Pitching Mom Bloggers

You may have seen the segment on the Today Show last week, discussing the very topic from a more “macro” angle.

Shannon Nelson, publicist and chief blogger for Pierce Mattie public relations recently spoke with three high profile mommy bloggers – Erin Kotecki Vest of Queen of Spain (who also writes for The Huffington Post and MOMocrats), Elizabeth Thielke of Busy Mom and Jenn Satterwhite of Mommy Needs Coffee.

All three are very receptive to PR, when it is done right. Standard rules apply: read the blogs, give them something unique, relevant, interesting, and not a press release.

Kotecki offered some compelling stats on why to engage:

Women control .83cents on every household dollar. Women are now the heaviest web users. Women are turning off the TV and putting down the magazine in favor of being online. Women are the best word of mouth advertisers in the world.

While the last point may be a bit subjective, the overall message rings true – women control most household purchasing decisions and they are researching these decisions in different ways.

That being said, what was once thought of as a segment that could be “bought” by sending free products or giveaways is no longer the case, according to Thielke. “The bubble has burst on ‘freebies’ from PR companies for good Mommyblog press. We may take that freebie and still slam you. If you are totally transparent in your efforts, you will get MUCH further.”

Naturally, I also asked the opinion of two colleagues active in the mom-o-sphere, who sent me some more relevant links. One told me a buddy had just sent her several completely irrelevant PR emails that he received from a well known agency.

All in all, the rules aren’t much different for moms: read, engage, be human, show value. For a good starting point, you may want to check out Guy Kawasaki’s Ultimate Mommy Blog list.

(image cred)