The Tendo View

You’re regularly (read: frequently) monitoring blogs, social networks, and websites for coverage of your industry and mentions of your company’s brand. And you’ve even created a database of influencers for your industry based on this regular trolling. But how well do you know your audience? Probably not well enough.

When I’m not creating content for one of Tendo’s clients by day, I pen a food blog. Just before Valentine’s Day, I received an email from Duncan Hines. I assumed the email was pitching some promotion for the holiday. Having been in the food business for a number of years and a food enthusiast for even longer than that, I get a lot of food-related newsletters and promotions—most of which I delete without reading because I can’t keep up with the glut. Uncharacteristically, I opened the Duncan Hines email.

It wasn’t what I expected.  Duncan Hines (or rather the agency the company hired for this effort) had identified me as an influencer—or at least someone who writes a food blog. And, I mean the very least.

“We know that some of the most interesting baking content and discussions are happening online, in blogs just like yours. We came across your site and think that we have some fun baking recipes and ideas that your readers might like.”

“To start, we thought you might like a simple and fun baking idea for Valentine’s Day—Duncan Hines® Conversation Heart Brownies. All you need is Duncan Hines® brownie mix …”

No offense

It’s not that I have anything against using box mixes as a base for grander baked goods. In fact, a couple of my favorite cakes from childhood are souped-up versions of packaged mixes (semi-homemade, a la Sandra Lee, so to speak). However, I have never made brownies from a package.

How could Duncan Hines possibly know that, you ask? By reading my blog, which this person clearly had not. Had she dug into my blog, she would have likely looked at baking recipes and stumbled across my Kahlua Fudge Brownies post, where I say, “… I have NEVER made brownies from a box mix.”

I wasn’t at all offended by the email, but some food bloggers, depending on their focus, would have been insulted at best and outraged at worse. However, it was painfully obvious that Duncan Hines’s agency hadn’t done its homework before launching this marketing effort. Compiling a list of food blogs is the easy part and only the first step in creating a successful campaign of this nature. Unfortunately, Duncan Hines stopped at this point.

Do your homework

If you’re going to try to engage influencers in your industry, you better get to know them—and know them well. At a minimum, you should know:

Who they are. Spend some time researching them and reading their bios to understand their background, training, and experience.

What they cover. Get to know their areas of interest and understand what topics they cover.

What category they fall into. You should segment influencers into categories based on your industry. For example, I consider myself a casual foodie who focuses primarily on recipes but also writes the occasional review and offers some educational information. I wouldn’t fall into the expert, celebrity, or natural food categories.

The bottom line is this: Know who you’re talking to and only engage those influencers when it makes sense. Targeting me for a recipe based on boxed brownie mix was a miss. However, Duncan Hines could—and should—email me with cake mix-based recipes, because I have, in fact, posted such a recipe.

Just remember, if you’re selective in what you pitch to whom, you’ll likely get the outcome you desire and create a fruitful new relationship.

Do you track influencers? If so, how?