Bump on a Blog
Dead are the days of pre-pitching traditional media for product/company launches. Traditional media being the end-all-be-all for major announcements is taking the back seat to blogs. Not just any blogs, but influential, buzz-generating, coveted blogs. When it comes to major announcements, gone are the days of embargoes where mentions of the product are held until the media gets the go-ahead from XYZ company. Assuming your announcement is newsworthy enough, you can't control the hype. Word WILL get out in the online community. Instead, companies should help create the hype by controlling who starts it. Are you with me? Companies need to know the people in the blogosphere who have the most influence in their industry, and then carefully plant a seed and watch it grow. Pick one or two people (and DO NOT pitch them as though they are traditional media) with whom to share your announcement and let it roll (pick them wisely - some bloggers can be oh so nasty while others will share the love).
The great thing about planting a seed with one blog is that, compared to traditional media, blogs work together to share information. If the New York Times writes a story, the WS Journal won't be knocking down their door to write the same thing the following day. But, take some leading tech blogs. CrunchGear writes a review and BAM! there it is on Gizmodo within the hour. In that same hour, thousands of people are reading your review, and - here's the best part - making comments, asking questions, getting more information. Plant Seed. Watch Grow. Buzz Generated.
We recently used this tactic with our client, Pepper Pad 3. The launch is a few days away, but it was important to them to create some excitement now to get the hype going about the product. As an agency, we are extremely dialed in to the world of blogs, social networking and user generated content. So, we knew exactly where to plant the seed to get some immediate energy around the launch. What resulted was a sweet digital review that CrunchGear created and posted on YouTube. Blog posting and social media penetration. Done and Done.
Comments
Hi Lindsey -- interesting post, I'm beginning to see a lot of this occurring, and as one of the "non-coveted bloggers" that you talk about, it has me a bit frightened that "traditional media" writers and journalists like me will end up being ignored because of the chase for the blogosphere.
For example, I would have loved to have heard about the upcoming Pepper Pad 3, and would have even tested the device (I believe that Pepper Pad was one of the DEMO companies from a few years out). But because I'm not writing an hourly blog and generating any kind of "buzz," I'm afraid that I'll get ignored by the PR people on a lot of new stuff.
The old media may be disappearing, but they still have some influence -- as witnessed by the endless ogling that I see going around Walt Mossberg and others like him. Remember that while you might get buzz from the blogosphere in terms of hits and discussions, a lot of those readers don't have the cash to actually buy the product down the road (unlike some of our readers, who are well-paid IT managers).
Just a thought, I'd love to hear more comments from you guys on this issue.
Posted by: Keith Shaw | October 25, 2006 05:43 PM