Tag Archives: BlogWorld

The panel of dad bloggers from BlogWorld 2010. From left, Jim Turner, Brad Powell, C.C. Chapman, and Craig J. Heimbuch.

I found myself in a predicament at BlogWorld LV 2010. The “mommy” bloggers and the “daddy” bloggers were speaking at the same time. I wanted to hear from both sides of the parental blogosphere.

Alas, I had to make a choice.

I picked the lesser known and understood dad bloggers and felt slightly like a child forced to choose a side. Apparently, most people went with mom. I don’t think there were more than 20 people in the room for dads.

I couldn’t be happier with my choice.

It was half way into the daddy panel discussion that I began looking around the room. “All the brands not here listening right now, just made a huge mistake,” I thought.

2011 will be the year of the Dad bloggers!

I’m not making that up. Dad Brad Powell said it. And please note in the photo above, Powell looks like he’s very well in touch with his mom side and probably could have fit in on either panel. He was actually making a statement about how brands normally treat dad bloggers.

So what do brands need to know about dad bloggers?

• Don’t call them “daddy bloggers.” According to Powell, they are “dad content creators.”  Craig J. Heimbuch added that “Dad bloggers write about anything…from a dad perspective.”

• Don’t put them in your “mommy blogger” list and send out a blast email that starts with “Hey gals!”

• Do read their blogs.

• Do email them individually, call them by their name, and understand what each blogger writes about. Have an angle for your story that fits their interests.

Dad blogger C.C. Chapman said that if your email has any of the following in the subject line, it will not be read. The others agreed, and now we all know what to avoid:

• Media Alert
• Immediate Release
• Urgent

An audience member with a very well known brand asked the dads about the best method to add contacts to her daddy blogger list.

I winced in pain for her. For a moment, you could have heard a pin drop.

Then everyone jumped in at once. The general consensus: Never say you are building a database or list of daddy bloggers (the same goes for other bloggers and journalists, by the way). Everyone’s fear, of course, is an inbox full of “Hey gals” emails.

I was surprised by the heartfelt stories shared by men in the audience who also blog and are dads and who feel they don’t get respect for putting their roles as family-men first. It’s easily accepted, and truly expected from moms, but dads are supposed to be out earning the big bucks, coming home late, and having time for the kids only on Saturday afternoon.

Brands mostly haven’t picked up on the fact that this is a different era.

Advertisers still target women with household products, and make men look naive about how the household functions.

Not that all dad bloggers are the primary caretakers of the home, but we have to realize that we are living in an age when many dads ‘choose’ to be the stay-at-home partner, working from home, doing the laundry, and making sure the kids get to soccer practice. It’s a choice many families make.

Blogger Jim Turner said he has confessed to peers on business calls that he was folding the laundry while they talked. Sometimes someone, another man, will ask him a laundry question and Turner isn’t shy about sharing his experience with products.

So what’s a brand to do?

Start by following the dad bloggers from this panel:  C.C. Chapman, Digital Dads; Jim Turner, Genuine Blog; Brad Powel, Dad Labs; and Craig J. Heimbuch/Man of the House. Read their blogs and watch their videos. Get to know them.  Join their discussions.  Then, check out the other dad bloggers in their communities. Finally, please remember to target your stories carefully and conscientiously.

This is the season of the dad.

Authored by Victoria Harres, director, audience development, PR Newswire