Brands working with bloggers: money for nothing or PR for free?

Look, I’m not trying to beat a very dead horse with a very overused stick. I mean, everyone and their mother writes posts about bad PR pitches and the dichotomy between bloggers and brands. But after spending several months immersed in agency life, I just can’t help it. I’ve seen what the other half “should” do and it’s nothing like what I’ve been seeing for the last few years.

The bottom is that social media and PR firms have the same goals as clients: to provide visibility and generate viral buzz. There is nothing new about this goal, firms have had this same objective since their inception. Only before, they were typically dealing with traditional media outlets who earned revenue from providing brand info and news to readers who paid subscriptions and who collected ad dollars.

The blogosphere changed some of that. In the last few years, it’s become clear that word-of-mouth (or word-of-blog) can generate incredible results for clients, and it guess what? It’s almost free!

Ask and you shall receive – some of the time

Then bloggers put their thinking caps on and realized that they were providing a service. And in the society in which we live – one that actually pays money in exchange for a product or service – they thought, hmmm, perhaps XYZ Company could compensate me for my service.

So, they started asking.  Some of them.

And he who asks shall receive. The agency I work for compensates bloggers with products and/or gift cards. As a blogger, I was always glad to work with them because I usually felt they were asking me to engage in a business transaction – they wanted something from me, and I provided it using my standards as a stipulation. Plus, I was then compensated in a way that pleased me.  But not all brands (or agencies) get this.

Would you review a loaner?

Recently I got an email from a PR firm representing a behemoth manufacturer of electronics, asking me if I’d like to review one of their new products, which included a couple of laptops and a camcorder. In the pitch, the rep let me know that if I was interested in “checking out” their stuff, she would “send one or two” my way.

Immediately I was suspicious. The language was ambiguous and didn’t clearly state what the exchange for my services would entail. I responded to the rep, letting her know I was interested but curious as to what the exact compensation was. She replied quickly and was very friendly – telling me once I send her my shipping info that she’d shoot over a loan agreement.

It’s not the first time I was offered the “privilege” of a loaner.  A vacuum company gave me this same option earlier this year. Keep in mind, accepting a loaner means receiving it, assembling it (or installing it), using it, writing a review, packaging it all back up, and shipping it back.  All to the benefit of – well, not me (or you).

Are bloggers being taken advantage of?

Now I get that magazines often work this way, and they even sometimes purchase their own electronics to review. But this brand was looking for a specific story angle – dads and grads – and they wanted the product back. So not really a straight “we want to know your thoughts” review.

I don’t get it. Why do big brands believe that bloggers are their own free vehicle for getting their message out? Why do they think bloggers are sitting around, waiting to write about their news, without compensating the promoter in some way?

In 2009, I was lucky enough to work with Frigidaire to “test-drive” their new suite of products.  This well-known brand was serious about getting in front of bloggers, so they sent the bloggers products to review and keep. Not lend – keep.

This level of respect for the newest form of media should set the precedent for other brands.  I’m not saying everyone needs to give away thousands of dollars in product in order to get attention. But I do believe there should be some sort of incentive for a blogger, or anyone for that matter, to spend time working with a brand.

I get these ridiculous pitches everyday, but in a sea of brands taking advantage of bloggers, this latest one was a real disappointment.

Jill Notkin blogs at The Daily Grind of a Work at Home Mom when she’s not tweeting @AlexCaseyBaby. She is also the Managing Director of MotherTalk division at Mom Central Consulting.

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