{"id":113487,"date":"2018-03-20T14:23:58","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T14:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=113487"},"modified":"2018-03-20T16:24:46","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T16:24:46","slug":"blogger-interview-craig-landale-menswear-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/blogger-interview-craig-landale-menswear-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogger Interview: Craig Landale, Menswear Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Craig Landale is the founder and editor-in-chief of Menswear Style<\/a>, which won the Best Men\u2019s Lifestyle Blog and Best UK Blog at the Vuelio Blog Awards 2017<\/a>. We caught up with Craig to find out what it takes to make the UK\u2019s best blog, what you need to be a full-time blogger and the best advice he has for PRs and brands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We also put Craig on the spot with five quickfire questions \u2013 full video below!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tell us about Menswear Style<\/strong><\/span>
\nMenswear Style started as a hobby. I left my job in Leeds as a digital marketing manager for a big clothing company and I wanted to keep writing content. I quickly started receiving emails from PRs and brands asking me to review their clothing. At first, they were just asking me to review and there was no talk of money but then the blog started to get more hits and traffic. I started to give the blog more consistency and was updating it every other day. I\u2019d say six months into its existence I started to get good traffic, and good partnerships were coming through.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about going from a hobby blog to a successful professional blog in such a short time?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>I think today it wouldn\u2019t happen because the industry is saturated \u2013 there\u2019s too many influencers and too many bloggers. In 2012, I think I was just in time to enter when the market wasn\u2019t so crowded. Even when I was working in men\u2019s fashion I would only look at a handful of reputable menswear blogs \u2013 sites like FashionBeans<\/a>, Highsnobiety<\/a>, HYPEBEAST<\/a> \u2013 I couldn\u2019t have counted more than 10 really. So, I was able to get a good share of voice and get my name out there quite easily.<\/p>\n

After a year, I quit doing the consultancy completely and the blog became my full-time job.<\/p>\n

What was it like going full time?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>It was rapid growth at the time. I used to be amazed at the analytics, I would watch the real-time traffic and see articles go viral with thousands on the site. I had studied at the Chartered Institute of Marketing and my experience working in digital marketing meant I could put everything into the blog. That was an advantage I had over some other bloggers, because not many had any SEO or digital marketing experience at the time.<\/p>\n

Now the industry has been here for a short while, there\u2019s some rules and guidelines you can follow, but at the time it was unknown territory and giving up my full-time job to leap into the unknown was a bit scary.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I could do it today; I\u2019m a father, I have a mortgage \u2013 I feel like the battle of the mind would weigh towards a secure paying job.<\/p>\n

\"MenswearStyle\"<\/p>\n

You said you were making the rules, what do you wish you hadn\u2019t done and what are you glad you did do?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>I used to spend a lot of time on affiliate marketing, which didn\u2019t really go anywhere \u2013 it\u2019s really difficult to make money from it (especially nowadays) so I feel like I wasted a lot of time on that.<\/p>\n

I also put a lot of emphasis on banners because back then they made a lot of money, but now there are pop-up blockers and ad blockers, and it\u2019s not something that makes as much money anymore. Even with sponsored content, I didn\u2019t know what to charge \u2013 I would pluck a figure out of thin air!<\/p>\n

Because I didn\u2019t really know what I should be charging, I massively undervalued myself. I didn\u2019t update my media kit for a few years, but a lot of brands were really honest and would say my prices were way too low.<\/p>\n

I thought that until demand was more than I could keep up with, I would keep it low. But I have realised that the perception of having a high price can be higher quality as well \u2013 if a brand sees that a price for a sponsored article is a higher price, they feel the value they\u2019re going to get back is good traffic, good engagement and good exposure. Low prices would make them feel like you didn\u2019t have the traffic or engagement.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019m not so cheap but I still give good value.<\/p>\n

Well you have the Best UK Blog and you can\u2019t beat that! How do you feel about winning twice at the Vuelio Blog Awards?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>It was amazing. I\u2019ve been going to the Vuelio Blog Awards since the first year and I\u2019ve always been up against women\u2019s fashion bloggers. At times I think I was the only man in the category. I knew I wouldn\u2019t win that award \u2013 the womenswear industry is like the Champions League and menswear is the Championship. That\u2019s just because of the size of the industry \u2013 the millions spent by women compared to men, it\u2019s much higher and even though menswear is growing at a rapid rate, it\u2019s still nowhere near.<\/p>\n

Luckily for 2017, you brought in the men\u2019s lifestyle category and I thought, I\u2019ve got a really good chance. I was hoping I would win it \u2013 I had a feeling Ape to Gentleman could take it because that\u2019s a website I use for inspiration and I know they\u2019re good and reputable. And then I won \u2013 and it was a huge relief! Finally, I had won an Award at the Vuelio Blog Awards!<\/p>\n

When it came to the final award, Best UK Blog, usually my wife and I try to sneak off just after it\u2019s announced because we\u2019re not night owls (we like to sleep). We were getting ready to sneak out and then it was announced.<\/p>\n

It was a massive shock.<\/p>\n

I thought it would be a women\u2019s fashion blogger, or interiors or politics \u2013 I did not expect it to be menswear. My menswear friends and other nominees were amazed as well and so supportive. We\u2019re a close-knit group \u2013 we\u2019re always at the same events and know each other \u2013 they thought it was amazing for menswear blogging and the industry. The highest accolade has gone to a menswear blogger, so it\u2019s a victory for all of us.<\/p>\n

\"Menswear<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the menswear blogging community like?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>When you go to events and on press trips, you bump into the same people and everyone\u2019s friendly. I\u2019ve been doing this since 2012, so I\u2019m one of the older guys. Now I don\u2019t go to as many events as the other guys but when I first started, I went to everything. I was at an event every night of the week with my wife. We used it as our way of socialising in this new city we\u2019d just move to, for free. But now I\u2019m a father, I handpick the events I go to because it can be overbearing. I have a team of freelance writers as well, so I usually pass it down to them.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your day to day?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>I\u2019m writing content, doing social media, I edit every article that comes in from the team and I take care of the commercial side. I deal with all the brand and PR emails \u2013 some have great budgets and I\u2019m happy, some aren\u2019t a good fit so I turn them down. There are some who don\u2019t have a good budget but they\u2019re doing work I admire so I do work for free, but it has to be a brand I really really<\/em> like. If it\u2019s an up-and-coming brand I might be interested in featuring them.<\/p>\n

Who is the competition?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Other bloggers are definitely competition. When a brand pitches a brief, they\u2019re going to bloggers and publications. I always want to make sure we get a look in, the engagement we get on social media is fantastic and I want to make sure the brands know about that. I also put the last three months of google analytics performance on the blog so it\u2019s clear for PRs to see what we can achieve. I\u2019m not taking it for granted that anyone would know who Menswear Style is, you can spend a long time getting to know PRs and then they could leave the industry and a new wave of PRs could come in who don\u2019t know you anymore. Especially as I\u2019m going to events a lot less \u2013 out of sight, out of mind.<\/p>\n

\"Menswear<\/p>\n

What are your dos and don\u2019ts for PRs?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The big don\u2019t is when a brand just sends out a blanket email to everyone and you can tell. The worst is when they forget to BCC and then someone replies and you end up getting hundreds of emails.<\/p>\n

Also, if the email is too long. It sounds bad, but when you have lots of email pitches to get through, you want to read one paragraph to find out what they\u2019re after. Some brands come through and they know exactly what they want, and they\u2019re up-front about budget \u2013 making it clear if they\u2019re willing to pay or not. I always ask about budget to make sure we both know how to work together.<\/p>\n

I have a lot of brands coming back year on year. The majority I\u2019m working with now, I\u2019ve worked with before. The competitions we host are really successful; some brands will come back every year or season to do a competition. The entry method also has opt-in forms, so it\u2019s good for their email marketing, and brands keep coming back for those.<\/p>\n

The competition from influencers is also strong, but I\u2019m not so worried about them because what I do and where I make my money is through the blog. They\u2019re making money on social, like Instagram. For me, social is not a commercial stream, it\u2019s a chance for people to see \u2018behind the scenes\u2019 at Menswear Style and to share our blogs. I add it on as a sweetener, if a brand books a brand-focused article, which means we write about their brand, we add it on but we don\u2019t do Instagram posting for money. I\u2019m not personally an influencer.<\/p>\n

\"Reach-the-right-influencers-with-the-Vuelio-media-database\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s an influencer?
\n<\/strong><\/span>An individual that\u2019s living the lifestyle that people like to watch. It\u2019s usually on Instagram, the insta-influencer is rising rapidly. They\u2019re the new celebrity, kids nowadays don\u2019t know traditional celebrities, but they know who influencers are.<\/p>\n

I call myself a blogger and digital content creator, when I\u2019m trying to explain my job to people. I think the average guy our age, would probably not realise blogging is a full-time job, and think it\u2019s just a hobby. They probably know you can make money but not enough to replace a salary. But I think teenagers today know this is the career they want. You could probably ask a class of 12-year-olds and half would say they want to be a vlogger, blogger or an insta-influencer. They\u2019ve grown up with technology and they\u2019ve seen it work.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Menswear Style?<\/span>
\n<\/strong>People ask me this and I always say I want to continue \u2013 when things are going good, don\u2019t fix it. I\u2019m always tweaking the website, but no drastic changes; the categories are great, the streetstyle is great, it\u2019s all just going great. I might get \u2018radical\u2019 ideas, but I they\u2019re always little things being added on, nothing major.<\/p>\n

I do want the articles to be a bit longer though. When I first started it was about shorter articles (300 words), but I know longform is coming back and they please Google too. I want stories to be a bit more interesting, not just about a new collection but about the person who made the clothes, the area they were made in or the traditions in manufacturing. Just something more engaging than the bare facts.<\/p>\n

Quickfire Five – VIDEO<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n