Mommy Blogger PR Blackout

Submitted by Kelly Lynch on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 15:58

Publicists in the inner media/marketing circles have been a-buzz this week with news of a formal statement from a mommy blog network—Momdot—challenging their network to blackout out all publicists, pitches, press releases, review requests, etc for one week in August to re-focus on their core passion—family.

As a long-time publicist and Internet marketer, my initial gut reaction was not a good one… “Are they kidding, who do they think they are?” “Don’t bite the mouth that feeds you, it will burn you later.” “See how much content you have without media experts sharing news with you on a daily basis,” and the likes. After the initial sting, I took a step back and read deeper and understood the plan is more about allowing time for each blogger to get back to their roots—sharing insights on family life—and less about being upset with PR and publicity as a practice. I myself am a mom, so I understand figuring out the balance of career and family.

So now I actually support the opportunity for our favorite mommy bloggers to take a break to look inward, to make sure they are using their popular platforms to communicate their real perspective. But I do throw out a word of caution: A good publicist only makes a blogger (or any media outlet for that matter) look better by giving them relevant, fresh and interesting stuff to talk about.