Friday, March 04, 2005
Why Can't This Theatre Get Bloggers To Come?
A few weeks ago I read in the Butts in the Seats Blog that Impact Theatre in the East Bay was offering to give a free ticket to bloggers who met their "requirements."
Today Butts reports that Impact has been very disappointed with the response from blogland.
When I review the Impact "Offer" I can see right off the top that the tone and details of the offer are designed to deter bloggers, although I certainly don't think Impact had that intent. I tried to post the following comment, but his comments weren't working for me, so instead I'm going to post my thoughts here.
I think there's a lesson here for any business who wants to (warning: dreaded word approaches) "pitch" bloggers:
My Comment
I can see a few quick things about Impact's "offer" that would turn off many in blogland, not the least of which is the tone...which makes it sound like they're doing the blogger some big favor.
1. "Help us spread the word about Impact!"
Bloggers are about as resistant to becoming someone's shill as can be. If you want me to see your show and write about it, I will. Don't think I'm doing it to help YOU spread the word. I'm doing it to help my READERS decide how to spend their entertainment dollars...just like any critic.
2. Why does this person think they are offering bloggers "legitimacy" by setting rules for the blogger (unless they set the same rules for critics from every print/online publication?) That silver platter comment? Says it all about this guy's "outreach" to bloggers.
3. The request for stat reports is a bit rich coming from a teeny little theatre like Impact. I would balk at that, mostly because it would be a pain...For example, I have readers on Bloglines, on Kinja, on Syndic8. I have readers I capture via my web stats counter. And I have readers I CAN'T capture because they read me via news aggregators that DON'T tell you how many people are subscribing to you...like Newsgator, NetNewsWire and the like. And readers' localities...also less likely to be top of a blogger's mind.
If an advertiser from whom I expect to generate *revenues* wants to dig all into my traffic stats, that is a deal with the devil I might be up for. But to save the price of a $10-15 ticket, I'm going to jump through hoops AND feel like they're expecting me to be a marketing tool for them?
I don't think so.
Perhaps some of the above is why Impact has gotten such a disappointing response? I'm just guessing.
Today Butts reports that Impact has been very disappointed with the response from blogland.
When I review the Impact "Offer" I can see right off the top that the tone and details of the offer are designed to deter bloggers, although I certainly don't think Impact had that intent. I tried to post the following comment, but his comments weren't working for me, so instead I'm going to post my thoughts here.
I think there's a lesson here for any business who wants to (warning: dreaded word approaches) "pitch" bloggers:
My Comment
I can see a few quick things about Impact's "offer" that would turn off many in blogland, not the least of which is the tone...which makes it sound like they're doing the blogger some big favor.
1. "Help us spread the word about Impact!"
Bloggers are about as resistant to becoming someone's shill as can be. If you want me to see your show and write about it, I will. Don't think I'm doing it to help YOU spread the word. I'm doing it to help my READERS decide how to spend their entertainment dollars...just like any critic.
2. Why does this person think they are offering bloggers "legitimacy" by setting rules for the blogger (unless they set the same rules for critics from every print/online publication?) That silver platter comment? Says it all about this guy's "outreach" to bloggers.
3. The request for stat reports is a bit rich coming from a teeny little theatre like Impact. I would balk at that, mostly because it would be a pain...For example, I have readers on Bloglines, on Kinja, on Syndic8. I have readers I capture via my web stats counter. And I have readers I CAN'T capture because they read me via news aggregators that DON'T tell you how many people are subscribing to you...like Newsgator, NetNewsWire and the like. And readers' localities...also less likely to be top of a blogger's mind.
If an advertiser from whom I expect to generate *revenues* wants to dig all into my traffic stats, that is a deal with the devil I might be up for. But to save the price of a $10-15 ticket, I'm going to jump through hoops AND feel like they're expecting me to be a marketing tool for them?
I don't think so.
Perhaps some of the above is why Impact has gotten such a disappointing response? I'm just guessing.
// posted by ElisaC @ 10:47 AM 
