) their lives to be closer to mine. That alone should prompt me to get back to my vents and rants.

Anyone else feel like summer blog breaking too? The weather just seems too darn nice to be twittering the day away…

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Sunday, Blogger Sunday

June 10, 2010

I’m gearing up for my first-ever coordinated blogger event at Frankie’s on the Park this Sunday (also a sponsor of this blog) and I’m nervous not only as an event planner (the kind folks at Frankie’s are doing all the logistics), but because while I love my blog life, it rarely intersects with my IRL life. [...]

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Slow Blogging Theory, Revised

June 6, 2010

Remember that, there, uhm, slow blogging movement? I guess when people slow down on their blogging no one actually continues to talk about it. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say here on this blog right now. I do. I want to talk about all the craziness going on with sunscreen and the [...]

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Friday Randomness: A Giveaway and the Great Circ Debate

May 14, 2010

So… I’m very excited about the latest sponsor and giveaway on my site. It’s from Frankie’s on the Park (an absolutely fabulous and ultra hip boutique in Lincoln Park) and not only does it entail some serious discounting from their online store (20 percent off, yay!) but I’m also giving away the opportunity to customize [...]

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I’m on the Funsherpa Blog!

April 30, 2010

I rarely get asked for my opinion on anything, so when the folks behind the funsherpa blog asked if I’d be interviewed for their site, I figured, why not… my interview can be found on the site here along with Shari from Two Times the Fun who I actually got to meet in person not [...]

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