Use Self-Promotion in Your Mom Blog Media Kit

The goal of a well-written media kit is to convince brand representatives and potential advertisers to work with you. The things you want to include are information about you and your blog, your traffic statistics, your social media presence, and your past campaigns and accomplishments as a blogger.

This is where you really want to strut your stuff. But interestingly, many bloggers say they have a difficult time with self-promotion; they have a hard time tooting their own horns. And brand representatives complain that other bloggers expect to be treated like royalty when they have nothing to offer in return.

All mom bloggers should be comfortable talking about their accomplishments — while also being realistic about what that track record entitles them to.

If you fall into the camp of underselling yourself as a blogger, then it might help to reframe the thought of what it means to toot your own horn. Self-promotion is not the same as bragging — it’s letting potential partners know what you have to offer.

Bragging is primarily an ego-booster, all about “me, me, me.” Communicating your strengths is more practical and focused: You do it to represent accurately all that you can do for someone you want to work with.

If you have a really hard time tooting your horn, it can help to think about yourself in the third person. What would your best friend say about you and all that you’ve accomplished with your blog? If you’re still stuck, go ahead and ask your best friend what she would say about you!

You need to be able to showcase your strengths as you write your media kit and your website’s Press pages. You can check out a fantastic example of a very well-written horn-tooting profile by Sommer Poquette of Green and Clean Mom.

There was an infamous exchange between a mom blogger and a brand representative who was sponsoring a blogging conference a few years ago. The sponsor had been giving away free samples of products, and ran out of them before every attendee could get a sample.

One blogger was upset about this, and threatened to write terrible things about the sponsor on her blog if she couldn’t get her free samples — implying that her influence as a prominent blogger would harm their brand. It also somewhat implied that giving free samples would “buy” a good review from the blogger, which is not only unethical, but illegal under the FTC guidelines.

In a classy move, the brand representative never revealed who the blogger was who threatened him. But he did turn to his friends in the mom-blogging community to help defuse the situation. The interaction has become one of the best-known examples of bloggers acting too entitled and expecting more than they should from a brand rep.

The most objective way to evaluate a situation like this is to consider what you want to get in relation to what you can give. If you want a new stove to review, do you think — realistically — that through your sphere of influence you can deliver three to five actual stove purchases because of what you write about the stove?

You don’t have to track down sales and poll your readers for this kind of information. But when brand representatives choose which bloggers to approach, this is exactly the kind of question they need to answer for their clients.

You always bring value to the table as a blogger. Just keep that value in perspective; balance it realistically against what you are offering in return. The more a product fits in naturally with your blog’s purpose, the more you can offer to a brand — and the more you can expect to receive.

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