Introduction
If there is one digital marketing strategy that has trumped strategies such as Guest Posting, it is ‘Blogger Outreach’. A successfully planned and executed blogger outreach strategy can help a brand-
- Increase the volume of website traffic
- Help in networking and establishing credibility in industry authority circles
- Improve website metrics and scores like DA, DR, Alexa Rank, Google Index Rank, etc.
- Run dedicated and high ROI Lead Generation and Sales Conversion Campaigns
- Build high quality backlinks to improve search ranking results
Given the above stated advantages, it would be impossible to believe that any brand is not following blogger outreach in 2019. However, even though most brands are knowledgeable about the several benefits of blogger outreach, few have the expertise of executing a flawless campaign.
In this article, we will help brands and agencies, execute the perfect strategy.
Blogger Outreach: Meaning and Definition
Blogger Outreach is the practice of reaching out to and establishing professional relationships with authority bloggers in your industry niche. By building professional relationships, you can request the blogger to help you share your content with his audience on his website.
Most brands look to establish long-term collaborations with bloggers. When it comes to sharing content, this can take the following forms-
- You can request the blogger to publish your content article on his website.
- Alternatively, you can also ask him to do a Product/Service review for your brand and publish it.
- Brands also request bloggers to not only create text content, but also video content for their brand.
- In addition, you can also ask the blogger to share your brand’s content on his social media pages.
In other words, you can say that Blogger Outreach is another form of Sponsored Content. However, as compared to Guest Posting, bloggers are niche specific and command huge volume of traffic.
Bloggers are also worthy influencers, who are capable of running high performance driven lead generation and sales conversion campaigns. In the next section, we will be looking at some of the best practices of a successful blogger outreach strategy.
Blogger Outreach: Best Practices
In order to excel at blogger outreach, you need to follow certain best practices. These practices will ensure higher ROIs and more affordability.
- Create Quality Content at all times-
The top bloggers are always looking to provide more value to their readers. This means that if your article is great, informative and engaging, the blogger would be more than happy to publish it on his website.
Always remember, that the best bloggers will always look at adding value for their user. The care towards your brand is secondary. If your content is not great enough, a blogger might charge you extra for creating content on your behalf.
Investing in content will help you build your credibility and reputation in the eyes of the blogger. It will also encourage him to work with your brand more often. In addition, great content can help influence his readers to check out your website, thereby aiding in .
- Connect with the Best Bloggers in your Industry Niche-
If you have been paying attention, I just mentioned two important things. If you want to be successful, you should only work with the best industry bloggers. It is always better working with one top blogger, than three average ones.
You should also make it a point to connect with bloggers in your niche. If you are a home décor brand, you should never connect with auto bloggers. Sticking to your niche is important as it falls within Google’s Quality Guidelines.
If you are not following the guidelines, you stand a chance to be reprimanded by Google. This might include lowered rankings, decreased visibility and even de-indexing. In the last few years, Google has come down hard on agencies and brands following black hat strategies on SEO.
- Try to avoid doing Blogger Outreach manually-
There is a tendency among brands to set up their entire digital marketing apparatus in-house. What brands do not realise is that blogger outreach or guest posting is not like social media. It is an expert driven and specialized field of digital marketing.
This is why I always recommend brands to take help from agencies, which offer professional services. They have already formed relationships with the best industry bloggers. In terms of affordability, bloggers are much more likely to agree to their prices, than the prices quoted by brands. This is because they keep on working with agencies all the time.
Agencies offer many advantages to brands. In terms of fixing responsibilities and ensuring timely deliverables, bloggers are more likely to pay heed to what the agency is stating. No matter how great your in-house digital team is, they will fail at blogger outreach on a massive scale.
Conclusion
If you are looking to execute a blogger outreach strategy successfully, working with experts can be the best way forward. I am only saying this as it saves a lot of time, energy and effort. I have seen most brands suffer horribly when doing blogger outreach manually.
If you are looking for a complete digital marketing strategy, few can counter the benefits of blogger outreach. Not only does it help in creating new customers for your brand, it also helps in building your credibility and reputation in new markets.
Please feel free to let me know what you thought of the article in the comments section below.