This is Part 3 of a series on Marketing to Mommy Bloggers…

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The first time somebody offered me a free book to review on my blog back in 2006, I thought it must be some sort of scam. Free book? Seriously? I was so paranoid I had them deliver it to my work address. That was about six months before marketing to bloggers swept the blogosphere and I was tickled to be chosen. I was less impressed when I received the book. It was awful and I discovered that, sometimes, even ‘free’ comes with strings.

Now, I get at least one pitch of some sort every week, whether it be free products, public service announcements or random press releases. A quick skim of my e-mail account includes pitches for skin lotion, shoes, coffee, head lice cures, “exclusive” access to authors and celebrities via conference call, baby gear, soup, Nestle Quick, a recipe exchange site, a public service site about breast exams, a writing contest, yogurt, paper towels — and books. Some of the pitches I’ve accepted include two different cell phones, chocolate, electronic keypad locks, video games and — most memorably — a four-day weekend at a resort. Plus a whole whack of books.

Here’s a few suggestions and tips for marketing your product or service to the Mom Blogger crowd:

• Respect my work. Don’t ask me to “contribute” articles, or my feed, to your ad-filled space for free.
• Don’t just wallpaper the blogosphere with your pitch. A while ago, I received an invitation to the grand opening of a teens-only fitness centre in Los Angeles. Being the mother of three little boys in suburban Canada, I wasn’t too interested in this one.
• Don’t bother with manipulation or false flattery. I may have mom-brain but I’m not stupid.
• Use Google Alerts or Google Blog Search to find out who is already writing about your products or product category. The offer of free Nintendo DS games to review arrived mere days after I blogged about my preschoolers discovering computer games. Coincidence?
• If I don’t get back to you right away when you pitch me, don’t take it personally. I know this is *your* day job, but it’s my hobby, and I’ll get back to you when I can. I try to answer every e-mail, but some weeks are better than others.
• I like freebies, and I like to give stuff away. I am a lot less likely to respond to a pitch where I can’t see what’s in it for me.
• Follow up to let the blogger know you have read and appreciated the post(s).

Ideally, you should get to know the bloggers you are pitching. If you’re going to be spending any amount of time in the blogosphere on a campaign, invest the time to read, comment and be a part of the community. If you’re going to pitch me, I want to feel like you’re interested in what I’ve created and not just the eyeballs that crawl across my blog. But be sincere about this. Don’t just skim the front page and pretend you’ve been reading for years. Mommy Bloggers especially value transparency and honesty — it’s part of what makes it an appealing community.

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Next Thursday in this space, the final instalment in this series: tips for Mommy Bloggers on dealing with advertising and marketers.

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Danielle Donders shares her digital parenting experiences with us on Thursdays. She is a proud Mommy Blogger at Postcards from the Mothership, and vaguely remembers a day job studying the tools of social media in the context of government communications.