Ask HN: What methods do you use to pitch bloggers about your startup?

Posted by nickfrost on Saturday July 02, 2011 @01:01PM
from the ask-hn dept.

There are a lot of search results for a Google Search "how to pitch bloggers", but it seems that most of the articles talk about hiring a PR firm, which I've discovered practice the "spray and pray" method of contacting bloggers. Which annoys the bloggers and isn't efficient for startups.

In what ways would you suggest to pitch relevant bloggers about your startup?

Any feedback helps :)

( 4 comments | 6 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: What methods do you use to pitch bloggers about y... by iSimone on Saturday July 02, 2011 @01:16PM (#2721936)

I guess nothing beats prior establishing of good terms with that blogger, but I realize that that might not be possible in most cases.

Emailing a short, informational and friendly piece to that blogger (with a personal note) is probably the easiest bet. If the things you're pitching are good and already online, a tweet may also be enough.

I recently liked (and blogged) this advice here on that topic: http://blog.thegodfounder.com/post/6826152792/email-pitching...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What methods do you use to pitch bloggers about y... by nickfrost on Saturday July 02, 2011 @01:26PM (#2721972)

Thanks for your feedback! I agree that a simple tweet and personalized email could definitely help. I think that there is room to disrupt this process though, with the volume of pitches that most influential bloggers receive everyday that go unnoticed. Do you have your own blog, or even connections with any bloggers from the most popular blogs? Would love to do a bit of research with them.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What methods do you use to pitch bloggers about y... by iSimone on Saturday July 02, 2011 @01:38PM (#2722007)

Hm I guess it's a hard one to disrupt and if you're at it you might as well disrupt email/online communications I guess. Well my tech blog is fairly new (http://blog.thegodfounder.com) and I don't get these kind of pitches.

The people I pitched to up until recently are not relevant in the tech scene. I guess you could always try @mikebutcher, @zee, @hermioneway etc. and point them here. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind having a solution to the point raised by you.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What methods do you use to pitch bloggers about y... by startuplist on Saturday July 02, 2011 @01:23PM (#2721960)

You're right about making that personal connection with bloggers. It's probably getting harder everyday, with the shear number of startups vying for the attention of the influencers (bloggers). So it seems imperative to have something available that could streamline the process of pitching a blogger.

[ Parent | on HN ]