2 builders who never spoke to each other

Email niche bloggers by hand and expect silence

The people who write about your subject full time actually want to hear from makers, unlike mainstream reporters, and their own contact forms outperform any platform. Build the list mechanically, run the topic through a discovery tool to get everyone who covered it recently and find the addresses, then research and personalise every mail. Almost all will ignore you, and one enthusiastic reply can repay the whole campaign in advice, designs and introductions.

The method

1. 01

   Reach industry bloggers through the email addresses and contact forms on their own sites, researching each one and personalizing the message; response rates there beat platform outreach.

2. 02

   Cold email the bloggers who cover your niche full time: unlike mainstream reporters they want to hear from you.

3. 03

   Build the press list mechanically: run your topic through Buzzstream Discovery to get every writer who covered it recently, then find their addresses with Hunter.

4. 04

   One genuinely enthusiastic contact can repay dozens of hours of outreach that went nowhere, so keep sending even when the hit rate looks dismal.

What it returned

• 440

  Searching the term Kanye West returned 440 bloggers who had published on it in the previous month

• Zue reported a surprisingly high response rate from personalized emails to wedding bloggers, with several interested in listing designs and in affiliate partnerships.

• A well-known wedding blogger replied with industry advice, offered to contribute designs, and offered to help him network and market the eventual product.

Sources

• Serve a niche market. Get more attentionHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Press · undated
• Validating an Idea is HardCory Zue · coryzue.com · Bloggers · 2017-05-12