In the Database Twice

I appreciate the opportunities that arrive in my inbox to learn the latest news about company leaders, companies, and their products and services.

That said, I receive a dozen or more pitches per week to cover people and products on one of Handshake Media, Incorporated’s multiple blogs.  I am a target of the “Hey, let’s get a blogger to blog about this!” online marketing strategy.

I’m not a fan of “get” in the phrase “get a blogger,” because that implies that the marketer can get/make/force a blogger to write about a subject.  Nope.  I choose.

I am, by nature, a fan.  That means that if I write about something, I have a genuine regard for it.  In the film Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s character warns Tom Cruise’s character away from taking advantage of single mothers, describing them as “sacred.”

I think fans are sacred, too.

I received a pitch via email from a marketing rep asking me to consider writing about a person and a product.  One of the first lines was, “I was checking out your site today and I was really impressed!”  I was impressed at the professionalism of the marketer for at least researching what I was doing before pitching me.

I was interested, I did due diligence online, liked and valued what I saw, and included the person and product in a post.  I didn’t know enough about the person or product to be a fan, but felt I could become one.  They were not clients and I was not compensated, either by payment or by a “blogger’s gift.”

A few days later, in my email inbox, I received this pitch:  “I was checking out your site today and I was really impressed!”

It was from the same marketing rep pitching the same person and product with the exact same words.  That I had already fallen for the "I was really impressed" ploy and posted about the person and product hadn't even registered.

Apparently my name is in the “Let’s get a blogger to blog about this!” database twice.

How do I feel about that?  Tricked and duped.  Used.  Embarrassed.  Caught, again, being naïve.

I will not give up my deep belief that people are good and that they tell the truth.

But, today, I feel sad.

Comments

[Anne Clelland]

"Look At Me: Effectively Pitching the Blogosphere"

http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritestart/2009/10/look-at-me-effectively-pitchin.php

I really appreciate this: "Don't Use a Template."