Blogger Outreach and the Specialty Food Industry

Food is a hugely popular blogging topic. According to FoodBuzz, a resource for all sorts of information related to food blogging, there are over 4,223 popular food blogs registered on that site alone, at the time of this writing. And Technorati, a much more authoritative resource when it comes to blogging in general, lists some 15,405 independent food blogs, ranging from extensions of huge brands to the smallest mommy food blogger that ever was.
Make no mistake, food and blogging go together like PB&J and a glass of milk. In my line of work, I speak to a lot of foodies, and one foodie even said to me that she wished she was a food blogger, just so she could sample and review my client's food.
And that is the essence of what this article is about. Blogger outreach and specialty food, and what one has to do with the other.
Along Came a Food Review

Food blogging hasn't been around long enough to be saying things like, "remember when," but there was a time when food blogging meant writing restaurant reviews or posting recipes, and that was it. Now, restaurant reviews are nothing to write home about. They've been around as long as society sections have been in newspapers. Everyone is used to restaurant reviews.
Food reviews are now commonplace as well, but they are (or, were, before blogger outreach) largely isolated to food magazines or major publications.
If you've ever tried to get into a food magazine or into a major publication, you know what I mean when I say, good luck. Even the most savvy PR professionals have a tough time pitching to food magazines, which pride themselves on being able to sniff out the coolest products on earth using their super sharp sense of new food smell.
But when bloggers started reviewing foods, these same savvy PR pros caught on to the potential. Sure, one blogger writing about your food is cool. But what about 10? What if 100 wrote about it? What if all 100 wrote about it all at the same time?

What if all 100 wrote about your new food at the same time, and that time happened to be just before the holiday shopping season began?
Tapping Into Potential
Too bad blogger outreach isn't as easy as my last paragraph suggests. Finding 100 bloggers who will sample and review your food - in a positive, helpful way - is no cakewalk. However, it is worth it. And the beauty is that anyone can tap into this potential, from the smallest artisan food producer in Wyoming to the newest brand in SOHO.
Part of tapping into the potential of blogger outreach is understanding what blogger outreach really is. We're going to break down blogger outreach into three main purposes as it pertains to specialty food:

1. Exposure and Awareness
2. Reach
3. Endorsement