How NOT to Reach Out to Bloggers

Posted by , SEO Resume on 2/19/13 in Internet

Earlier this week I poked fun at SEO vendor that posted rankings that weren't particularly impressive and were, in my opinion, downright funny. I'm must be in a sour mood because now I'm going to poke fun at a company that seems to be trying to generate buzz and presumably links, but has made a pathetic attempt at it.

Let me start with the e-mail I received from the vendor not too long ago (names have been changed):

Hi Mario,

My name is Somebody, and I'm reaching out to you on behalf of Acme Inc., a digital advertising agency in New York City. We are currently in the process of setting up a viral international buzz campaign for our client and are very interested in working with you and your blog.

The campaign involves a game between bloggers across 6 countries, including Germany, USA, UK, India, France, and NL. The game is all about guessing which company is behind the buzz campaign. The winner will receive a very nice gift!

For more details, I would like to send you a buzz kit which will help clarify everything. If you are interested in participating in this game, please send your street address to somebody@acmeinc.com.

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Somebody

So lets start with the nit-picking, shall we?

  • First off, my first name has an 's' at the end of it. There's no better way to let a website owner know that you're not really paying attention than by spelling their name incorrectly.
  • Second, trying to build buzz with a game about guessing who is trying to build buzz is a silly idea. If there are details about the game that would convince me it's not silly, they should be included in the contact e-mail e.g. this is going to be a Leonardo Da Vinci-style solve clues type of game.
  • Third, a first prize described as a "very nice gift" makes me think the winner is going to get one of those pens with the blue-LED light built in. A cool conference trinket, but hardly worthy of a website owner's time.

Needless to say I'm not participating in this one. And I'm expecting the campaign to flop so I may never know which company was behind this effort.

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