Now that you have a great product, the next challenge is to spread the word. You want the right people to know about your product through the right channel. Identifying your “target market” (i.e. users that see the value of your product immediately and will be your advocate) is the first step. The second one is to find the right Marketing Channel – I greatly encourage you to read “A Checklist to Choose Which Internet Marketing Channel is Right for Your Business” if you want to know more about Internet Marketing Channels and how to best pick the most relevant to your business.
PocketSmith is a “personal finance service, utilizing a web-based calendar that forecasts users’ future cash positions”. From this definition, you can tell that our main audience is likely to be people that are motivated in managing their money and take action toward their present and future financial situation. So the question is: How do you reach these people?
People wanting to take control of their financial situation are probably looking for external advices. In this digital ages, you can find advices (good and sometimes bad – you still to take your own decision 
just by browsing blogs. Blogs constitute great sources of resources because they are generally written by enthusiasts who share their ideas and experiences. Popular blogs are read by thousands of people, most of them interested in knowing more about specific topics, such as personal finance, frugality or investment.
It’s not a secret that most startups want their product to be featured on prominent blogs to reach as many people as possible. Thanks to Chris Anderson’s book “The Long Tail“, you come to realize that smaller blogs are equally important – there are plenty of them but you need a good strategy to reach them. Here is what I have learned from two previous campaigns:
- Some bloggers get “pitched” to hundreds of time each so think carefully about how you approach them before taking any action
- Don’t be lousy: While introducing your product/service to someone, avoid terms such as “revolutionary” and “disruptive” because very few products are actually revolutionary and disruptive. So avoid to pitch your award-winning next-generation bleeding edge disruptive and revolutionary product, bloggers are not going to like it ;p More info on some of these words here.
- Personalize your email: One of the most important piece of advice. Ideally, take the time to become a genuine and active member of the blog that you are pitching to before you make personal contact. At least, make some researches – use their name, mention their blog in your mail and show that you are talking to them directly (for example by mentioning an article that they’ve recently written). Connect with them on Twitter.
- Quickly introduce yourself: Bloggers are human beings – they like to know who they are talking to. Your name and job title are a good start.
- Keep it professional: Check your spelling and grammar (being a French citizen is not a valid excuse!). Make sure your email is brief, clean, clear, precise and professional. No jokes (even if it’s your best one!). If a blogger replies to your email, reply back as soon as possible and even better, comment on his article!
- Offer something compelling: Why a blogger would take the time to review your product? He or she needs to see the value of doing so. In short, your offer needs to be good. The offer can be some genuinely useful information, a good opportunity, or a good incentive. You can also link up to them on your blog – it might give them some traffic and it is a show of good will.
- Be persistent: I had some decent results from my first campaign back in 2008 but I got frustrated at some many bloggers not taking the time to write back to me. Well, at this time PocketSmith was still in beta and our startup haven’t had been featured on TechCrunch and LifeHacker (that helps to build credibility . The second campaign is showing some promising results and I have just started the third campaign that should see PocketSmith featured on relevant blogs around the world.
Sources:
“How To: Pitch Bloggers” – Paul Stamatiou
“How to Pitch to Bloggers – 21 Tips” – Darren Rowse, ProBlogger
“Ready to Pitch a Blog? Take This Quiz First” – BadPitchBlog
“How not to pitch a blogger” Ben McConnell, churchofthecustomer
“The Art of Pitching – What’s Wrong With Link Building Email Requests?” – Peter D, seobook
