Brands and Bloggers, A Proposed Change For Better

The days of the promote everything blogger are coming to an end, and for any blogger who isn’t evolving away from that, is going to fade into obsolescence. I’m rewriting the beginning of this post, though the majority of it I wrote just about a month ago. I wanted to wait for the right cue to post it. That cue came yesterday via my good friend Val who’s post “Sick of Blogging” was an indication that she knew something was wrong with her blog. I have told her gently that I wanted to see more of her thoughts and creative content without any involvement of a PR company, brand or event… So I’m thrilled to hear she wants a change and know that she’s going to grow as a blogger now… maybe she likes the idea I suggest below and implements it. But now to carry on with the actual post.

It’s funny how the blogging community works… people build something uniquely their own, with an interesting voice and perspective on the world… Only to change and become a verbal vomit billboard for any brand willing to send a sample their way. It’s why I imagine a lot of ‘overnight’ successful people end up face down in mountains of cocaine, broke or worse – they don’t know how to handle new found success after being average for their entire lives. It’s definitely a similar thing for bloggers… where once your ideas on a website were just a hobby, now deliver products, opportunities and parties.

Bloggers create content… but when that content becomes negatively infected by a new brand every day, the blog loses it’s appeal. The content that readers loved disappears and is replaced by a a new branded something-or-other each and every day. How many free product reviews can we really read before we give up? My tolerance for branded blogs is about 3. If you write three posts back-to-back-to-back that are all about a different brand or branded event… the relationship between you as a blogger and me as a reader is over. It tells the reader that you have given up to the corporate spoon of ‘free’ and will never return to the reason we started reading you. That’s not to say I don’t have any room for it. In fact, I think for a lot of personal bloggers it provides some value for readers and for the blogger… you get some free stuff and the reader may get some insight/vicarious living or a chance to win something. But there needs to be a balance and it can’t be something new every single day. Consistency is definitely important.

For myself, I’ve talked in the past about my brand loyalties to Ford and Carlsberg in a post I wrote nearly a year ago. While neither company has ever paid me a cent to blog on my website, or tweet or attend their events… they’ve provided me with great opportunities over the years to a point where I don’t feel guilty about tweeting about them. We’ve established an ongoing relationship that feels natural. And that’s the main idea behind this blog. As bloggers, brands, PR companies and readers… it’s time to change the blogging landscape and do something different. It’s never been more necessary, and the switch is perfect – especially with the push/pull of bloggers now asking for cash from PR companies for blog posts. (Have an ‘observation’ blog post I’ll be posting shortly as a follow up.)

I believe the key to the successful implementation of bloggers+brands+PR companies+readers is… a long term program/relationship that benefits everyone.

I’m convinced this concept will benefit everyone far more than the current wild west of free products and horrible blog posts about products that the blogger would never even purchase themselves. What I’m suggesting is that a blogger and PR company work to establish a relationship between the blogger and a brand. This relationships is ongoing with a (minimum) commitment of 6 months. This way all parties can really get things rolling and see if its a partnership that works. (Also, based on how brands develop customers, this idea makes SO much more sense.)

I’ll give you an example of how I see the implementation (and this is entirely hypothetical)… A PR company comes to me indicating their client Subway is interested in partnering with me. The idea is simple, they have 40 items on the menu that I should try. Once a week for the next 40 weeks, I need to try each product – they’ll provide the gift cards to do it. The deal is: each week I update a blog post with the latest item I’ve tried off of their menu. Each update includes an instagram photo tweeted/shared on Facebook. As a bonus tie in, every 4 weeks, I host a contest where I giveaway a $XX gift card to one reader.

This concept should truly benefit everyone in the short and long term:

• To the blogger, an ongoing reward, free lunch and a natural piece of ongoing content which is far more natural than all the one off brand blogs. It’s something you can track ongoing results and tweak to make better/learn from and build better content as a result
• To the PR company, ongoing results which are better accepted by readers, relatively inexpensive and fit more naturally into a blog. You save a ton of time because you have a list of brand loyal bloggers you can contact with new updates. Content created on a consistent basis and able to really track results as well as give/get feedback.
• To the brand, you lock down brand lovers who will be loyal long after the program and will naturally promote you in their every day life (I know I do for Dentyne, Carlsberg, Ford etc.) The results will be better than one off ‘brand switcher’ posts that a lot of bloggers post currently.
• To the readers, less throwaway branded posts that you don’t care about replaced with posts fitting more naturally within a blog. The focused content is easier to accept and get behind, plus with planned giveaways, you’ll know when to come back. You also will probably have more respect for them not bombaring you with a million brands every month.

There’s probably benefits that I’m missing, and there’s probably some negatives to this for all involved to… but quite frankly, things the way they are now are horrible. Bloggers I used to read only post branded content, brands waste their time and effort on people who’s opinions no one could ever trust (saying things like the best car is Toyota, Honda, Ford, Lexus, or whatever car company lends them a car that week), and as a blogger it’s a big waste of my time to deal with all the silly PR pitches, plus I know that my readers get annoyed if I get too brand lovey.

That said, I want to hear what PR people, other bloggers and readers have to say about this idea…. please comment below and let me know your thoughts! Would you as a reader like this idea? Bloggers, think it would be easier/better for you? PR people, what problems/difficulties do you envision? Brands (community managers?) what do you think your bosses would think of this?