I do a fair amount of public relations consulting for advertising agencies. This helps them save money. They have a senior PR person on call, but not on the payroll. Because of this arrangement, I have the delight of working with a number of agencies in the greater Charleston area, as well as some outside the area.

Bloggers are not a target. They are a source. Listen to them.

This morning one of my ad agency colleagues phoned to ask (on behalf of a client who posed this question to the ad agency) how best to create a list of bloggers so the client could “shoot out a release to them.” At which point, I said, “Ummm, I wouldn’t encourage that if I were you.” My colleague said the client wants to send a release, implying that they just wanted to shout out the message into the ether and hope that someone hears it.

He doubted that they would heed my advice; the best way to get the attention of bloggers is to have a relationship with them. You can’t just fire off a release to a blogger and expect that they’ll show interest unless it’s a world-class, earth shattering story. Bloggers have their own voice and editorial calendar.

In case you haven’t been around in the past few years, professional bloggers have developed compelling content rich blogs that many readers subscribe to. Each bloggers’ voice is the equivalent of a direct line to people very interested in the topic of the blog or the bloggers thoughts/ideas.

Being able to successfully pitch bloggers requires that you subscribe to and read their blogs. That you follow them on Twitter. That you comment on their posts and understand their editorial tone. Not too much different than what one should have been doing with print publications; advice which is often ignored. Don’t wait around to create relationships. Do it because it is the right thing to do. You can learn a lot from reading the same information your customers are interested in. And if you can’t take time to do this yourself, consult with a public relations professional who is familiar with bloggers in your industry.

If you want to have bloggers interested in the story that your company has to share, plan ahead. Read the top bloggers in your industry or for the customers you serve. You can find them by looking at which blogs are top ranked on Technorati, or most frequently bookmarked on Delicio.us.

Don’t wait until you just want to “shoot out a release” to develop relationships with bloggers and understand what their audiences care about. Do it now because they offer invaluable insight into the mind of your consumer.