Rethinking Blogger Relations

Yesterday I received my first "Blogger Box" -- Jack Hayhow of Opus Commnications sent it to me. In it was a copy of his book, The Wisdom of the Flying Pig and of course, a toy flying pig. That's the box in the pic above. Now I've often seen, heard and read of other bloggers receiving products, services, etc., in hopes that they'll blog about it. Who hasn't? It is a pretty standard tool in everyone's blogger relations toolkit. Just yesterday, Chris Brogran talked about the Blogger Rate at the Roger Smith Hotel in NYC. He even made a little video of his room. Nice but I think the folks at the Travel Channel are safe.

The thought I'm having right now is based on how I felt when I got the box. It was my first. And I don't care who you are, the first time someone sends you something of value with a note that they love your blog and thanks for supplying good thoughts, you can't help but get excited. We all want validation but this, well it goes well beyond the gold star.

I sit here writing this post because I feel I have to.. to close the loop if you will. But that is the psychology behind the tactic isn't it. Which makes me wonder, will I feel the same the next time I get something? The time after that and the time after that? Will I still feel this tremendous need to blog it. To "pay the sender back" for making me feel so good? Hmmmmm. I don't know. It's easy to get jadded. And if you are a power blogger and get lots of this kind of swag, I could see how you just couldn't blog it all for fear of seeming like you've sold out and yours is little more than a product review site.

So that of course begs the question, when planning a blogger outreach program that involves the sending of products, should you focus on the biggest, most influential bloggers or maybe work a bit harder to find that much, much larger ring of 2nd and 3rd tier bloggers. Win lots of little battles instead of a couple of wars.

I'm not sure. Time for coffee. Talk amongst yourselves and get back to me.