What an opportunity to learn about the perception of your brand, your product, your message. Now consider this – the room is filled with bloggers – women bloggers. And these women are the voice (a very, very large voice) in the buying decisions of all of their peers, networks, friends, families and even strangers. How do you stand out and how do you tap in to this network of potential brand advocates?

Here’s a little insight from just such an event – BlogHer, which is the largest gathering of women bloggers from around the world and was held just last week in San Diego.

Female bloggers are not just mom bloggers anymore (heck, I never was). They blog about everything from veganism to employment law, bras for breast feeding (that they invented by the way) to vodka. They are looking for brands to affiliate themselves with, and they want to play a part with your brand – not just get paid for posting a story. Invite them to engage by hosting an event on your behalf in their hometown, participating in a focus group at headquarters, critiquing your next online marketing campaign, or providing feedback in a product design charette.

They’re smart. Really smart. As discussed in another ThinkStand post this week, these savvy businesswomen know how to market, they know how to write, and they can help or hurt your brand in a significant and measurable way. For some, blogging is simply a creative outlet. For others, it’s a very viable business model. Consider this– 85 percent of BlogHer network readers purchased something as a result of reading about it on said blog. And, Nielsen now rates blogs higher than both social media and corporate web sites as the go-to source for information about a company or product.

Blogging is not just for chicks. There were several brave men who ventured out for this estrogen-heavy conference, and they are writing about their roles as single-parents or Mr. Mom, their jobs and hobbies (like home improvement, hint, hint). Make sure not to pigeonhole your outreach to target only moms or women; men matter too.

ROI is also important to them. Bloggers want to work with you to show results – let them in on the secret, figure out a way to measure together. What’s good for them is ultimately also good for you.

Next up, we turn the tables and provide more key learnings on how bloggers can and should work to form better relationships with agencies and corporate partners.

Blog by Kim Hardcastle from Jackson Spalding in Atlanta http://jacksonspalding.com/