the hunter gatherer - rob toldeo - searchlove boston 2014
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
The Hunter/GathererWhy influencers hate the pitch and
what you can do about it
Rob “Holy” ToledoHead of Outreach @ Distilled
[email protected]@stentontoledo
or on Google+
/u/0/116666661154846565570/
I have a confession
I’m terrible at PowerPoint
No seriously…Like…
REALLY
BADatpowerpoint
So please don’t judge me
I have another confession
Despite having sent thousands of
personalized outreach emails
And my team of outreachers having an active contact list of approximately 15,000
bloggers and journalists
I can still count on one hand how many
times I have accepted an email pitch for my
own websites
So why is that?
A lot of them are great emails
http://bit.ly/1luXH1h
And it’s not like I write for the New York Times…
I gave this a think
Asking coworkers, friends and family
My conspiracy theorist uncle knew who to
blame
“Obviously Obama has something to do with this…”
But seriously…
I blame my instincts
Always on the hunt for the next
big thing
Here’s Joe…
Here’s Joe with a toy squirrel in front of him…Doooon’t
caaaare
Here’s Joe thinking he’s hunting an actual squirrel…
SQUIRREL!!!
We enjoy the hunt for the next thing,
just like Joe prefers to chase actual
squirrels
Here, you can tweet this:“I can’t believe @stentontoledo just compared me to his dog… What kind of conference is this?! #SearchLove”
Here’s me in high school
I was “really cool”
I was a music snob
(and still am)
While my friends were listening to…
I was listening to…
I LOVE finding new music and sharing it
with my “tribe”
An Example (circa 2001)
Example (circa 2001)Scenario A
Friend: “Wow Rob, you’re such a musical influencer and tastemaker, I worship the ground you walk on”
Me: “Have you guys heard of this new band, The Strokes? They’re incredible, total game changers”
Example (circa 2001)
Scenario B
Friend: “Hey Rob! Check out this new band The Strokes! They’re blowing up in England!”
Me: “Yeah they’re alright, I guess, man, whatever”
A quick experiment
Apple > Microsoft
Python is far superior to JavaScript
The Shawshank Redemption is a
better movie than Titanic
This local roasted organic fair trade
coffee is far superior to Starbucks
>
Local craft brews put generic macro beer to
shame
We’re all snobs about something
Alongside being a music snob, I’m also a content
snob
A lot of journalists and influencers are the
same way
They want to find it first
In content discovery
No effort = No reward
We don’t want to share a rotten meal with our tribe
What I’m not saying:• Email outreach is dead• Bloggers and journalists don’t want to hear
from you• We must try and trick people into sharing
our content• That the Moon landing was faked
Things aren’t that bad…
Most decent outreach sees response rates
around 40-60%
“You’re happy with 50 percent? You’re on top, and you don’t have enough. You’re happy because
you’re successful. For now. But what is happiness? It’s a moment before you need more happiness. I won’t settle for 50 percent of anything. I want 100
percent. You’re happy with your agency? You’re not happy with anything. You don’t want most of it, you want all of it. And I won’t stop until you get all of it.”
We should be working for that other 50%
But when promoting to the other 50%...
We need to be less like this…
…and more like this
But it helps to be a bit more cleverWe must plant the idea but not take any credit for it
Great… but how?
Three Main Points
1. Find out where your “important people” are hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get exclusive
3. Get more creative with your promotion
1. Find out where your “important people” are hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get exclusive3. Get more creative with your
promotion
People will likely talk about where they
spend their time online
• Web forums they hang out in• Twitter chats where they participate• Sites where they contribute and
comment• Communities they identify with
Where in the world are your influencers
Rand Fishkin
• /r/AskScience• /r/eli5• /r/LifeProTips• /r/Fitness• /r/Food• /r/Fashion• /r/Art• /r/Economics
Etc….
Rand Fishkin
Rand FishkinLikes:• Nicholas Cage• Pictures of birds that people have
photoshopped arms onto• Cute pictures of puppies• Business related topics
So we built this…
And it worked…
OK but seriously…
A real example
@carson_ward
A real example• Hoping to break into the tech
space• Wanted to get featured on high
profile blogs• Wanted influencers to share
socially
A real example
A real example
So they kept it simple…
A real example• They did some research using their
own data• Wrote a post that appealed to a
specific audience• Kept it relevant to current news• In total about 8 hours of work
http://bit.ly/1jLVGA7
One seed in front of the right people
The spoils of victory• ~70k pageviews• 116 domains sent traffic in 24 hours• Coverage in major media (Ars, Pando, Reddit)• ~500 social shares• More journalists believe them to be an authority
with future stories now (credibility increase)
1. Find out where your “important people” are hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get exclusive
3. Get more creative with your promotion
• Nothing makes journalists salivate more than exclusives
• The right exclusive story can make a career
• Exclusives still give the perception of influence, even when pitched
Exclusives
Giving an influencer a head start with your content can make everything easier
The rest of the internet
“Well if [insert major publication] covered it… then we better get something up
about it as well”
Exclusives
Exclusives make bosses and clients
nervous
But we canremove a lot of
the risk
Exclusives
- @Britt_Klontz
“The ‘exclusive’ conversation needs to start way before the content or story is complete”
• You should have the idea in front of several influencers early in the process
• Subtlety hint that you’re shopping the idea around (competition)
• Figure out who is most interested and give them exclusive access to the finished product
Exclusives
• Interesting proprietary data
• A high quality piece of content
• An anecdotal story about your business
• A new product or service release
• Interviews with high level employees
What makes a good exclusive
1. Find out where your “important people” are hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get exclusive
3. Get more creative with your promotion
Email is overwhelming
journalists
“I am someone with upwards of 5000 unread messages at any given time” - @jordancrook
http://tcrn.ch/1edhgd2
Even the best brands and
coolest content can get ignored
Think outside the inbox
Creative Promotion• Snail mail• PR stunts• Creating a mystery
Creative Promotion• Snail mail• PR stunts• Creating a mystery
When was the last time you got something fun in
the mail?
Snail mail• Previous efforts saw a response rate of only 10%• Had over 70% of people activate the turntable via
their smartphones • 42% clicked on a link to the Kontor Records
website on their phones• Covered by SPIN, TrendHunter and Hypebot
(double whammy, coverage and conversion)
Creative Promotion• Snail mail• PR stunts• Creating a mystery
But wait…There’s a real thin line
between true creativity and over the top craziness
An extreme example
PR StuntsOK realistically, you’re not creating a drone delivery service but…
…there’s a lesson here• Timing is everything – the drone stunt was right
before Black Friday, all eyes on Amazon• It doesn’t need to be “real”• Keep it related to your brand• Find a hook, something that will really grab the
attention of the media based on relevance
The cheapest PR stunt I’ve ever seen
PR stunts don’t have to be expensive like the
drone, they just have to be smart like the ‘now
hiring’ sign
A well done PR stunt feels really ripe for
coverage
Creative Promotion• Snail mail• PR stunts• Creating a mystery
A boat's a boat, but the Mystery Box could be
anything! It could even be a boat!
In this world of social / transparent / storytelling / open book branding…
(which is great)
Brands have become Kimmy Gibbler
But they should occasionally be like the guy from Twilight
“Humans naturally want to finish the story”
-Matt Summers, @mattsummers
http://slidesha.re/NUqSPG
Sure, HBO could have emailed Jacob and told him some fun stuff about the new
show but…
>
How much more exciting is it for him to share that surprise
with his readers?
Don’t be the shithead at the party who tells the birthday kid
what you got them as a gift
We want to unwrap the mystery ourselves
Key takeaways• Play into the psychological elements of how
influencers choose what to share• Seek a high level exclusive before mass
promotion• Create a mystery around new and exciting
things you’re working on
People like to huntGive them the opportunity
Thank you!@stentontoledo [email protected]