Blogher: Note To Brands

Dear Brand & Brand Reps,

Despite my transparent green leaning… I couldn’t help myself – I got excited by some of great swag that was swirling through the parties and suites at blogher this year.  Thank you for your part in making it an unbelievable experience.

Many of the items I received will be well loved and used, but for this note… I want to talk about everything else.

Brands Please – when you are preparing to come to a conference like this – put yourselves in our shoes.

Shipping

We have to either pay to ship or cram EVERYTHING into a small suitcases to get it home. So will the item you are thinking of introducing make the cut? It better be pretty special or it’s going home with the maid.

Consider taking our information and shipping the item to us directly. Or take Rock On Mommies suggestion and give us a gift card or certificate good for the item you want to introduce.

As you plan keep in mind that free product comes our way like fruit flies swarming abandoned fruit – if free stuff is our goal.  I think I speak for most bloggers when I say that we don’t blog for free stuff, we value ourselves and what we have to offer is far more than that.

Paper & Brochures

I hate to break it to you – when we are packing up, we go through all “the stuff”. All the paper, brochures, leaflets are discarded – ALL OF IT. Hopefully, it ends up in the recycling bin – more likely it’s going in the trash. Think about all the time and money spent on copy writing, printing – all to end up in a landfill without more than a glance.

Even if you have the best information – we don’t have time to read paper literature while we’re at a conference and no one is going to pay to ship it home nor are we giving up precious luggage space for information we can get online.

Instead invest your resources in a way to communicate with us after the conference, invest in compensating us to do what we do – generate exceptional exposure for well matched brands, and invest in ensuring you can deliver information to us digitally.

Final Thoughts

• Please don’t treat is like we’re a potential consumer – we can be so much more than that.
• Sending us a discount code and asking us to share it with our readers is a promotion. We can’t pay for groceries with a bottle of shampoo, nor can you. Please don’t ask us to do this kind of work for free.
• Please don’t add us to your general email list – if you do – I promise you are missing the boat.
• I know you are busy and doing the very best you can within the constrains of your time and budget.

If you are hoping bloggers are going to cover your brand or product because it was given to us at the conference – I think you’ll be disappointed. Instead consider it an opportunity for a great date – if the dating goes well – we might consider getting into a relationship.

I don’t know why, but I have the feeling Brands are approaching Blogher like it’s the prom. The work is done – now it’s time for the party.

From my perspective Blogher is the wedding, a party, and a celebration of the beginning of a partnership.

Think worthwhile, satisfying, long term.  Don’t be tempted by the shortcut of a one night stand. It might seem fun and easy, but it probably won’t last and usually isn’t worth it.

I’m really interested to hear from you – the brands and brand reps met at blogher -  so please take a minute to respond to a few questions I have for brands & bloggers.

Brands are you wondering what Pure Natural Diva can do for you?

Our focus is living a simple, healthier, greener life – with flair.  We bring an audience to your brand with the same interest & focus.  We only work with brands that fits naturally with our content – if we’re not a match there’s a site on the web that is perfect for you!

Pure Natural Diva gets an average of 10,000 monthly pageviews and 5000 unique monthly visitors.  We’ve also created a network of Eco Savvy Bloggers – our combined monthly pageviews – over 200,000.

@PureNaturalDiva has over 26,000 followers on Twitter & 1950 fans on facebook.  To learn more about our social media status – click here.  It’s not just about our numbers – it’s about our engagement and the quality of our relationship with our followers.

Pure Natural Diva is ranked in the top 250 of all Los Angeles Twitter Users!  When we send out 50 tweets it has a reach of over 63,000 people.

Yahoo! Shine Interview

On of the fun things I was able to do while in NYC at Blogher was sit down and visit with Yahoo! Shine.  They were asking bloggers to share how they reinvented themselves.  It an interesting question to be asked and take the time to contemplate!

On a fun note – they  had a team doing our make up!  Knowing we were camera ready sure made it easier to relax and enjoy the interview!

Me.  Reinvented.

BlogHer To Do List

I am so excited to be heading to BlogHer for my first time.  This will be my first trip away from my family in over 5 years – so it’s a bit of a big deal.

I’m abuzz with preparations.  That really means using BlogHer as a deadline to get a whole bunch of things that should be done anyways.

So here’s what’s on my to do list:

• Design a new logo
• Design and print new Business Cards
• Laptop Case & Cover
• Hair cut
• Mani Pedi
• Childcare plan
• Order PND Water Bottles, Coffee Tumblers & Ceramic Mugs

Here’s what I’m going to need!

Wednesday

• Travel Outfit
• Dinner Outfit

Thursday

• Daytime Outfit
• Party Outfit
• Yoga Outfit

Friday

• Daytime Outfit
• Party Outfit
• Walking Outfit

Saturday

• Daytime Outfit
• Party Outfit

Sunday

• Daytime Outfit
• Casual Evening Outfit

Monday

• Travel Outfit

Whew!  I think that’s it… of course knowing me I’ll add a few extra items. This is the earliest I’ve ever packed for a trip.  And I’ve left half of my suitcase empty.

I hear I’ll need room in the suitcase when I come home!

Next step – I really need to clean and sort through my travel toiletries.  My travel kit is chock full of conventional products and needs to be pared down and simplified.

Wish Dude luck 5 days almost on his own with the littles… although he really shouldn’t need it with the help I’ve lined up for him!

Irresistibly Muddy

Recently I attended a conference in Utah, the Evolution of Women in Social Media or EVO.  This event was jammed packed with information, networking and FUN!

One session that stood out was “Doing Business in a Social Media World.  The amazing panelists were Liz Strauss, Carol Roth and Ghennipher Week.  They asked us to write a post about what made us irresistible and what we learned from the panel.

MURKY WATER

The session echoed many of the thoughts that have been running through my mind & dancing through my notes during the past few months. It challenged us to; OWN our irresistibility, really define our goals for our businesses, and it reminded us not to underestimate our worth.

The statistic that a female owned business’ earns an average of $88,000 while a male owned earns an average of $1.3 Million was a shocking reminder to pay attention, especially given the group primarily comprised of women.

MY OWN DIRT

Pure Natural Diva is a website dedicated to information about greener, healthier living.  It did not start out as a business.  It was simply my  place to share what was working in my home/family with my friends.  Carol would define that as a “jobby.”

As I learned more about blogging and social media – I realized this passion project could become a viable business.  Since that time it’s been a race to figure it all out.

I say a race because of the marathon hours I have dedicated to building the site, writing, social networking, writing a book proposal, creating an outline for a live show, fielding pr pitches, attending events and on and on and on.

PND is truly a case of the cart coming long before the horse…therefore now I’m working to ensure that the time I’m investing will have a financial payback in addition to being personally satisfying.

EVEN MURKIER

The challenge has been navigating uncharted waters.  Creating an effective business plan in a new media world.  Not to mention, creating a plan that will generate enough revenue to satisfy my own personal expectations.  Not an easy task.

I know I’m not alone fireside/playroom chats I’ve had with some of my favorite local blogging friends.  We know our value, we know our worth – we just haven’t fully dialed in on how to maximize revenues and capitalize – yet.

Personally – my focus has been on building a great site and a strong brand.  I do promotional work, but more as it comes my way as opposed to spending time on sales.

DOWNRIGHT MUDDY

What do I want from Pure Natural Diva?

I would be very satisfied to continue to grow my site and happily stay in the OL domain OR there is the bigger dream where I can see PND as a full line eco savvy brand…. think greener, nic–  more approachable, Martha Stewart.

Everything I know about goal setting and achieving your dreams seems to require a clear driving vision – which has left me wondering about my goals and my thought process through this journey.

The wonder comes from the fact that my life won’t end if the “big” dream never comes to fruition – I love my life and I’m happy.  I don’t feel a burning need to build an empire. That said, I feel called to do the work I”m doing.  I am driven to build the site and the PND brand to make it the biggest success it can be.

THE CLARITY

So there it is… after stirring up muddy waters:  My intention is to build my site and the Pure Natural Diva brand to be as successful as I can – Success that will be measured by earnings & the positive impact we can have on peoples lives.  While doing this I will remain true to my family and my values.  I will work smart, value my time, and require those I work with to value it as well.

THE IRRESISTIBILITY

Liz’s big question: What makes you irresistible?
I am irresistible because I am passionate about helping people live greener healthier lives without tossing our Manolos and moving into a yurt – nothing against yurt dwellers.

ALMOST AS GOOD AD BEING AT EVO

Stephanie Smirnov was part of  a panel on monetizing your site that was truly outstanding.  What’s more… she compiled an online presentation so we could share her wisdom!  If you missed it you’d be remiss not to take the time to check it out!

Thank you to Shelle Blok for the photo!

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