What Bloggers Want - Interview with Gillian Lee Rose of the Styled Rose
Here is the fifth part of our ‘What Bloggers Want’ interview series, and today we have a very special interview with Gillian Lee Rose of the Styled Rose.
If you’re interested, you can catch our last blog right here, and for a little more on Blueclaw fashion marketing, you can view our own page by clicking here.
Why did you start blogging?
I started because I had too many clothes that were going unworn, I saw it as a reason to utilise more of my wardrobe. I’m a nightmare for buying stuff and it still having the tags in it a year later.
What made you focus on the fashion & lifestyle market?
I have always been interested in fashion and I love styling outfits so it seemed like the appropriate market to focus on.
How influential do you think blogs are within the industry? Will their influence increase or diminish over the next 5 years?
I think blogs are extremely influential. At the end of the day it’s real people, with real lives. Readers can relate to them and may take more influence from them as they would from a celeb. They can get to know them more through their blogs. I think their influence will only continue to increase over the next 5 years.
What approaches from brands and PR/Search marketing agencies annoy you and what makes you want to work with a brand or product?
It annoys me when I receive a generic email from a company that doesn’t even contain my name or any relevance to my blog whatsoever.
It just shows the company is emailing everyone and isn’t actually particularly interested in you or your blog.A personal friendly email would definitely make me want to work with a company, also if they have taken time to look at my blog and mention a particular post in the email I would appreciate it a lot more.
What advice would you offer to brands and agencies approaching you?
Only contact a blogger if their market is relevant to the product or service. Bloggers receive hundreds of emails a week and half of them are usually disregarded as they aren’t relevant.
Would you review any product or do you pick and choose?
I only pick products that I myself would buy or use. I don’t just say yes to any free product or service, it has to be within the style of my blog.
Do you use a variety of media on your blog (e.g. video, images)?
I use images and also do YouTube videos which I embed into posts when they are uploaded.
What posts, or types of posts, have been most effective for you?
Style steal and style guide posts are always popular but mainly just outfit posts using high street brands are best received.
As social is a must for any blogger, what channels work best for you and do you plan to change your activity in the future?
Instagram is the best platform, it’s aesthetically pleasing and some people don’t like to read long blog posts or simply don’t always have the time. You can tag retailers and if they regram then it gets out to a wider audience.
It would be amazing if you could put clickable links in the comments but you can direct traffic to your blog which contains the links. Twitter is also a great platform. It keeps the message short and sweet and you can add links to certain posts or products.
If you could offer any advice to young up and coming bloggers, what would it be?
Don’t give up, for a while you will be blogging to pretty much yourself and your family/friends. It is a lot of work and can be daunting but utilise the internet, there are blogs about how to blog so you can never really get too stuck. Just keep at it and hard work put in will pay off eventually.
