For a few months now, we have been talking to bloggers, publishers and public relations agents alike about what really goes on in the world of blogging. Recently, I had a chance to ask Stephanie Smirnov, president of DeVries Public Relations, some questions on the topic. As the leader of DeVries’ Strategy and Innovation Group, as well as the force behind overall strategic counsel and creative process, Stephanie has particular expertise in the areas of beauty, wellness and woman-to-woman communications. Stephanie is on the Board of Governors of Cosmetic Executive Women, the beauty industry’s leading trade organization.
Stephanie is also the voice behind PR Mama, a blog dedicated to her personal (and sometimes) professional musings. These often include her experiences as a mom of a 6 year-old, as a wife of Russian ballroom dancer, and as a nostalgic child of the ’70s. Her latest post describes her experience as a moderator of “Bloggers, Brands and the New Publishing Paradigm” at Mom 2.0 Summit.
Q: Can you describe the most important aspect of public relations?
Stephanie: An ability to communicate in a way that clarifies, persuades and inspires (clients and influencers alike.)
Q: What is the most difficult part of your job?
Stephanie: Prioritizing and focusing. I have responsibilities to my agency colleagues and clients, am an avid blogger and a wife and mom. Striking the right balance so none of those things gets neglected is a constant challenge.
Q: How do you choose the bloggers to whom you pitch your clients’ products? In other words, what qualities do you look for in a blog/blogger?
Stephanie: It depends on the initiative. We like to say at DVPR that it’s about quality as well as quantity. We’re looking for bloggers with traffic and influence, of course; equally as important is how they engage with brands, how open to and creative they are about forging marketing partnerships and going beyond product reviews or sidebar advertising.
Q: What are the benefits of working with bloggers as opposed to other media outlets? Do you expect different things from bloggers than from magazine editors?
Stephanie: I should say first that we love traditional media and still spend a great deal of time and energy at nurturing those relationships. At the same time we consider a smart blogger strategy to be fundamental to any PR plan we propose. I actually think the needs of the two groups are more similar than not. For example, we tailor our information so it’s relevant to an audience, whether a magazine readership or blog following. We often invite bloggers to experience a product launch at the same event to which we’ve invited traditional media. The biggest difference I think is that you can forge more of an advertorial or promotional relationship with a blogger more easily than with a traditional magazine editor (fewer layers, less bureaucracy on both the publication and the client side). This enables us to create really terrific branded content for our clients with the blogger’s partnership that can be repurposed throughout the client’s marketing mix.
Q: What happens when a blogger gives one of your clients a negative review? Does this affect your relationship with the blogger?
Stephanie: Because we never pay bloggers to review product, we know (and make it clear to our clients) there are not strings to force that blogger to review something in any way other than her honest opinion. That might mean a negative review. What I’d hope is that before running that review the blogger would contact us so we could at least understand what caused her bad experience. I also think there’s a difference between a negative review and an honest review – if a blogger shares her less-than-stellar experience with a product but also says, “this was just my experience and it might be great for you,” I don’t see why we wouldn’t reach out to her again.
Bottom line, if you have a good product that does what it claims to do, and if you’ve done your homework and understand a blogger’s likes and dislikes – you shouldn’t find yourself in a position that often of having to deal with a negative review.
Q: According to the new FTC ruling, bloggers must disclose whether the company whose products they are reviewing has compensated them in any way. Do you anticipate that this ruling will affect the way PR companies work with new media?
Stephanie: It already has! The FTC guideline changes were no surprise, we all knew about it well in advance and had plenty of time to work with our clients on necessary changes to how we do blogger outreach. The most important thing anyone can do right now is have a clear disclosure policy in place any time you go into a relationship with a blogger (and most bloggers – the good ones – have their own disclosure policies clearly visible on their blogs already.)
blogging, devries public relations, PR firms, PR mama, relationship with bloggers, stephanie smirnov, the world of blogging
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
<
The Product Pasha 2009® All Rights Reserved. Website: QuartoEstudio.com
