Target audiences are important to identify at the start of a blog outreach campaign, but on the Internet there is the potential to reach a vast audience that traditional PR wouldn’t necessarily think would be a “good fit.” We have the potential to reach millions of people, but only if we can let that message go to a wider audience. That’s the beauty of digital PR: you never quite know who your campaign is going to spread to, and we have to stress that the target audience isn’t necessarily the only audience.

That said, I’m starting to think that blogger relations is turning out to be Mommy relations. There are so many strategies out there that only want to target “Sally(!), a Stay-At-Home-Mom whose children are the most important thing in her life, besides a clean house, of course!” Ugh.

Well, I’ve got news for you: Mommy bloggers are sick of being contacted for cooking and cleaning supplies, and they’re not the only ones who would be interested in writing about them. They’re one audience, but they’re not the only. We’ve worked for some time on expanding our outreach and while moms probably make up the majority of our friendlies, it’s starting to change.

However, to be fair, there are some very valid reasons why PR people target moms, and it’s not just because it’s a cooking or cleaning product. For the Mommy bloggers who don’t understand why so many PR people target them, this is why:

  1. We already have established relationships with many. One of my colleagues works with over 150 moms on a near-weekly basis. She has a very friendly relationship with each one.
  2. Results. Sorry to say, but moms are often most receptive to product reviews. Moms, like most people, like free stuff.
  3. Despite all the complaining out there, there are still comments from moms on Mommy blogs that say something to the effect of “Wow, how do you get to do all these reviews? I wish someone would contact me!”

It’s been in the last 6 or 8 months that pitching a Mommy blogger can be a land mine. That’s why it’s SO IMPORTANT to do your research (as it is with any blog, of course). With as many moms up in arms over the infamous BlogHer debate, I encourage every PR person who wants to pitch a mother to please, please, please read their blogs, particularly the months July-Sept. 2007. I also encourage PR people to think outside the box in terms of target audiences online. That cooking or cleaning product could be of interest to a Baby Boomer male if he writes something applicable.

Side note: I’d like to add that I didn’t write about the BlogHer debate when it happened. The last thing I wanted to do was linkbait for the sake of linkbaiting like I felt some people were doing. In my office, we all had our own opinions on the matter (and it’s part of the reason I really wasn’t feeling the PR back in September), but I’ve moved on. I’m confident that we do this the right way. My job is my job and just because I’m in PR doesn’t make me a bad person. No matter what, I’m still the same Melanie when I go home at night.

For me, I’m curious to see how this will all pan out in the UK. I’ve done a fair amount of research on “Mummy” bloggers, and can tell you quite unequivocally, it’s not taken off yet. There are some, but they hold no where near the clout of my friendlies here. To be honest, I’m looking forward to expanding outreach into a different culture. It’s going to take a lot of research; definitely something that you can’t jump headfirst into. In a few months I’d like to finish the anology, Mommy bloggers in the States are to ____ bloggers in the UK.