On behalf of food bloggers, this message is to PR Peeps and Corporate Folks who invite us to events – dinners, cocktail things, tours of your facility or farm with the goal of our posting about them. We love these things, we do. And we appreciate invitations, so keep us on your lists. But if you want to do the MOST for us, here are 10 easy, mostly FREE, important tips for YOU, dear hosts:
- Intros around the room. Bloggers want to know other bloggers. You’d be amazed at how many intimate dinners we attend yet don’t discover a person two seats away is someone we tweet with on a regular basis. Invest a few minutes for introductions, please.
- Name tags – not just for bloggers, but also hosts. We meet you, and then forget your names.
- Business cards of every host. Just make stacks at the check-in table, we’ll take them.
- Group photo – bloggers love posting group shots; set one up! It only takes a few minutes.
- Photography set. A table off to the side, maybe a backdrop, a few props, proper lighting — PLOP, put down your finished product and let us shoot, shoot, shoot. So many events are after hours; dark rooms work against your hopes that bloggers will post and tweet about your products. Set a stage, it’s so easy. “If you build it, we will shoot!”
- Twitter handle that makes sense. Something like #ABC123 doesn’t help tweeple get what the blogger is attending, and in some cases, can be frustrating. Just name it #OurProduct and everyone is happier.
- Swag that supports a post – a bag o’ gifts is NOT necessary, but making sure the bloggers go home with your product IS. Include a thumb drive or disk with package shots. And provide real PRODUCT to take home - no matter that your coupons are for free product (requiring us to shop for it).
- Let us bring a significant other, if we ask. So many of us blog about our families, and their feedback helps us round out our posts. (HINT: We also have a much better chance of attending because that significant other isn’t sitting home thinking we are having all the fun.)
- Be brief, be bright, be gone – we DO want to hear your pitch. But a product really should speak for itself, no amount of explaining will help us overlook something that doesn’t work for us. Tell us your story, yes. And let us ask questions.
- No need to follow up with us. Bloggers have an ongoing appetite for content, so if your thing works for us, we will post. It might not be this week. Or this month. But we’ll use it somehow if it fills a need. Any amount of recontacting won’t produce anything more, so show your client THIS POST (the one you are reading right now!) if they bug you to follow up.
By Patti Londre, longtime PR practitioner, Fearless Leader of Camp Blogaway and publisher of Worth The Whisk.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m in the process now of setting up an event locally and working with a PR firm and a restaurant to promote a brand of olive oil. While I agree with some of your points…between this event and another large event that I was both invited to and helped get other food bloggers invited to, I have seen some bad behavior on the part of bloggers that I’ve found most embarrassing and I take some exception with some of your points.
Given a reasonable amount of space and a limited budget, I see no reason why either a partner (or in one case, kids) should be expected to be a part of the mix.
Although I have had situations where the light for photos could certainly have been better, the space simply did not exist to setup an environment for our photos. In the last big event I did…I simply asked if we could turn the lights up a bit more for a few minutes so we could get some decent shots at our table and that seemed to work well for everyone. Luckily we were in a separated environment and our request did not interfere with other diners…otherwise I’m not sure there would have been a great solution and this is always something I find stretches my skills as a photographer and there is never an easy answer for.
Your last point is the one that hit home with me the most. I’m trying to put myself in their shoes. I operate from a place of not accepting invitations unless I already have an affinity of some sort for the product or location. I must be a Pollyanna but it is what it is…if I accept an invitation and take the meal, the swag, the whatever…then I feel I have entered into a relationship of sorts, that I have an obligation. If I don’t see myself being able to fulfill that obligation, I don’t accept the invitation. How did I get this so wrong??
Barbara, thanks for weighing in. These are tips to event organizers, certainly not expectations. As a PR practitioner for 30+ years, I’m sensitive to what may help hosts achieve their goals. Concurrently, because I run blogger events, I am gaining insights into what HELPS bloggers a tad more. Thus I felt confident writing my suggested 10.
Regarding bringing a guest, sometimes PR folks will realize they’re not filling up their event with bloggers as hoped, and because of that are cool about significant others attending. My own blog (Worth The Whisk) has a lot to do with “feeding Larry,” and if Larry is at a PR function with me, I gain additional husband/guy/foodie perspective. He knows that’s why he is there, and does a good job (for me) evaluating a product or service. We take one goodie bag home — unless someone is physically forcing another on us (often, hosts have flown in from somewhere else and really DON’T want to take their stuff back).
To your last point, you are wise to only accept invites to things you feel might match your standards. There is no obligation on either party’s part after it is all over, but you use your time attending something you hope to be able to write about.
Hi Patti,
Good points all! Only thing I’m not sure about is the thumb drive or CD. I and most bloggers I know never use them. Bloggers I know like to use their own photos and research instead of being hand fed a PR schpeel.
I have to vehemently disagree with Barbara of Creative Culinary with her last point. I am under no obligation to do anything because I was INVITED to attend or accept something. There is NO contract to perform anything. This is a terrible assumption on Barbara’s part because this is when the general public’s suspicions on shills in the blogosphere are confirmed. If I don’t like something, I either won’t write about it or will tear it apart. My bet is that she’d prefer I don’t write anything if her client’s product or service didn’t please me.
Thanks for some great insights!
Eddie, greatly appreciate your weighing in. My point on the thumb drive/CD is providing package shots. I shoot my finished product if I prepare at home, but for a package shot, happy to use theirs if I need it. The last event I attended, we enjoyed meeting darling Chef Fabio from Top Chef. The room was CAVE-dark, which resulted in my getting zero good shots of him. If I do a writeup and helps my post to include a shot of him, a pro shot is on the thumb drive the PR folks provided. And I neglected to mention that those would certainly have press releases on them, helpful for writing about product distribution, suggested retail price, nutritionals, package size, varieties in the line.
As someone whose business it is to produce media events where food products from many brands are presented to food journalists and bloggers, I’m pretty much in agreement with Patti’s Top 10. It’s a wish list, and you try to do the best you can to create a meaningful experience for everyone.
To Barbara’s point, however, about bloggers’ obligation if they accept the invitation, eat the meal, etc., I’ll politely disagree.
Brands that work to get the attention of food journalists and bloggers can do everything right leading up to the event, but end up not making the intended connection.
Perhaps the writer/blogger had a preconceived notion or expectation of the product, and that expectation wasn’t met, so they decide to pass. Maybe they just didn’t like the product, and don’t want to embarrass the brand by writing a bad review. It’s not unlike the traditional PR pitch. A free meal or review sample sent through the mail doesn’t equal an obligation to do anything.
I hate to put it in these terms, but despite all the time and expense that goes into creating events or other PR/marketing activities that introduce brands to food bloggers, it’s often a crap shoot. Sometimes brands win, sometimes they don’t. But part of their job is to keep at it.
– Jeff Davis, Food Fete
Jeff – appreciate your input. This is all really useful input, and one reason we traditionally present a panel of PR Peeps at Camp. The more insights both parties can pick up about how and why we do what we do, the better for all. Thanks for this.
Hey Patti! Thanks for this post. I’m in concurrence with just about everything. Coming from the blogger’s perspective I offer these comments:
8. A +1 is also good for carpooling! Coming from certain areas in LA, traffic can be horrendous. A buddy makes the carpool lanes an option, which might make getting to Hollywood by 7 PM on a Thursday night that much easier.
10. I think bloggers need to do a better job with following up with their PR contacts. And I’m looking in the mirror when I say this! All too often my life gets in the way of blogging and yes, months can pass before I get to something. Its these times that a quick “I haven’t forgotten about you!” email to the PR contact goes a long way. Just the same, when it looks like a blog post is not going to happen, I politely let them know.
Michael, those are great contributions to the convo, thanks!
Wonderful post, Patti! I do like to take the actual product home…most of the time. It depends how easy it is to find. Sometimes I prefer the product coupons since I like to travel light at conferences. For giveaways, I prefer the coupons so I don’t have to pay money (besides a stamp) to ship the product to the winner. Or even better, the PR company ships it directly to winner.
And I actually do use the thumb drives (in response to someone else’s comment), like for nutrition facts or ingredient lists that aren’t posted online. Or large hi-res photos. Lots of good stuff in those. Just don’t put up the same old stuff that’s online.
Keep up the great work!
Michelle
Well written, and lots to think about. Thanks for this list — I think both parties can think about ways to build a mutually beneficial relationship that prioritizes the blogger’s place as a personal storyteller and a servant, first and foremost, to his or her readers.
This was a very good read and contained a lot of good points. I have been to really well thought out events that were a lot of fun, all the way to the not so well thought out events that you really wished would just get over with as soon as possible.
I think that Food PR Events can be a win, win for the blogger and the “event” when both sides come together.
I also think sometimes that bloggers feel that they do owe the “event” a measure of leniancy due to being given free food, swag, etc… But they need to keep in mind that they need to tell it as it is, and that is sometimes a tough tight rope to walk, been there and done that! Just stay true to yourself, and it all works out in the end!
Frank
Patti,
This is a great check list for any event! With so many accessible avenues to share content, people are sharing things just to share! Making it look pretty and presentable is our job. =0)
Great job on the article and I’ll gladly share with our social networks! I hope every social media manager gets the hint!
Hope to see you at our next gathering!
Cheers
Great post Patti. Good points. Thanks.
Patti, great list and very helpful. While I do think some bloggers attend these with no intention of ever writing about them, I personally would not. I would add to this another plug for a good photo set-up, or even letting us come early and shoot the food before the event starts. I attended two wine and food festivals, made that request, did not get that option, and got NO worthwhile shots. So instead of them getting a beautiful photo spread to help promote their event, I wrote something very brief and used only a few less than great people shot with flash. Bleh.