Written by Jen and the Furries

Want Some Free Publicity From Me? This is What it Takes.

I’ve told you before that I get a lot of emails from people wanting me to promote their product for free.

I swear, some of these folks beg as hard as Rumpy does!

Some do more than just send a mass email; they send an email just to me, then in a day or two send a follow-up email just to be sure I got their first email.

Some emails I delete before opening. I can tell by the subject header I won’t be interested.

Some I read and then delete. Nope, not interested.

But sometimes, and especially lately, I reply back. 

If you want something from me, here’s the right way to go about getting it.

For instance, I got an email asking if I’d like to talk to an “expert” on what to do when Blah! Blah! Blah! happens. I dunno. Maybe. Who does your “expert” work for and what company are you trying to promote? Full disclosure, please!

And then there was the offer to send me an apparel item for women that included pics of tiny women squeezed into said apparel item. My response? Do you make that for women of all sizes, or does your company believe that only skinny women buy things?

So to those of you who have my email address on your hit list of blogs to get free publicity from, here are some helpful hints on what it takes to get my attention:

Since you’re not paying me, I am under no obligation to like you or even respond to you. Now, if you want to send me a paycheck? That’s a different story. I will be nothing but nice- once the money’s in the bank. Want something for nothing? Show some damn respect!

I only promote products and services that interest me. I do NOT promote items that are harmful to animals, so shock collar peeps, go ahead and remove me from your email list. However, if you have a vacuum that’s great on pet hair pick-up, a vehicle that promotes a smooth ride for silly dogs, or are a company that manufactures scratch-proof furniture, we need to talk.

I’m an inclusive kinda blogger, so if you sell apparel, it should come in sizes for all sorts of women, not just a select few. Oh, and if your photos are only of white middle class people that look nothing like me, forget about it. I don’t live in that fantasy world, and I’m tired of seeing only that world being promoted by businesses. Market to people of all sizes, shapes, colors, and ages, and maybe I’ll be impressed.

If I don’t write about you, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you. I have to earn a living, and I can’t spend all my free time in front of a computer.  So animal cruelty crusaders, senders of cute animal videos, and the service department at John Lee Nissan (those folks are amazing, by the way): I love ya, but I ain’t got time for ya right now. Maybe later.

If I don’t respond to you, there’s a reason. One follow-up email is more than enough. Piss me off and I WILL write about you, but maybe not the way you intended, and it will probably happen on Twitter. There are plenty of other bloggers out there. Go bother somebody else.

So yeah, I know I’ve got some nerve. But if companies are paying big-name stars thousands of dollars for one tweet, I don’t see why I should have to put up with you bugging the shit out of me wanting something for free.

The takeaway is this: make me happy and I’ll throw you a bone. Otherwise, there’s plenty more where I came from. Keep looking and maybe you’ll find a better fit.

32 thoughts on “Want Some Free Publicity From Me? This is What it Takes.”

      2. Maybe, but one can of dog food requires a half hour photo shoot (if I’m lucky), another hour getting the blog post written and posted, and then time responding to commenters. That’s a lot of my time that I got paid approximately $.50 an hour for. Rumpy is happy. Me? Not so much.

      3. Waaaaa! That’s not “free”!!!!! That’s definitely “strings attached”!!! Although it sounds like Rumpy thinks your efforts would be worth it. 🙂

  9. Why is no one offering me GF cookies to blog or dog bones? I’d take dog bones. Marble would LOVE them, and have you seen the price of those suckers?

    Reply

  10. Well said.

    The ones that make me craziest are for products that are absolutely inappropriate. For example, somehow Something Wagging ended up on the PornHub PR huckster’s email list. I recently got a pitch for the $1000 twerking butt sex toy.

    For real?!!

    The crazy thing is these people get paid for wasting their time at work. Because I thought their job was to make appropriate matches with people who can get their message out.

    Reply

  14. There’s one other thing here too – I trust your judgment. You’re careful about what you like / don’t like and if you write about it, I’m likely to pay attention because I know you do a good job of picking through stuff. So if someone thinks you’re going to try it and then write it up just 1-2-3, well I know that you don’t.

    Nancy

    Reply

  15. A vacuum that’s great on pet hair pick-up and a company that manufactures scratch-proof furniture….hmmmm….we are interested in them, too….

    Reply

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