For businesses ready to expand their reach, strategic blogger outreach can boost visibility, brand awareness, and credibility.
Partnering with industry writers and content creators lets you connect to a wider audience, tapping potential buyers who otherwise wouldn’t know about your products and services.
But here’s the thing: crafting generic pitches doesn’t work. Sending personalized outreach messages is key if you want bloggers to open, read, and respond to your request.
You might think you don’t have an upper hand in the game as an industry rookie. Let’s turn that around. Allow us to walk you through the best practices for crafting effective pitches. You’ll learn the basics of identifying the right writers, personalizing pitches, and making the entire process more seamless.
1. Identifying relevant bloggers and influencers
This sounds simple, but if you miss this, your succeeding efforts can go down the drain. Finding the best fit demands that you study the writer’s site and content. Analyze the topics they’re writing about to understand their passion, style, and tone. Ensure they discuss topics relevant to your industry niche, products, and services.
More importantly, pay attention to their demographics, follower count, and audience engagement. These indicators are essential when crafting customized pitches that pique their interest.
Getting your outreach efforts right can be challenging as a business owner or marketer. Consider hiring an agency that offers the service and provides customization options based on your needs and budget.
2. Choosing bloggers in your network
While cold outreach can occasionally snag blogger partnerships, you’ll find better success pitching to bloggers in your network—especially as a business newcomer. If you have personal connections with writers or have gained contacts through networking proactively, use them to your advantage.
For example:
Look for people you met at conventions, speaking engagements, and other industry events.
Check if any of your existing customers are influential or maintain blogs.
Scour your team’s social media connections for potential contacts.
Tapping existing connections makes it easier for you to present personalized pitches. They’re more likely to respond to your proposal, given their existing relationships with you or your colleagues.
Existing customers are likewise more willing to vouch for your products and services if you provide top-notch customer experience.
However, having a connection doesn’t mean you can throw standard outreach etiquette out the window. Remain professional and focused while presenting a tailored proposal.
3. What your initial pitch should include
Email overload is real, and there are numbers to prove it. Did you know that there were 347.3 billion emails sent and received in 2023? And it’s expected to balloon to almost 400 million in 2026. Let that sink in for a minute.
Bloggers are constantly bombarded with requests, and the only way to make your pitch stand out is to craft an appealing one. Making it short and sweet is another no-fail tip.
An outreach message should have the following basic information:
The blogger’s name
A brief background on your brand and what makes you unique
A compliment on the recent article they wrote or any content about your niche
A request of what you’re looking for (i.e., sponsored post, product review, etc.)
What can you offer in return (i.e., exclusive access, free product or service, discounts for their readers, etc.)?
Provide links to your site, product, or social profiles.
The tone should be friendly and casual but professional. Be transparent that you’re reaching out, hoping for a mutually beneficial partnership. Always leverage reciprocity to increase your chances of getting a positive response.
Blogger outreach email template
An outreach message can look different from blogger to blogger, but to show you how it could look like in ‘real life,’ here’s a template for a guest post pitch we’d like to share:
Hi, (the blogger’s name)!
I’m (your name), a (your position) at (your company). We’re a (briefly explain what your company does or provide a company site link).
I loved our article about (topic/title) and would like to know whether you accept guest posts for your blog.
I went through your site and think a blog about (explain your blog idea, it should be a subject that has yet to be discussed) would appeal to your readers (explain why).
(Discuss your offer).
Let me know if you have other suggestions.
Of course, you can always modify the words and structure. You can also ask for additional information before engaging further.
4. Tips for crafting your initial pitch
Here comes the exciting and time-consuming part. Before proceeding, it’s crucial to do your homework and research on the blogger’s profile and their audience. We’ve gathered some of the best practices, including the following:
Study the blogger’s content
Outreach should amplify your marketing efforts; that’s why ensuring relevance is paramount. The blogger should have an established voice that aligns with your industry, products, and services.
For instance, partnering with an influential parenting site blogger could do wonders for your toy company.
Going through their pages can help you understand what the blog is about and the readers they attract.
It can also identify trending topics that haven’t been covered. You can do this manually or type the site’s name on search engines, followed by the title of your proposed guest post. In doing so, you’re saving time for both you and the writer.
Check guest posting and partnership guidelines
Before crafting a pitch, read through the blogger’s published guidelines to avoid asking unnecessary questions. On the flip side, some sites don’t have them, so it’s vital to include some questions in your message. Otherwise, you can read the posts and analyze them to determine the commonalities, like word count, number, and type of links allowed to start with.
Hook their attention with a great subject line
Like you, bloggers don’t want to waste time reading disruptive spam and junk emails. Creating a direct but compelling subject line is crucial if you want to be noticed. For instance, you can put:
Hey (blogger’s name), we’ve got an interesting partnership idea for you.
Would you like additional insights on a trending topic?
Interesting ideas for your next content
We’d like to work with you, (blogger’s name)!
Focus on what you can offer in your subject line. But make sure you can deliver on your promise. More importantly, make high-quality blog content that reflects their tone and resonates with their audience.
Know when to send your pitches
Ensure that your messages are read and opened during working hours. According to a 2023 research, the best time for sending messages is from 9 AM-3 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST). The same study showed that Tuesday emails are most preferred, while you should think twice or completely forget about sending them on Sundays.
Highlight common ground
Don’t just talk about your brand when writing pitches. Remember, it should be about them and not you. Highlight shared values between your business and the blogger you’re pitching to. If you can cite common passions, do so. Also, emphasize how working together can enhance these shared goals.
Communicate enthusiasm
Express authentic excitement about the prospect of working together. Doing so shows that you’re serious about forming a partnership. But don’t appear too salesy. Bloggers prefer transparent interactions that focus on mutual wins.
Offer exclusive opportunities
Industry influencers have access to generic promotions, discounts, and free products. Sweeten your pitch by offering time-sensitive opportunities not available to anyone else. Think about access to unreleased products and interviews with company founders.
5. Follow-up is critical
Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from your prospects instantly. It’s understandable, as bloggers receive hundreds of requests weekly. Be persistent and demonstrate continued interest in a potential partnership anyway.
It’s standard practice to wait two weeks before sending a follow-up message. This time, quickly re-state who you are, what you’re looking for, and what’s in it for them.
Offer a quick phone call to discuss further options or see whether they have concerns or questions.
If you‘re still waiting to hear from them, move on to the others on your list. Don’t harass bloggers by communicating with them nonstop—this can easily get you blocked.
6. Simplifying next steps
Should the blogger respond and show interest, you can start a call, chat, or have them fill out a form to cement the details of your collaboration further. Set clear objectives and discuss deliverables, roles, and schedules before forging an agreement.
7. Measuring outreach efforts
Tracking the impact of your partnership is just as important as building connections. It helps you determine whether your collaboration is working and whether your efforts contribute to your business goals.
Quantifying sales- and marketing-specific goals
Use tools like Google Analytics to measure traffic, audience engagement, leads, and sales generated from the links embedded in the content published on the blogger’s site.
Understanding audience behavior
You can also use these and other metrics to understand audience preferences by studying their engagement and reactions to the concerned blog. Think visits or pageviews and click-through rates, among others. Looking at these numbers gives you access to your potential buyers’ challenges and the issues they care about, allowing you to produce more relevant content.
Tapping social media
After the content goes live, you can scan social media platforms for conversations, comments, and shares featuring the blog or your brand. With almost five billion active users as of 2022, they’re a goldmine for distributing content.
Each blogger brings different levels of influence and unique audience segments to the table. Tying specific metrics to a corresponding partner is essential to quantify returns and identify future opportunities moving forward.
Final thoughts
As you may have realized by now, blogger outreach is virtually free but takes time, effort, and patience. However, they’re unquestionably invaluable in boosting brand exposure and credibility.
Anyone can reach out to bloggers, but only a few marketing-savvy brands can keep the ball rolling and get results. Sending personalized pitches and strong follow-ups is key to making the right impression as an emerging business.
Before writing your pitch, though, meticulously identify and research potential bloggers, focus on areas of mutual value, and put your best foot forward. Follow the tips above to considerably increase the odds of successful collaborations and experience site traffic growth that impacts your revenues.