How To Write a Blogger Outreach Email (Incl. 2 Scripts)

How to write a blog­ger out­reach email? 

Is there a sci­ence to blog­ger out­reach? Well, I don’t recom­mend using ready-to-go scripts. As a blog­ger, some­how, you can always feel when someone’s pitch­ing you cold with a gen­er­ic copy-and-paste template. 

Pitching blog­gers require lots of work, but I recom­mend writ­ing indi­vidu­al emails. It’s worth the effort.

Here we go:

Blogger Outreach Email: What To Include

I have this PR check­list for writ­ing blog­ger out­reach emails. I don’t use it to be sly or to auto­mate my writ­ing; rather, I use it to ensure I don’t miss a beat.

These are the com­pon­ents I strive to include:

Read also: The Honeymoon Outreach PR Strategy: Influencer Relations 2.0

Example: Blogger Outreach Email Script

This is a made-up example of how I would pitch a blog­ger writ­ing about interi­or design:

If you include these five ele­ments and strive to keep each part down to one or two sen­tences, you should be able to cov­er the basics. Some prefer to write even short­er pitch emails, but you might risk com­ing off as too blasé if you take that approach too far.

These ele­ments can appear in any order. See, for example, this fol­low-up email example:

Example: Blogger Outreach Follow-Up Script

Here’s anoth­er made-up example of how I would do a fol­low-up out­reach to the same blogger:

Read also: How To Craft the Perfect PR Pitch: A Step-by-Step Guide

Find Your Pitching Style

I try to stay true to my ton­al­ity and pitch­ing style. I don’t try to imit­ate any­one or write as young­er or older because I think it’s essen­tial to pitch with integrity.

However, I mix it up quite a bit between form­al and inform­al. In some cases, I’m “all busi­ness,” and in oth­ers, a lot more per­son­al — depend­ing on the context.

PR Resource: PR Toolbox

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• The 1‑Page PR Strategy
• The Media Kit: What To Include
• The Press Release Template
• How to Write a PR Pitch: Step-by-Step Guide
• Derek Halpern’s “Perfect Blog Post” Template
• How To Write a Blogger Outreach Email (Including Two Scripts)

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— Benjamin Franklin

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PR Resource: Categorising Influencers

The Influencers in Public Relations

In pub­lic rela­tions, influ­en­cers are indi­vidu­als who have man­aged to grow a sub­stan­tial audi­ence, which has the poten­tial to affect a spe­cif­ic organ­isa­tion either pos­it­ively or negatively.

Influencers = inde­pend­ent con­tent cre­at­ors with influ­en­tial plat­forms and fol­low­ings of poten­tial import­ance to a brand. ¹Silfwer, J. (2020, January 15). The Influencers in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​i​n​f​l​u​e​n​c​e​r​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/

Establishing and main­tain­ing good rela­tion­ships with stra­tegic­ally chosen influ­en­cers for the organ­isa­tion is often crit­ic­ally important.

“Influencers in pub­lic rela­tions are emer­ging stake­hold­ers who gen­er­ate a state of opin­ion in the digit­al com­munity that sur­passes tra­di­tion­al pub­lic opin­ion.”
Source: The Role of Prosumers in the Interactive and Digital Processes of Public Relations ²Polo, M. (2020). The Role of Prosumers in the Interactive and Digital Processes of Public Relations. 161 – 174. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​4​0​1​8​/​978 – 1‑7998 – 3119‑8.ch012

How To Categorise Influencers

There aren’t stand­ard­ised ter­min­o­lo­gies for influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing and influ­en­cer rela­tions, and no gen­er­al fol­low­ing sizes or engage­ment ratios exist. However, it’s pos­sible to make approx­im­ate distinctions.

I recom­mend using the fol­low­ing tiers and nam­ing con­ven­tions for cat­egor­ising dif­fer­ent types of influencers:

Learn more: The Influencers in Public Relations

PR Resource: Influencer Marketing vs Influencer Relations

Influencer Marketing vs Influencer Relations

There are three main types of influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing (digit­al mar­ket­ing) and one primary type of influ­en­cer rela­tions (digit­al PR):

Influencer Relations (Part of Digital PR)

Influencer out­reach (earned media) = the influ­en­cer receives invit­a­tions, demos, or exclus­ive mater­i­al without strings attached.

Influencer Marketing (Part of Digital Marketing)

Influencer advert­ising (paid media) = the influ­en­cer will pub­lish the brand’s pre-made con­tent in their channels.

Influencer spon­sor­ship (paid media) = the influ­en­cer will read a script to con­vey an offer­ing fol­low­ing the brand’s instructions.

Influencer col­lab­or­a­tion (paid media) = the influ­en­cer show­cases the brand’s offer­ing by cre­at­ing con­tent sim­il­ar to the influ­en­cer­’s reg­u­lar content.

Advertising, spon­sor­ships, and col­lab­or­a­tions are typ­ic­ally referred to as influ­en­cer mar­ket­ing, and out­reach is typ­ic­ally referred to as influ­en­cer rela­tions.

Organisations look­ing to util­ise the poten­tial reach of rel­ev­ant influ­en­cers will be wise to pay atten­tion to these dis­tinc­tions. ³Silfwer, J. (2020, January 15). The Influencers in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​i​n​f​l​u​e​n​c​e​r​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/

Learn more: Influencer Relations vs Influencer Marketing