Robert Basic (a German A-List blogger) posted his thoughts (in German) on how web startups should (not) approach him for evangelization purposes.
Here’s the gist. He
1. …doesn’t give a crap about PR / Marketing talk or product pitches in general. He’s rather looking for a scoop, i.e. background information from *founders*, not PR folks.
2. …is not interested in private betas he is not supposed to be blogging about.
3. …is not interested in “upcoming cool features”, but in stuff that works *now*.
4. …won’t write about you and your startup if he doesn’t like you. Period, I guess.
5. …points out how he is just a blogger, not a major advertising channel.

Looking at how Lijit’s evangelists Tara and Barney have been succesfully working for the past few months I’d add
6. Approach every blogger *personally*, identify their main topics and see how your product could suit their particular needs.
7. This is only step #1, ultimately you want to engage in a conversation. This is where evangelism eventually has to become CRM. E.g. proactively talk to your existing users, offer help, ask for their feedback.

Even though I no longer work for Lijit, I still follow the blogbuzz on them regularly and I’m impressed with all the positive feedback Tara and the others are getting. They really managed to find the right tone when talking to bloggers, as can exemplified by this, this or this, to link a few. I guess the secret lies within their natural no bullshit/marketing attitude when sending those mails. Which is pretty much in line with Robert’s thoughts.

Congrats Tara and Barney!

: blogmarketing, evangelism, crm

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