By Sumeet Anand on 4, September, 2008 | Channel: Social Media in India

How should startups approach bloggers?

Recently, I was invited by the OCC community to discuss how should startups approach bloggers.

Here are a few points we discussed:

Expectation

First and foremost, set your expectations right.  Bloggers can get you initial visibility and help you attract the initial adopters, but they can never be an alternative to marketing (same holds for media as well).

Most of the blogs cater to niche audience/their readers are techies who might not be your mass user base (i.e. if you are building a consumer product).

How should I approach a Blogger?

Very simple. Email works, but avoid bragging about your product (I get many ‘Orkut/MySpace’ killer mails). Be precise and provide relevant information (product idea/founders/funding details/differentiating features/login invite etc).

Few points to ponder

  • Whom shall I approach?
    Select the right blogger(s) based on your product and blog’s value proposition. Select the ones that provides insights related to your space  – remember, you need to get access to the community.
  • Track
     If any blogger covers your startup, always go back and check the post for recent comments as people may have put questions, clarifications and feedback – respond to them.

Few Don’ts

  • Say no to spam : Leave the spamming part to others – if you are a serious startup, come via the normal channel.
  • Name change : I have sometimes witnessed startups writing under different names (saying ‘hey! I guess this product is damn cool‘) – Avoid that. You need to market your baby yourself, under your own name. Adds lot more credibility.
    [thanks Sumeet for the notes]

As I mentioned earlier, bloggers can get you access to initial adopters, but will never ever substitute that for your marketing needs (case in point – widely read, TC failed to resurrect it’s own investment, edgio) – so use this channel effectively.

From pluGGd.in experience, we have seen few interesting instances when couple of VCs jumped in for intros to some startups we profiled, or when founders wrote guest posts and VCs immediate sent mails stating ‘this guy knows his stuff. do connect!’.

So, my humble advice to startups is to use this channel effectively and build relationship with the community (helps create that buzz)- goes a long way in your lifecycle.

What’s your opinion? Do you agree/disagree?

Next: Should startups blog? Yes and No?

 

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    • comment(s) on How should startups approach bloggers?

    10 Responses to How should startups approach bloggers?

    1. Ravi Bhushan says:
      September 4, 2008 at 1:02 PM

      Thanks Ashish. A much needed post! Pity we couldn’t attend OCC this time. Hopefully the next!

      Quick question – If I am not wrong, blogs in the US (TC) for example usually do not profile start ups that other reach out to other blogs first. Does that happen with the tech blogs in India too?

      Reply
    2. Ashish says:
      September 4, 2008 at 2:32 PM

      @Ravi – Not really.
      In India, its not at all a question of ‘breaking’ news (atleast to me) – so indian blogs do not really have that prejudice.
      I profile as and when they send me mails/are comfortable with the launch dates.

      Reply
    3. Ravi Bhushan says:
      September 4, 2008 at 2:34 PM

      Thanks a lot Ashish. This helps :) You can expect a mail from us soon!

      Reply
      • Ashish says:
        September 4, 2008 at 2:43 PM

        :) Jsut to add to what I said, I dont even check out other blogs that has reviewed the startup – if somebody already has, it does adds to the bias/prejudice.
        For e.g. one of the startup was nastily ripped apart by a blogger, though I (w/o checking the other blogger’s post) reviewed the product.
        Interestingly, the startup raised a mn$ few months back and is one of the most promising global one from India.

        Reply
    4. Sumeet says:
      September 4, 2008 at 2:36 PM

      Ashish, my pleasure. I learn’t a lot from your talk and these learnings will surely help me become better.

      The biggest challenge is always self moderation while writing a blog post or even a comment on a blog post.

      Reply
    5. Mahesh T says:
      September 4, 2008 at 5:19 PM

      Hi! Ashish

      Blogosphere is pretty open and welcoming to startups. Its relatively easy to connect with the blogger community and reach out to early adopters. Any suggestions on approaching the reporters in Indian Media (Assuming, your service is useful to their audience)

      Thanks!
      -Mahesh
      Celebrating Life…

      Reply
    6. Amit Aggarwal says:
      September 4, 2008 at 6:26 PM

      same question here .. How should startups approach print-media?

      Reply
    7. Ankur says:
      September 5, 2008 at 8:53 AM

      Thanks for this one Ashish. But would you really think that this is all there is about it? Given that people like you are rather busy themselves, would follow ups/reminders seem like pestering when you’re not interested?

      Are bloggers usually upfront in their replies?

      I’d really like to know!

      Ankur

      Reply

    8. Pingback: Weekly Recap – Sep 1st – 7th, 2008 |Technology and Business Startups in India

    9. vikas shah says:
      May 23, 2009 at 7:37 PM

      Ashish Can you just mail me the name of startup going global which is funded pleazzzzzzzz

      Reply