You can also get infos from other experts as well just to improve your webblog or website.

Thank you again for this wonderful post

Charles
http://www.resourcesandmoney.blogspot.com

~Laura Iriarte/aka @lauralovesart
http://lauralovesart.wordpress.com

I have a spreadsheet of PR companies and who they represent, and if they offer me something unique and interesting I will from time to time mention it on the blog.

I’ve interviewed the likes of Boeing and Lonely Planet because of that relationship. So, your spot on, don’t rant about them, use them to your advantage.

They need you as much as you need them.

I used the same strategy when training new companies on Safety.

For example: Gas Mask, I would contact 3M, the local Firestations and clinics in the area. Inform of the date and time of my training class and encourage them to contact me for promoting their product etc…. This was great.

I would receive:
1. Business cards from Doctors – offering a special discount
2. Free Samples of products for training and discounts
3. Cretified training from local EMT

The possibilities are endless. Write it up and send it in to the PR dept at any of the above and suddenly your Company (for whatever service you are providing) is mentioned as a prefered Buyer/Patient etc……

Phone starts ringing…. how cool now with Blogging the emails start pouring in (page views)

I have found 2 others big benefits working with PR folks:
- PR people all talk to each other whether it be in their own company or just their fellow PR friends in their industry or others. If one likes you, they will pass on your info to other PR folks with related product/service. As well, PR folk move around a lot but they always take their contacts with them. Working with PR folks is a good way for bloggers to get free stuff and access to bigger well known brands, as well as to grow their (the blogger’s) brand identity.

- Once you establish a great relationship with a PR person they can also help you get in contact with editors from the big media outlets. In my niche Health and Women, I have gotten contact info into the women’s magazines through PR introductions. The PR folks can also sometimes connect you with the advertising folks of their company or client, and this is a blogger dream, ad revenue contacts. Other side opportunities can arise as well. I have

Actually, I’m wrong, there’s tons of stuff for free on the internet, and you can also get a ton of traffic to your site for free, if you know how to play the game, work hard, and know how to market yourself.

There’s tons of tricks and tips and I try to learn one everyday.

petes2cents.com

I’m one of those small fry bloggers you talk about, so I have yet to get noticed by the bigger fish on the block. But I believe that, with time, effort, attention to detail and commitment, the day when I am no longer an unknown will come.

In the meantime, blogs like yours continue to be an inspiration for me.

Thanks again for a great post.

Sincerely,

Michael

Enjoyed that – It’s interesting.. So I come at this from both sides of the fence. My day job is Head of Social Media Strategy for voice-to-text company, SpinVox.

As part of that I write the blog – often, not always, but often initial requests for interviews will come through me – working closely with PR I often manage these relationships and the PR dept understand the need for ‘blogger relations’.

Recently I’ve come to learn that I’m very fortunate to work with a dept that is as forward thinking as this.

From the other side of the fence, as a blogger myself on a number of other sites, sometimes it’s difficult to get a PR dept to give you the time of day, let alone any information!

As much as PR can be useful – sometimes I find it helps going straight to the source. Want to speak to an engineer at a tech company? Having no luck with PR?
Find out who you want to speak to and email them directly.

They pass you back to PR, but they may just take it to PR themselves and say ‘I’m doing this!’.

:)

PRs are getting better, but not all them ‘get it’ yet.

Rachel and Noob, glad you like the idea of teaming up to get what you need. We’ve got the tools, we can get organized — size isn’t the barrier it used to be.

Let’s see if something comes out of that :-)

Good issue raised – the small fry-thing is really interesting! I never thought of teaming up with other bloggers to reach common goal :)

Thanks!

I think that some of the bad will comes from PR people who pitch you, but THEN ask you questions they could have researched before pitching and also do not want to give you or readers anything when their client is a billion dollar company.

Erik, I’ve asked small companies to Stumble, etc., reviews I’ve written of their products but hadn’t thought about doing that with PR people.

That’s a good tip for PR people, too, that relates to a PR post I wrote. If PR people get involved in the social media world, they have a better chance of getting a good response when they pitch.

http://buzzmommy.com/2008/10-tips-for-pitching-mommy-bloggers/