One of my key points here is that many people feel bloggers need a care and nurturing that they believe journalists don’t require. Our disagreement with that sentiment is not that bloggers don’t deserve it, it’s that journalists do. And so it’s not so much that we treat bloggers in the same shabby way most PR people treat journalists, it’s that we treat them in the same respectful and considered manner with which we approach journalists.

And on your last point, you’re not wrong; smaller-scale bloggers do deserve to be pitched. Especially in the era of long-tail economics, there is no voice too small. Unfortunately, as an agency, we don’t always get to do the best job possible; we get to do the best job our clients can afford. And that often means we have to cut off our lists, of both bloggers and journalists, at some point.

Thanks for sharing this with me! I think that your team is in a unique position because you know and understand the medium with which you are working. Traditional outlets, not so much. Even if it’s not pitching, the questions that I am sometimes asked show a complete lack of knowledge on how to work PR online, let alone pitch bloggers.

There are certainly bloggers who are more similar to journalists and can be treated as such, but the smaller-scale, new-to-the-game bloggers are more-than-likely not used to working with PR people. You can’t cold pitch a blogger like you would a journalist and that’s something people not used to working in the medium don’t understand.

I agree with you in disputing the seasoned marketers claim that someone not in digital couldn’t possibly develop a relationship because you aren’t a Web 2.0 agency, but there is a disconnect between that and saying that all bloggers can be treated like journalists.

My problem with your argument (and correct me if I’m wrong) is that you don’t seem to think that the smaller-scale bloggers count enough to be pitched to at all. Online outreach specialists understand that all bloggers count if they are “appropriate targets” regardless of how many people read they have.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!