Admit it. You look at those stories in Huffington Post and Mashable and ask yourself, “Why isn’t my company getting their message in there?” It does seem tempting. And it feels tantalizingly possible–I mean, don’t you just need to know the right person and get the most interesting angle to them?
Um. No.
It’s so much harder than that. It’s about as easy as your PR person calling up the New York Times and getting them to print your story. It just doesn’t happen.
But it isn’t just Mashable that’s out of reach. We here at Biznology are by no means an A-list blog, although we are very happy with our community on digital marketing. But I get dozens of PR pitches a day. We don’t print any of those stories. It’s mostly index finger exercise–delete, delete, delete…
Who should you be looking for? The D-List bloggers! Let me explain why. These seemingly uninfluential people are, in many cases, the folks that are experts in a small area. If that area is your area, they are the ones for you. Why? Because those folks probably receive very few pitches–they might even be flattered at your attention. You might actually get your pitch printed.
And those D-list bloggers influence the C-List, who influences the B-List, and then the A-List. It’s like getting your story printed in the Times-Picayune which other newspapers read until maybe that story does make the New York Times.
You don’t have influence when your story is never even printed, so focus lower in the food chain and build your message organically.
