I had an unexpectedly awesome time in Cancun on the Bloggers in Paradise tour put together by Diamond PR to promote a bunch of their tropical properties. My main contact prior to the trip was Kara Rosner, the VP at Diamond PR.

There’s always a bit of mystery around who gets invited on these trips and why. Last summer, when Peter, Kelly and I did the TBEX road trip, we had the opportunity to work with lots of supportive PR folks and many of them agreed to help our readers understand the answer to that question. I figured the Bloggers in Paradise tour was another good opportunity to ask the same questions and Kara was game. Here’s her take on the PR Chat questionnaire.

What does a “good” blogger looks like to you? Are there any consistent characteristics in the bloggers you choose to work with?

A “good” blogger for me is someone who reaches an audience that fits with the client’s demographic. Having an established following, reaching a target market for our client, a professional and visually friendly blog, and being active and interacting in the online realm outside of just their blog all contribute to a “good” blogger. You don’t have to be the biggest in the blog pool – you just have to make sense for a client’s investment of time and/or money.

What makes you decide to give resources to a blogger?

Ultimately, there’s no magic formula or finite set of criteria when it comes to evaluating media requests – it’s a sliding scale, that takes in to consideration a variety of factors – from the blogger’s credentials, experience and reach, to the individual client and their goals, budget and needs. Creating a relationship with us also helps – and bloggers can do that with us the same way a PR person reaches out to writers – engage us on Twitter, check out our Facebook page, etc. We’re more likely to work with someone we recognize, even if we haven’t worked directly with you in the past.

How do you vet a blogger? Do you look at their traffic, their Technorati ranking, or other statistics?

We base our decisions on the writer’s sphere of influence… basically, who they have the potential of reaching and how. Traffic/unique visitors is considered, as is relevancy. Plus, with the increase in direct to consumer conversations, we also look at a wider range of variables, such as where and how they promote their blog, their Twitter activity, links to/from other sites and the potential for reaching additional audiences outside of their blog. And while numbers give us a tangible, the demographic is just as important. You could be writing for a top ranked blog, but if the audience isn’t a good fit for the resort, then the ROI diminishes. Reaching a million people is great, but not if those million people are looking for a family oriented vacation and we rep an adult only resort. Also, the ability to contribute to more than one blog or outlet certainly helps your cause.

How should a new blogger approach you?

I love that you ask this question – because we’re always being told how to approach writers, it’s nice to be asked how to approach us… and for me, an email introduction works best. It also helps if you provide details up front that I’ll end up asking for anyways – info about your blog, recent ranking/traffic, what other sites link to your blog if any, specifics about what you’re asking for, etc..

What should bloggers ask you for? What should they NOT ask you for?

You can ask for whatever you want – worst case is we can’t do it and we’ll simply let you know. That said – if you come to me asking for a two week stay, all F&B included and flights for you, your husband and your five children, I’m likely going to laugh at the request and probably think you’re high maintenance, unrealistic and probably a little egotistical to think you really warrant that. However, if you’re planning a family vacation and writing for a credible blog and simply ask for help with accommodations – I’ll take a serious look at your request. Basically – just be reasonable. These are hard economic times across the board – not least of all among the travel industry, and while our clients know they have to invest in their own success, they still have limited budgets and resources.

What’s the best way for a blogger to catch your interest when they’re contacting you directly?

Just follow all of the above – send me an introduction email explaining who you are, what you want to do and why and how you’re interested in covering/reporting on it. Be professional and flexible. Just as PR pros are expected to do their research before reaching out to writers, make sure your request makes sense – don’t cut and paste an email that you just sent someone else (yes, we’ve received requests asking for accommodations at hotels we don’t represent – i.e. the writer forgot to change the name of the hotel from their last email.) On a similar note, the best way to lose my interest is to lie or be evasive, or throw in last minute requests after we’ve agreed upon something – that’s a definite red flag.

Do you receive a lot of sponsorship requests and what percentage of those do you say yes to?

We receive some, I wouldn’t say it’s a ton, but the queries do come in – and with a bit more frequency in the past months. We evaluate each on a case-by-case basis – and we say yes to a lot. It’s always our goal to help and do what we can.

What do you expect from a blogger in exchange for your product or service?

It’s different in each case – but we expect whatever was agreed to in initial conversations – and then anything above and beyond is fabulous, and definitely gives us reason to look to work together again. If you say you’ll blog daily and tweet regularly – then that’s what we expect. If you say you’ll post a blog review after the trip – then we hope to see that come to fruition within a reasonable amount of time. Basically, we’re running a business, and this is a business transaction. If we hold up our end of the bargain and help you get what you’re asking for, in exchange we expect you to hold up your end of the agreement and produce what was agreed upon – just as in any other business arrangement.

What do you do if a blogger negatively reviews the product or service you represent?

That’s always a tough situation. First things first – we don’t ever expect a blogger to lie or make statements they don’t agree with – we understand 100% that a blog is opinion based and needs to be honest and authentic. That said, if a blogger has a problem with an experience they have, we appreciate the opportunity to address it prior to their posting, or for them to include a hotel executive’s comments about the situation in their post. And we’re a fan of the golden rule, “If you have nothing nice to say…”. But we understand bloggers are more likely to say so when they come across something questionable or not to their liking, we just hope that they’ll also find and report on the positive side of things as well. Finally, we hope that a blogger would keep in mind the long term relationship – if you travel to our client resort and we bend over backwards to help coordinate that for you – and then you rip our client to shreds, well, let’s just say I’m pretty sure we’ll think twice before suggesting another client invest in working with you.

What do you have to show your boss as results for supporting a blogger?

Basically, we have to prove the ROI to our clients – which is more difficult with blogs bc we don’t have all the metrics that we do with other editorial avenues. We use blog posts, tweets, links, etc to show them what was written or otherwise communicated to the world and why it was worth their investment.

Briefly, give us the elevator pitch for you and your company.

Diamond Public Relations is a progressive PR agency with a focus on travel & lifestyle. Clients include hotels, resorts and restaurants in Aruba, Curacao, Belize, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Miami, Puerto Rico… and more. We’re often told that we’re not your typical PR agency – and we take that as a complement. We like to stray from the beaten path, take risks, try new things, have fun. We are quick to respond and understand the need to meet a deadline. We create long, lasting relationships with the writers we work with on both a business and personal level. Work with us – you’ll like us; travel with us – you’ll love us. We get what we want by helping others get what they want. How can we help you get your story?

There are a few more PR Chats here and here.