One of the best ways to gain attention for your ecommerce store is to get your product reviewed by bloggers and the media.
This way, you can reach a targeted audience and gain exposure from one of their trusted sources of information.
With so many products, crowdfunding campaigns, and new businesses, having the right social proof can be the difference between success and failure. If you find a blogger who has a lot of followers in your niche, it can be the perfect way to open up your shop to hundreds of new potential customers!
But, many creators struggle with exactly what they can do to get this type of exposure. Maybe you’ve sent a few emails to bloggers and haven’t received much in terms of a response?
This post will recommend a few specific services and places to go to connect with product reviewers/influencers and also gives some general advice on how to get a great product review.
1. Search out Influencers
If you’re looking for more exposure for your ecommerce product or store, connecting with influencers who have thousands of followers in your industry is a good place to start. There are a few well-known ways to do this, like using Klout, Kred, Followerwonk, or Buzzsumo to find influencers in your industry.
Don’t forget that there are influencers across all different types of platforms like:
- YouTube
- Vine
- SnapChat
- Podcasts
- Blogging/online media
- FB/Twitter
Although there is some cross over in terms of an influencer’s fanbase, this isn’t always the case. It’s best to hit multiple channels, which might mean developing a relationship with multiple influencers.
Another service I heard about recently is Hypemarket. A fairly new service, Hypemarket connects entrepreneurs with Instagrammers who love to promote products! Sign up is free and only takes a minute or two. You can then choose to create a profile about the products you want to promote or use their filters to search for influencers who fit your needs. Many of Hypemarket users have thousands of followers – a great way to get exposure for your product.
2. Build REAL Relationships
Don’t just identify influencers in your target niche. Build a relationship with them! More often than not, a relationship will continue to pay dividends in the future. If you have another announcement, you can go back to that same influencer to cash in a favor.
If you’re going to be cold emailing people at random, then you need a very compelling story and clear reason why this person would feature you. Most of the people who email CrowdCrux have no idea why we choose to feature certain campaigns over others or why we have people on the podcast. The vast majority of authorities in a niche don’t produce content for themselves. They do it for a specific audience.
A good way to start building relationships is to make a list of people that you’d like to befriend. Look through your LinkedIn connections and see if anyone you know can introduce you to a blogger or influencer you want to connect with, and send them a message asking them for an email introduction. That way, when you reach out to said blogger or journalist, they will be expecting to hear from you and will be more likely to respond.
Take every opportunity you can to help out anyone that you’re trying to connect with. They will be more likely to do you a favor in the long run if they remember that time you helped them! This can be as easy as taking note of what a blogger writes about, what their deadlines are like, and sending them a relevant tip at a time that’s good for them.
3. Give Out Samples
One of the best ways to encourage influencers to give you a shoutout is to let them try out your product for themselves! This way, they can see the quality and function of your product in person and write about it from firsthand experience. If you get a good review from a writer with an audience that trusts their opinion, it can take a lot of the guesswork away from someone who is thinking about buying your product.
4. Don’t Forget Video Bloggers
When we think of bloggers we generally think about the written medium, but you should also consider reaching out to video bloggers for product reviews. Getting reviewed on different types of platforms (including things like vlogs and podcasts) is a great way to reach your audience wherever they may be.
Video blogs are also great because your audience can see how your product works with their own eyes!
5. Competitions
When sending a product to a journalist or blogger for review, send a second item for them to use in a giveaway. This helps get potential customers even more excited about your product and prolongs the hype that you get from the review.
6. Journalism and PR Services
Services like Gorkana help connect you with journalists who are looking for products to review. Journalists that are looking for information in a specific industry close to a deadline can post Media Requests on the site. This is similar to HARO, which allows you to get in touch with reporters looking to write about topics in a range of different industries.
7. Find Out Who is Reviewing Your Competitors’ Products
If all else fails, a little bit of research into the competition is another good place to start. Take a look at some products that are similar to yours, or other products in your industry. What bloggers or publications are reviewing their products? Are they using different mediums (written, audio, visual)? What influencers are they connected with on social media?
The answers to these questions can help you see how successful ecommerce businesses in your industry are approaching this subject. You can use this information to develop your own strategy and goals.
Conclusion
Reaching out to people who can review your product can be a frustrating task when you aren’t sure where to start. I hope that this post will give you an idea of how to start finding the right bloggers, influencers, and media personalities that can give your product or ecommerce store the boost it needs. If not, be sure to listen to this podcast episode on PR outreach mistakes.
Always take any opportunity you get to network with people who might be able to help you in this area. Most importantly, know that building relationships like this takes time and effort. It’s going to take more than one email to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with these contacts, but it’s well worth it in the end.
