Archive for: Press and Bloggers

The Discerning Man is the men’s lifestyle blog written by Ed Lemont. Ed has huge experience of working with brands and PRs and recently spoke to us about best practice and how to get the most from collaborations. Ed also gave advice for new bloggers and revealed the secrets to his success.

You refer to The Discerning Man as both a lifestyle blog and online magazine – how do you see the split between the two or are they one and the same?
I initially created The Discerning Man anonymously because I always knew I wanted to create a collaborative platform. My plan, both then and now, is to work with other amazing food, fitness and travel bloggers to contribute and guest post in the niches they are passionate about and educated in. I was thinking in five or 10 years, if blogs ever crossed over to online magazines, then The Discerning Man would already be an established and recognised title to adapt to such a shift.

In terms of it being a blog, that’s where you get the ‘Ed Lemont’ part coming in and the crossover with Instagram, where I’m speaking directly with my audience. Essentially, I am The Discerning Man but I feel the whole blogging industry is about collaboration and I wanted to celebrate that, which is why it took a long time for me to put my name to the blog.

How has the blog changed from when you first started to today?
Initially, it was very much product-led and I started as a grooming blogger. But the blog wasn’t with my face or under my name, it was anonymous. Gradually I realised, after attending events, that as much as it’s your content people are interested in – it’s you too, which was kind of nice in a way. I did my first big feature back in 2016 where I underwent a hair transplant and was even commissioned by GQ to write this up for their grooming section. That’s when I really started to get to know my audience and the kind of guys following and interacting with me.

So now the blog has changed because it’s a little less product-based and a little more me.

Has this changed the way you work with brands and PRs?
Yes. What I like about the brands I collaborate with is they understand me and The Discerning Man and its audience. So, they know my audience is more aligned with my age, as it’s mainly built up from 25-40-year olds.

One of my clients is Just For Men, who do hair dye that covers greys. I love that because leading on from my hair transplant, anything to do with hair and hair insecurity continues that journey, so I can share my experience and educate people along the way. Even though I wrote my hair transplant posts and feature over two years ago, I still get emails and DMs daily as it’s the most searched-for hair transplant article ever!

What’s a typical collaboration?
I’m at the stage where I’m one of those blogs that has management, so everything goes through them and they run it past me. I went through a phase early on of working with brands because the work was there. Recently I’ve taken it back to what The Discerning Man was originally about – ‘to have good taste’.

I never want to work with brands that I feel don’t represent The Discerning Man and that audience. I have a filter now: is this right for my audience, am I going to be passionate about it and will I enjoy my time creating content for them? Anything to do with fee is the last consideration because I’m so keen on getting the right brand first.

As with your work with Just For Men, do you see a trend towards multi-content, long term collaborations, rather than one-offs?
Yes – I think the ambassador thing is really taking off. The Just For Men collaboration began at the start of the year, with a few projects taking place throughout 2018: we collaborated a few months ago on their moustache colouring launch; I created content with research about which area of the UK is the most well-groomed; I’ve just collaborated about their NFL sponsorship; and we’ll do the Gentleman’s Grooming Show in November.

The ambassador thing is working well – I’ve also been an ambassador for Primark in the past and have a long running relationship with ASOS.

And initial contact goes through your management?
It does. I’m with The Blogger Programme and they manage a bespoke email address that’s linked from my Instagram. Obviously because I’m listed in Vuelio – which is great – I also get some emails directly from PRs, which gives me a foot in the door and keeps those relationships going.

What advice would you give someone that wants to work with you?
I think just having all of the information up front: what they want me to do for them, the type of content they want me to produce and if there’s an option for me to pitch some ideas for their campaign.

Travel is an area I would love to grow but you have to self-fund that or be lucky enough to be invited on press trips. I love any events-based opportunities because it gives me an opportunity to create content, probably more than if it’s a product-based campaign. For example, I’m going to the Seychelles with Hilton and I’m really excited because I get to produce a wide range of content when I’m there.

What advice would you give bloggers who have just started?
Try to attend as many events as possible but don’t bring a friend or another blogger because going alone makes you talk to people and brands. When I first started blogging, I didn’t get invited to any events so I went on Eventbrite found panel discussions with bloggers and chatted to them afterwards to get a few tips.

Create content for brands you’re interested in. If you’re passionate about a product you’ve bought, write a post about it, post it on Instagram and send the content to them. I’ve done this before – I included ASOS in a blog post about what to wear for Valentine’s day; I sent it to them just to let them know, and now I work with ASOS.

The Primark ambassador role happened because they invited me to a dinner launching the Harris Tweed range. It was such a beautiful dinner that I took photos on the night, wrote a blog post and I sent it to them. I created the blog post for free as a bit of a thank you, which clearly went a long way!

How do you use different social platforms and how do they work with your blog?
Obviously, Instagram is nearly everyone’s main platform. On Instagram I post a lot of outfit shots, which work well for me and get good engagement based on the community I’ve built up over the last couple of years. I use stories as a diary to tell the story of an event where I’ve taken pictures throughout. I also use the swipe-up link on my stories, so I’ll promote blog posts through that and any kind of links to demo the products.

Twitter is a sharing platform for me, so I share my blog posts and retweet any brands I’m working with. I’ve got a YouTube channel too but it’s mainly to host my branded video content and so I can also offer YouTube to brands as an added extra if we’ve collaborated on video content.

Do brands ask for just Instagram collaborations?
Yes – a lot of start-up or fashion brands see the value in the ‘click and shop’ Instagram element and some collaborations will ask for one Instagram post and one or two Stories. When I’m creating content on my blog, it’s very much about giving advice, which may not work as well on Instagram. When I go to the Seychelles, Hilton want a blog post about the hotels I’m staying in as opposed to just an Instagram post. The blog is the right place for anything to do with travel or advice and allows you to elaborate on your experiences without being restricted by a caption.

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Ed Lemont and The Discerning Gent is listed in the Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other blogs, vlogs, outlets and opportunities.

Kimberly Duran is the creator and author of Swoon Worthy, which has recently been ranked in the top 10 UK interior design blogs. With her love of bright colours, textures and animal print, Kimberly spoke to us about how she brings her style to her blog, her favourite room in her house and how she likes to work with PRs.

How has your blog changed over time?
I’ve been blogging since 2010 so both my blog and the landscape has changed dramatically – almost unrecognisably – over those eight years. In that time, the quality of my posts has certainly improved. I cringe at some of my early photography! There were also so many posts that where I was simply rambling about life with no real objective to why I was posting but, I suppose, it was a great way to get into it. I had time to find my writing voice, to understand who it was I was actually talking to. Over the years, my photography has come on leaps and bounds but also my design skills have really improved – years of practice definitely helped! I also know my audience much better now and so I try to have an objective every time I post – what are my readers getting out of this? Are they learning something new? Are they being inspired? Are they simply being entertained? I now consider my audience so much more in my content than what I did when I first started.

How would you describe your style?
I always describe my style as ‘Eclectic Boho Glam’! I am an unashamed maximalist who loves interiors with personality: I love to mix contemporary with vintage, glamorous gold luxe finishes, cheeky animal prints, touchable textural fabrics, bold pattern mixing and a touch of vintage and bohemian-style comfort.

What makes a great interior design blog?
My favourite blogs are ones where I not only leave feeling inspired and like I’ve learned something new but those where the personality of the writer really shines through. Most of my favourite blogs are those where I feel like I ‘know’ the person writing, where I can get a sense of who they are as a person and how they express themselves through interiors. It makes me far more invested in what I’m reading and ensures I’ll be back for more.

What’s the split between your own creations/designs and featuring others’?
It’s probably about a 90%/10% split. Almost everything I show is my own photography and my own spaces. It hasn’t always been like that, but I do think as a content creator, it’s important to share my own vision and my personal style to my readers as that’s what they come to my blog for.

What’s your favourite room in the house and why?
At the moment, it’s my bedroom but that’s really because it’s the only room in the house we’ve actually been able to redesign so far! We moved into our home in March so it’s all a long and slow-going process. More spaces will be completed over time and my favourite room always tends to be the one I completed last so that answer will probably change! But for now, it’s fantastic to be able to settle down and wake up in a room that truly feels like a reflection of my tastes right now.

How do the seasons affect your content?
Over the year, my content tends to be about whatever it is that I or my readers are probably thinking about and a lot of that is weather or season-related! In the summer months, it might be entertaining at home, sprucing up the garden or travelling. Over the colder months, it’s all about creating a cosy and warm nest in your home and getting the most out of the space you have.

What’s your favourite household object/item? 
Oh, that’s a really hard one – it’s like choosing from my children! But I think it would have to be the vintage 1970’s Pierre Vandel brass and glass shelving unit that I have in my living room. I wanted one for years and a blogger friend had picked up one from Paris. She’d had it for years herself and I’d always admired it and when she was moving house and realised she no longer had the space for it, she gave it to me. I may have actually cried when she did that. It really means the world to me – it’s a beautiful piece and just represents how thoughtful and kind the community really is.

What one thing should PRs/brands know about you?
That I’m incredibly picky about who I work with – it really must be the right fit for my blog, my aesthetic and my readers for me to agree to a collaboration and that’s only because I want any collaboration to be a huge success across the board. And if it is the right fit, I’ll work my socks off to make sure everyone is happy!

What are the best campaigns/collaborations you’ve recently worked on?
I worked with Made.com recently where they provided a desk and some accessories and then I and a few other bloggers styled up the spaces accordingly. We then photographed them and Made sent them to a psychologist to have them analysed! It was all about ‘what your desk says about you’. It was a light-hearted piece and lots of fun and it was great to see how different all our styles really were as well as a little scary how spot on the psychologist was about our personalities!

I also recently supported the #GoGreener campaign by Push Doctor where they were highlighting the benefits that nature has on our wellbeing. For that one, I took my readers houseplant shopping with me where I shared my tips on what to choose, how to pot plants and how to ensure they thrive. It was a monster of a post but so fun to create. I really enjoyed that one.

Do you think bloggers need their own industry association?
I think it would be an amazing idea. There are so many experienced and knowledgeable people out there that coming together can only be a good thing. Individually, we are all just trying to work things out on our own and learning from our mistakes. The power of community is an incredible one and I know how much I appreciate the blogger groups that I’m a part of. That kind of support is invaluable.

What other blogs do you read?
Oh, there are so many although my blog keeps me very busy so I don’t always get the chance to read as much as I’d like to! Some favourites include: Mad About The House because Kate is so knowledgeable and has such a great writing style, Making Spaces because I always learn something new from Karen, Dear Designer’s Blog because Carole finds the most gorgeous spaces to show off, Apartment Number 4 because Victoria is a such an inspiring entrepreneur, French for Pineapple for Bianca’s amazing style and energy and Forever Amber because she always makes me laugh.

At Startup Speed is a new blog, which was recently launched by Treeline in the US. Covering startup innovation and featuring a huge talent pool of writers, including Jake Knapp of Google, Cecilia Tham from Makers of Barcelona and Bart Oats – NFL Alumni President and three-time Super Bowl champion, At Startup Speed is living up to its name as it makes waves across the blogging scene.

We caught up with the blog to find out what makes it different, the current state of innovation and the future of At Startup Speed.

What’s the blog all about?
In a nutshell —innovation. The who, what, when, how, I guess even the why, of innovation.  We aim to create a dialogue on the people, ideas and methods for innovating, particularly in a corporate environment which often has the talent and tools to innovate, but nonetheless manages to have structures in place that make the creation of the next big thing rather difficult.

Ideas die tragic deaths in legacy organisations and they don’t have to. So, we try to bring all these issues to bare and, hopefully, At Startup Speed inspires people and organisations to dream big, execute quickly, and ship —getting those dreams to market where they can change the world.

What makes your blog unique?
There are a lot of places to go for tech news and see product proposals and releases, but there wasn’t a place that we at Treeline could find to have a dialog with innovators — so we made one. At Startup Speed currently has interviews, articles and graphics to mine the process of innovating and to talk about what’s working and what’s not among a range of people who are trying to change things. So, we might have a corporate innovation lead for a piece followed by a designer trying something completely new, then throw in a college professor who wants to flip the entire corporate hierarchy model on its head and after that give advice for running a good brainstorming meeting. We try to not let anyone get comfortable or create a pattern, so there’s an effort to keep alternating the material and the perspectives as best we can.

Also, the design. People love our design and the great artists we have been using to amplify the interviews and articles.

How do you select the people you work with, the contributors and guest posters?
We try to make it rather random and again explore the concept of innovation in a lot of ways.  We have a huge list that was developed of hundreds of innovation leaders and just interesting people. There are designers, professional athletes, authors, CEOs, union officials, professors – complete weirdos to be honest.  Its constantly being added to and every week or so we discuss internally at Treeline what an interesting topic or person might be to chat to or get an article from and we reach out.  We have been pleasantly surprised by how many have said yes, and also how many of the people we ping who have already read At Startup Speed.

How do you measure your audience and how important is this when planning content?
When it comes to audience, we look to the unique visitors, newsletter signups and additional feedback we receive. We really have been blowing away our initial projections. It’s funny because we were like, ‘If we can just get 500 readers a week that would be awesome because they would be the perfect 500 people deeply invested in innovation’. As it is, we have been toping 20k most weeks recently and its starting to just take on a life of its own.

To be honest we don’t adjust or even discuss how to make the content fit the audience. Like not even in the slightest bit. We plan our topics and who to approach purely by what we like. If we think it’s cool, we go for it. That’s the joy of not having to worry about advertisers or trying to be this huge media property that appeals to a massive audience.

We value the importance of having a strong POV which comes from the culture at Treeline and trusting in it. So, whether it be a topic or a design choice, we just follow our gut and trust that others will gravitate towards its authenticity.

How does the blog feed back into Treeline?
It would be disingenuous to say we don’t care how it feeds back, but in a way we don’t care. The ideas the blog raises were things we wanted to hear about and questions we wanted to ask of folks out there who were changing things and doing cool stuff. So, its biggest means of feeding back is it creates ideas for our team and certainly the greater community of readers. It also educates us on new techniques and things happening out there among innovators.

And, since our team has developed several of the pieces, it has also made us sometimes commit things to paper that were in our head and actually share them internally and externally.  The piece Carter did recently on focusing on one thing, for instance, is something we do already in the office, but it gave us time to ponder its effects, question if its working, discusssng among the team what impact it’s had and changes we might make.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that we have gotten clients from it. It’s certainly raised Treeline’s profile among a group of leading innovators and its certainly injected us into a lot of key discussions on technology and innovation.

How do you see the blog developing in the future?
We want to continue to push boundaries as far as topics go. We don’t want it to get stale. There is certainly a drive to creating more content, potentially growing into something that has unique pieces daily at some point. We also want to evolve the content beyond just copy and involve more audio, video, infographics and that sort of thing. Perhaps build a platform out for the community to dialogue more. Also creating real world moments like events and webcasts.  So, we hope to see it expand into a lot of new areas over the next year or so.

You cover innovation – what’s the next big world-changing technical innovation we should be aware of?
The more we look at innovation the less we realise we know. We are entering an age, or more precisely ‘we are in an age’, where the world around us will provide a whole other degree of context whether that be vast sensor networks, AR, assistants and bots, and other related technologies. Today we still experience the world through our phones, laptop screens and iPads, which is rather limiting. Society is on the cusp — for better or for worse — with being even more immersed in real-time information. Alexa, smart cities, digital assistance in cars and the workplace, etc. And this level of immersion creates a dialogue on what it all means for us as people to live this way. There is this ever-accelerating pace of change that is underway that eclipses our ability to ponder and reconcile the change before the next change occurs. So, perhaps the next innovation is ‘us’ not just our tools.

Do you accept new contributions or collaborations with brands/PRs?
We have been approached by a number of companies and PR reps as of late. And the quick answer is we absolutely are interested in hearing their ideas and adding it to the mix for consideration. We have already run a couple pieces after getting contacted and we certainly have more in the works. Getting pitched like that challenges our notions and keeps us nimble and again, avoiding staleness and stagnation. So innovators, PR folks and publicists, we welcome your ideas.

One caveat is, we aren’t interested in running a ‘commercial’. We are interested in the core notions of At Startup Speed, which are to create a place to talk about innovation and bring together a community that challenges assumptions, tinkers with new ideas and methods, and tries to change the unchangeable.

What blogs do you read, and do they inform your own content?
All of us on the team have our favorites and draw a great deal of inspiration and ideas from them. Personally I am a huge fan of FastCo’s Co.Design, Hackster.io, Mirador, Vox, Ars Technica, Splinter and BoingBoing  — which I have been following forever. Those and Twitter, LinkedIn and some of our shared channels on Treeline’s Slack really create an amazing churn of concepts and inspiration.

Carl Thompson is a face and name known to many throughout the blogging world and recently ranked in the top 10 UK men’s lifestyle blogs. With his eponymous blog, Carl covers a broad range of men’s lifestyle but specialises in fashion following the success of his menswear label. We spoke to Carl about the joys of Brazil, the best grooming products for the men’s market and how he likes to work with PRs.

How many different areas does your blog cover, and do you have a primary focus?
My blog covers quite a range, but all centred around my personal lifestyle and interests that still largely focus on fashion. This past year I’ve spoken more about travel, the drinks industry, e-commerce and the current state of the high-street. I can’t ignore what’s going on with British retail, it’s more addictive than any soap. Above all, I’d say that my interest in the car industry has been the biggest lure. It’s also been my favourite as I get to flex some creative muscles.

What are the main differences between men’s and women’s lifestyle blogs?
I tend to find women are more thorough. When they want to explain what works with an outfit they’ll back it up with proof and 1,000 different pictures. I think guys are more content with looking good, but not necessarily getting in the weeds with why an outfit works, or the qualities of different fabrics.

I generally find women have more hustle in the blogging sphere and perhaps that’s just nature, it’s a far more saturated market. I also feel that the women’s blogs that I read, for example Sophie Milner’s Fashion Slave and Beth Sandland xo, focus on real life emotions and experiences, whereas men’s blogs tend to be more explaining and product focused.

Who is your favourite designer?
Tom Ford. Has been for a long time and still remains tip of the sphere for me. Every outfit exudes luxury.

What’s your favourite grooming product or service?
My favourite grooming product right now is the Panasonic ER-GB86 clipper. I’ve been waiting ages to find one that can tackle a thicker, unruly beard like mine, this comes with a high-torque motor so does the job nicely.

I’m road testing the Lab Series Oil Control and I think they’ve done a great campaign – got a lot of the right influencers onboard. Right now, I’m using the American Crew Boost Cream to control my slightly dry, frizzy hair that I apply on wet hair and blow-dry with my new Dyson hair dryer.

Fragrance-wise I’ve been experimenting a lot lately blending different scents and I’m going to share my two favourite combinations. The first is by Jo Malone: Oud & Bergamot combined with Honeysuckle & Davana; the second is by Tom Ford: Tuscan Leather combined with Plum Japonais.

What’s the best night out near you?
These days my best night out is actually a night in with a Deliveroo on order, a tub of Oppo Ice cream in the freezer and a Netflix boxset! Of course, I joke, I’m still partial to a good night out although I’ve left my clubbing days behind me and enjoy bars that serve good spirits and great food more.

Near me, I tend to spend most of my time in a bar called No32, the atmosphere is great, always busy on a weekend and most importantly the music is set at a level where you can still have a conversation. A good night out is always followed by a great roast dinner the next day and there are a few near me namely Trinity in Clapham Old Town, The Nightingale, The Avalon in Clapham South and The Grove in Balham.

What’s your favourite travel destination?
Ibiza is still king, holds a lot of nice memories for me. Although I’ve been to Morocco this year and the hotels and resorts in Marrakech are just sublime. Perfect for decompressing, fine food and most importantly, great Instagram pictures. A few off-the-beaten-track travel destinations that I also love are Los Roques in Venezuela, Fernando de Noronha and Jericoacoara both in Brazil… just google them and you’ll be booking your next trip away.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
They should know I’m very hands on. I like to be involved with every level of the campaign and have a vast amount of experience in what works and what doesn’t. I execute my deliverables to the highest possible quality, hiring the best videographers and photographers, often at my own expense.

I’m sometimes guilty of being quite curt with emails, but that’s only because I want to optimise time for all parties. For example, if there is no budget for a campaign that will monopolise a lot of my time, it’s best to get those discussions out of the way in the first exchange.

I remember a friend once telling me he asked his future wife if she wanted to have kids on the first date. It sounds nuts but his argument was he wanted kids and he didn’t want to waste anyone’s time. You can apply that logic to a lot of things I think.

What are the best campaigns you’ve collaborated on recently?
I have to compliment the team that put together the Menabrea Beer press trip in Milan last week. The itinerary was engaging, the deliverables were clear and transparent, and they really showed off the best parts of Milan. Some bloggers have a myopic view of Milan; complain about the energy, or lack of. It’s really getting to know where the locals hang out.

I’ve also had a lot of fun working with Mazda. I’m really proud of the videos we put together for their marketing campaign and I know it really resonated with some people, which is great.

Do you think bloggers need their own industry association?
I’m not sure. Ultimately, I don’t know what it will achieve. How will it be regulated? I think we could do with some kind of independent body. I had a recent case where an agency owed me, and a lot of other influencers, money. They ghosted a lot of people, stopped returning phone calls, answering emails etc. They eventually released a statement declaring themselves insolvent, which happens in business (all too easily) but hundreds of bloggers were left in no man’s land and out of pocket just because an agency decides to disappear from the face of the earth. That’s where bloggers need help.

What other blogs do you read?
I actually read quite a few. Fashion Beans is a decent hub, Mr Porter Journal is something of an addiction and I like Pete Brooker over at Human Research. He runs his mouth a lot, he’s just given up pampering to brands. If I need grooming advice, I read Man for Himself by Robin James and finally, for the best visuals, I love browsing Fashitects by Toni Tran.

Ape to Gentleman recently ranked second in the Top 10 UK Men’s Lifestyle blogs. Written by Chris Beastall and his team of experts, Ape to Gentleman primarily focuses on grooming and style but also covers cars, tech and drink.

We caught up with Chris to chat about the best travel destination, the need to stay on brand and his recent whisky trip.

What are the main differences between men’s and women’s lifestyle blogs?
I feel as though the men’s blogs are more factual and educational, whereas the women’s blogs tend to be more inspirational. For example, we wrote an article on the best aftershave balms. Whereas the women’s blogs I follow might focus more on the influencer editor, and how to get her look. Very much a sweeping generalisation here!

Who is your favourite designer?
Currently, Alexandre Mattiussi of AMI for modern classics. For all-time, it’s Ralph Lauren.

What’s your favourite grooming product or service?
Favourite grooming product would have to be my Philips beard trimmer. Great build quality and keeps my stubble the right length.

What’s the best night out near you?
Sheffield – mainly because everyone’s so friendly. It’s a big enough city, but with a small-town feel.

What’s your favourite travel destination?
The South of France. A bit cliched but it’s sophisticated, has good weather and is old school chic.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
Everything has to be on brand for Ape.

What are the best campaigns you’ve collaborated on recently?
A recent trip to the Isle of Jura for Jura whisky was great – full of interesting creative types, and great whisky of course. And ‘Barbershops of America – Then and Now’; Rob Hammer, a photographer, documented barbershops old and new across the US and his images just ‘feel’ emotional. They conjure thoughts of all the stories shared in these places.

Do you think bloggers need their own industry association?
Probably. It would legitimise the category. There’s a lot of bloggers creating some seriously good and original content out there.

What other blogs do you read?
Honestly, I don’t. We have an extensive editorial schedule which we stick to and therefore, don’t need inspiration from others. I tend to read or view photographers stories and work. And, of course, scroll through Instagram to check in on the people I follow.

Chris Beastall and Ape to Gentleman are both listings in the Vuelio Media Database along with thousands of other blogs, vlogs, outlets and opportunities.