We recently decided that we would like to develop relationships with bloggers and journalists in the interior design and home furnishings industry to help raise awareness of our sofas and sofa beds.
Although we have spent a lot of time on many of their blogs we were a little unsure on exactly how to get a mutually beneficial relationship moving, so along with our marketing agency we decided that the best approach would be to simply ask the bloggers how they like to work with retailers and brands and to form our strategy based on their responses.
The Process
We put together a simple online questionaire which was hosted on Google Docs and contacted 100 well known interior design bloggers and asked them to complete the questionaire in return for an Amazon voucher. 30 of them kindly responded.
Many of the respondents expressed an interest in seeing how their peers responded so in this post we will be sharing all the results (anonymously of course).
A large number of the questions were open questions where the respondents gave us long and detailed answers so we will be summarising them here, ensuring that we do not adjust the meaning in any way.
I should mention that one response was us testing that the system worked - these results have been excluded from the detailed responses but are present in the charts.
1. Do you sometimes feature specific products on your blog?
We answered with a "no" so in fact 29 out of 30 respondents do feature specific products on their blogs. No surprise here really as what else does an interior design blogger write about? We just asked the question to qualify the recipients for the remaining questions.
2. How do you determine which products to feature on your website?
The percentages are weighted as the respondents could select multiple options with this question.
A surprise for us was that most bloggers actually have products sent to them by brands, we assumed that this would be less common than conducting online research.
For those that responded "Other" we left a free text field for responses. Here are a few of them:
"press shows-so much already covered by bloggers, so my visit to a press show is more personal and a behind the scenes peek for my readers too."
"I use press releases a lot because they make my busy life easier"
"I prefer to keep my blog autonomous, however, should I menion a brand it's because I've personally used them and so all praise is genuine."
"Trade shows because it's where we find the highest quality brands of our choice"
"I research and write all my own content including any sponsored posts that I am paid and approached to write, and only write paid posts for products services I would personally use and recommend to my readers."
"I only feature things that I love. So it's usually things which I find online, or buy, and feature. If a brand wants to send me something that I happen to love then that's great!"
"I tend to blog about brands & products only if it's a paid sponsored"
"Find during the course of my business"
Key take away's:
- Bloggers are rightfully protective of their brand and therefore will only write about stuff that fits their style
- They want to be respected and compensated for their time. Often this means financial payment but not always in the case of creative ideas.
3. Have you ever felt annoyed with a retailer/brand due to their approach to you?
This is where things started to get interesting. Responses were long and detailed so we can only show a few but we have selected the ones that typify the general sentiment:
This one was perhaps the one that struck home with me most effectively:
"When a retailer offers a candle at £5.50 for a blog post that will take care 2 to 3 hours work. Retailer needs to work closely with brands and fit a right fit."
Here are some of the others:
"When the email is addressed Dear Blogger."
"When they say there is no budget but I should work for free to get exposure!"
"Cannot abide blanket & impersonal approaches, always delete and ignore."
"They either approach me me with images or a brand that is completely unrelated to the style and content of my site. It's easy to see what look I go for and so I feel a bit put out that they are wasting my time with products I would clearly not use in my own home. It feels like blanket targeting by a unsuitable brand."
"If retailers force their products and say you should feature this. It's up to me what I feature!"
"They say things like "Our client is interested in working with you" but often coy and unspecific. I find it so refreshing when people are open and honest about what they want - it makes it so much easier for me to respond."
"Yes. Bossy and demanding e-mails are not uncommon."
"I am contacted by companies who tell me their client is a perfect fit for my blog and they would like to work with me although they never mention who the client is"
"emails about design products/interiors that don't include images are pointless"
"brands waste money paying another company on top of their PRs to approach bloggers about paid-for content, or they're offering bribes in the way of products or 'experiences' in exchange for coverage."
Key take away's:
- Do not treat bloggers in a way that you would not like to be treated yourself.
- Personalise all contact emails
- Do your research before contacting bloggers
- Be open and transparent - life really is too short
- Be consistent in approaches - just one team conducting outreach
- Provide good images and make it easy for bloggers to use them.
4. What is the toughest thing about running a successful blog?
The key issue here is time. Pretty much everyone mentioned it. Most bloggers are doing it on the side of a career, shop or other business.
"Having the time to write meaningful posts. I'm not one to reblog pretty images with lame lines "oh, wow, we love this... etc" Everything I write about it is researched and thoughtful and those posts take time and require a certain state of mind."
"Haha! Finding enough time to invest in researching and then collating content for posts."
"balancing the production of good blog content with juggling a lot of other freelance work. My blog is a personal account of my ideas and inspiration so it is necessary that all posts come from me in my voice, so it takes a lot of time researching and putting together good content."
"It's time consuming! Sometimes you feel no one is listening or reading your hard work, but I am passionate about style and interiors, so I keep going...."
"The time it takes! Getting home from work, you don't always feel like spending hours on the computer again. And sometimes you just don't feel inspired to post"
"Running it solo. You have to be the content creator, marketing person, admin... etc."
Key take away's:
- Bloggers are time short so help them out by making things easy for them.
- Even people with well known blogs sometimes feel disattisfied with their performance and responses from readers.
5. How could retailers/brands make your life easier?
If you are a brand or marketer reading this then it's time to take notes - these are well known bloggers telling you what they want you to do...
"Understand that a blog is similar with a magazine and that sometimes being featured on the blog MEANS Advertising. Means money. We need to eat, too. We're not the homeless of the industry :)"
"I absolutely do not want people ghost writing on my page just to fill up space."
"Patience. Offering details up front. Often, e-mails are vague and it would be more beneficial to have details up front in order to make a decision from the outset as to whether the opportunity is a good fit."
"Just being 100% direct in their first e-mail (as you did ;). Stating exactly what they objective is and what kind of products they are offering."
"By having easy access to all the relevant product information and images. Some brands provide access to an online image library, where photos can be downloaded, and this is incredibly helpful, especially out of hours or when something is needed unexpectedly."
"Being super friendly and transparent."
"Excellent styled photography in my case as visuals are my priority."
"A really good Dropbox folder / flickr account full of gorgeous images. Meet me in person at industry events so I can put a face to a name. Get back to me quickly. Host events where I can meet designers / see how things are made / see behind the scenes."
"Press and PR packages with good quality images, ready to post."
"Offering unique ideas for collaborations that work specifically for my blog, not for hundreds of others."
"I'd love to get involved with brands more, and doing more creative things with them (like styling, moodboards etc). As I don't like to just do plain reviews on products like I am advertising them."
"Really study my blog and work out a way to work with me that would be transparent for my readers and mutually beneficial for us both."
"Being more straight forward in their approach and not expecting bloggers to do their advertising for nothing."
Key Take Away's:
- Bloggers want help with ideas - spend time on their sites and come up with something unique and fun that you can collaborate on.
- Provide easy access to good quality images
- Be clear, friendly, open, honest and transparent in all communications
- Be responsive - don't make bloggers miss their publishing deadlines, especially when they are writing for you!
Questions 6 & 7
For questions 6 and 7 we asked the bloggers for specific information on the blogs and magazines that they read and the posts that they most enjoy.
We wanted to get an idea of their aspirations and what they are working towards.
The answers were all very varied and in many cases they could not come up with a favourite post as there are too many that they have enjoyed.
Therefore we will not include the responses here as they do not really add any insight.
8. Are you open to brands helping you with ideas for posts/stories?
It's been hinted on previously in the responses but bloggers do want help from brands - this chart shows that 23 of the 30 respondents are open to collaboration with brands:
The results are actually a little deceiving here as all 7 of those that are included in the "other" responses responded that they would be interested in getting help from brands but as long as it is on their terms and does not conflict with their aims.
9. Do you ever collaborate on projects/research pieces/larger content pieces with brands?
Most bloggers have already done this or are keen to do this as long as they can retain a high degree of control:
Key Take Away's
- Bloggers are really open to collaboration with brands
- Remember that blogger own their blogs, a brand is a guest
- Be creative with ideas. Form a plan of what to do and then find the most appropriate blogger/bloggers to collaborate with.
That's All Folks
I hope that you have found this interesting; it proved to be the perfect way for us to get the insight that we needed and to open the door for conversations with interior design bloggers.
We very much hope to work with those that contributed over the coming months and years.
Thanks again to all those who contributed; your insights will be invaluable in helping Willow & Hall to be better in our efforts to raise awareness of our lovely sofas.
Hopefully if other marketers read this it will also benefit you in the form of the requests you receive.