You probably have noticed that I occasionally get free products that I review and/or give away in contests (how cool was that giving away a free bike?!). Steve from Weight Loss Weapons did, and he asked me:
You seem to get free stuff to review all the time. Do they contact you or are you going after them?
I really haven’t thought about that before now, but I thought my response deserved a longer remark than just responding to his comment, so here is my answer, 4 Tips For Getting PR People To Send You Free Stuff:
1) Rank on the first page or two of Google for the search phrase “[your keyword] blog”. In my case, I have been on the first or second page of Google for “weight loss blog” (#7 as of right now) for a number of months. Why is this important? Because PR firms are recognizing the power of word of mouth advertising and see blogs as a great (and cheap) way to get the message out about the product they are pitching. Put yourself in the shoes of a PR person trying to promote some new bottle of wine for example. I think a Google search for “wine blog” would be a reasonable starting point for their program, and by doing so they will find a solid list of bloggers who are no doubt willing to accept a free bottle of wine in return for a mention or even a full review.
2) When you do review a product, be completely honest. First, any PR person worth their salt will not set any expectation that you review their product or if you do that it is a positive review. They believe in their product so they are willing to take that risk. If someone tries to set that expectation with you, then I would consider not accepting what they are offering. This is important because in order for your readers to trust you, the reviews you put in front of them should be honest. This means that you will occasionally not like something you are reviewing. If that is the case you should be sure to be honest and say you don’t like it. Why? Because it makes the good reviews that much more believable. If a PR person reads your blog and sees that you are honest it is more likely they will want to work with you (the honest ones, that is!) If you do get a product you don’t like but that you think would be of value to a reader, consider offering the product in a contest giveaway rather than writing a review.
That is really all I have done to date. However, there are two more things that I know work and that I am going to be starting to push harder on:
3) Sign up for a word-of-mouth media network like BzzAgent. These networks looks for everyday consumers who believe in honest word-of-mouth and who like to discover new and interesting products and share their experiences with others. Philips Sonicare recently sent out 30,000 $70 toothbrushes to BzzAgents who had expressed a desire to receive them. I suspect that not all the offers will be as cool as that!
4) Ask them to send you stuff. Got a product you would like to try? Find out who the PR firm is and pitch yourself (and your blog) on why they should send you their product. For example, let’s say you really liked those cool BodyBuggs as featured on NBC’s The Biggest Loser. Looking at their website I see they are made by Apex Fitness. A quick Google search for “who is the PR firm for Apex Fitness” reveals the answer: The M-Line Inc. (UPDATE: Apex contacted me and told me they now do their PR in-house). Contact them in whatever manner you are comfortable with - email, phone, special mailer, whatever. If you see a contest where I am giving away a BodyBugg you will know it worked!
If you would like to learn more about the relationship between bloggers and PR people I highly recommend these two posts on Problogger:
Understanding PR People for Fun and Profit
How to use PR People to Build Traffic for your Blog
P.S. If anyone from the Austin, Nichols Distilling Co. wants to send me a bottle of Wild Turkey I will happily accept it, although I probably won’t be reviewing it here!
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