As business buyers get more challenging to reach—thanks to email filters, ad blockers, and caller ID—influencer marketing is becoming more popular as a way to break through the clutter and connect with these hard-to-reach buyers. It’s essentially about building credibility with buyers by developing relationships with industry influencers they already trust.
Done right, influencer marketing helps to raise your profile in your industry, get in front of new but relevant audiences, and even get a bit of SEO benefit. Done wrong, it can seriously damage both your personal and brand reputation.
Blogger outreach is one key tactic within a broader influencer marketing strategy. Unfortunately, it’s a tactic that’s often misused and shoddily executed. If you’d like to share your brand content on prominent industry blogs, avoid the sins below. Don’t use blogger outreach purely for creating backlinks. And for God’s sake, don’t trust your outreach efforts to any dodgy, cut-rate, offshore “blogger outreach service.”
If you’re a blogger on the receiving end of crappy outreach, you can relate to this. If you’re a marketer who wants to use influencer marketing strategically to reach new buyers and improve digital marketing results, use influencer marketing best practices—not the sketchy, deadly sins of guest blogging outreach below.
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