7 Tips On How To Get Bloggers To NOT Review Your Brand

This title is me trying to be funny, ha, ha, ha. Did it work?

Once you become a blogger, you might get excited for any brand reaching out to you, sending you mini samples and asking you to write about them, for free.  Sometimes you actually do it, because, you know, you are a new blogger and you loooove their product.

Whether a blogger is rich, or has an amazing full time job that gives him/her enough money/time to have a passionate side job/hobby such as ‘blogging’, all bloggers deserve respect.  If you do a little research before reaching out to any blogger, you’ll find out if his/her blog is appropriate for your product/client and if their blog has the numbers you’re looking for (traffic, audience, SM followers, etc). Don’t ever assume because their blog is new and/or has a small reach, they’ll do free things for you.

Like my grandma says, nothing is for free in this life, just the Sun and until 6pm!

I have experience on both sides of the coin, reaching out to bloggers for brands that I’ve worked with, and also being getting pitched by PR agencies, or marketers from different companies.

Now, repeat after me: bloggers are people too, bloggers are people too, just kidding! Well, we really are, but seriously, if you want Bloggers to write about you or your products, avoid making these mistakes:

1.  Sending Us A Generic Email… With the Wrong Name

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I get it, you are a busy PR person/agency and have very little time. Yet, it is actually your job to get things like this right, just double check and do your homework. I would rather receive a generic email without any name, Dear Blogger, Dear Very Hot Blogger, Dear Hot Latina Mamasita Blogger (no, don’t do this one), it is still better than calling me Pedro, just because I’m a hispanic blogger, btw… I’m a girl!

2.  Requesting A Review For A Product Not Related To Our Blog’s Industry

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An example: Why would you want me to review products for parents? I don’t have kids! Or tweet about kids, or even mention kids on any of my SM channels. It only takes a few seconds for you to browse through a blogger’s SM posts to find out about their lifestyles.  Note: I never tweet about cars, but you can send me a free car and I’ll gladly freely blog about it, hello Honda 😉

3.  Mailing Us The Product Before Even Requesting A Review

I understand there are bloggers who accept any type of product and have a disclaimer on their sites saying they don’t guarantee a review. I’m just a firm believer of communication and if you communicate properly with a blogger, I’m sure there can be some sort of arrangement and a better chance of getting that product reviewed than randomly sending it.

4.  Making Us Bloggers Feel Used

Nobody likes to be discarded or feel under-appreciated, whenever a blogger has accepted to write a review for your brand, or has published it, return the love.  Even if you believe in karma or not, it usually pays off to build a positive long-term relationship with a blog, we always tend to show our loyalty to our most favourite brands.

5. Pitching To Us On FB Over Twitter Or Email

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It’s not only creepy when someone sends you a pitch via your FB profile page, it might also get lost on the ‘Others’ folder instead of the regular inbox.  Unless you’re friends with the blogger on FB, send a proper email, or at least a tweet, that way you make sure your message doesn’t get lost, and we don’t get creeped out.

6. Asking Us For a ‘Positive’ (fixed) Review

If you’re confident enough about your brand and product, you know you won’t have to ask for a positive review.  No blogger wants to be disrespected and get asked to lie for a brand. Instead of expecting a forced positive review, talk to the blogger, mention the best features of your brand/product, ask them to share their feedback, privately with you. You can still offer some guidance, but in the end you’ll have to respect each blogger has different perspectives and methods to share their experiences.

7. Spamming Our Email Inbox, Blogs, SM Channels, Really Do That

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Yes, you want to make sure your pitch gets across, you want to get that review or write-up as soon as possible and that confirmation from the blogger.  I can’t speak for all bloggers, but most of the time if you haven’t received a response from a blogger, chances are:
1- The email went to spam (so yes, do send a Tweet, one time just to make sure.
2- They’re debating whether or not responding to you, give it a few days, don’t rush.
3- Lastly, they don’t want to burn that bridge, but aren’t interested in working with you, in which case, it is rude from the blogger to not respond to you, so, do you really want someone like that for your brand?

Bottom line, please understand, most bloggers have a daytime job, we don’t make much money from our blogs, if we make any at all.  We use a lot of our time and resources to get every single post published, and though we do get psyched every time a brand reaches out to us, we need to eat and pay bills just like any other human being, be mindful about all of this when sending your pitch to us.

Good luck!