Companies should Jump on the Band “wagon”
If you are a member of our forums, or attend our Friday Night Lives, you know we discuss the power of Mom Bloggers in todays advertising, marketing and purchasing world. Before I was a partner here at MomDot, I started my own product review blog, The Not-So-Blog, almost a year ago. I have learned so much this year about all things blogging (mostly to the MomDot Forums credit), and I am quite proud of what I have accomplished in a short time.
The Not-So-Blog is my baby from the ground up, and I love it! I have made some great new friends and formed relationships with many companies who trust my skills as a blogger. Like any review blogger, I come up with a theme for a new giveaway series and pitch several companies to see if they are interested in being featured. Unfortunately, I have run into one company (I guess I am fortunate to only have one) who thinks my little blog is not worth their time.
Let me be clear: I know I am still a small blog in the bloggy sea, and some companies choose to ignore my emails. But, this time, I am insulted. Instead of explaining it all, I will just share the emails…..
May 14: The Pitch
“Thanks so much for getting back to me!
“Please clarify: This would require 2 wagons? Are you going to give one away? Or do I? “
May 21: Answers
May 29: The Insult and Counter Offer
“Hi Bridgette,
I’ve reviewed your offer from a marketing & Seo perspective. We see that your home page is a pagerank of 3. Also, a 1-month link to our site will not help us long-term. And since the profit margins are so low (about 7% for us on that item), it is unlikely to help us ‘during’ the giveaway promotion nor be worth it if done in the manner you proposed.
Here’s a counter-offer:
The only way we’d be interested in sending you a wagon for review would be a permanent link on your home page to that item, with the HTML of our choosing for the A/href tag & title text. This would be counted as an incoming link. In addition, we’d like a review, but no giveaway.
Other conditions for doing the above would be:
a) I’d need to see your site stats for 9/08, 10/08, 11/08 and 12/08 . (these are the months we really sell) The # of visitors would be the best number. If you could show a Google Analytics report or similar screenshot, that would be fantastic.
b) We’d like you to post the review in September 2009 and keep it up through 12/31/09.
c) The link on your home page to our site would be permanent, and I could provide you with $40/year for compensation for the link.
With your response, I can approve/disapprove moving forward with a plan.”
May 29: Accepting the Counter Offer
“Hi Bridgette,
After consulting w/ my SEO person, it seems the only thing we’re interested in is paying you $40/yr for a link on your home page to our site. If you’re in agreement, then I’ll have my SEO person write-up the exact HTML code for the link.”
June 4: My Rebuttal
Its just not worth it to send you the wagon. I do feel that $100 per year would be fine for a home page link, if the site were a pagerank of 5…but PR of 3 is only worth $40/yr to me...if you change your mind, please let me know.”
I have not responded. At this point, responding would just be perpetuating the argument, but I feel the need to defend myself and my “worthiness.” My blog is REAL. I am not just some chick out for a free product. I work hard on each and every post and take the trust of my sponsors quite seriously.
I am insulted that Classic Red Wagons, after wasting almost a month of my time, pulls out of the review because (from what I can tell), my Google PR was too low. What about those incredible blogs that the Google Gods have penalized and still remain at 0? This company needs to jump on the social media band”wagon” or be left behind! Major companies think my blog IS worth their time and are getting real results from a simple product review!
I just feel like my blog and I were belittled and I don’t like it.
And for the record: Classic Red Wagons has a PR of 2.
So, now I have to pick myself up and start over. Shameless pitch alert:
I have a spot open in my Summer Giveaway series for any outdoor toys for kids (wagons, sandbox, etc) if any company out there does believe in the power of the Mom Blog and would like a product review or giveaway on The Not-So-Blog, please feel free to contact me!
~Bridgette
Richard (31)
Crystal @ Simply ... (1)
42 Comments
Wow – Trisha – thanks for making a new follower feel so welcome! I was the one who posted as Confused and I posted without my name because of experiences I have had on other mommy-blogs. I’ve been following here for about a month and jumping in here and there, but this was the first time I posted against the grain and look at that…just like other places if I choose to take a stance that is opposite of the sympathy you are looking for I get flamed. I guess this place is no different then the dozens of other places you have copied. Makes it easy to remove you from my feed-reader, I won’t be “wasting my time” here anymore.
@ confused:
I am publishing this comment this time, but please know that if you cannot put your name or real email on future comments, there will be no publishing. We do not allow people without the courage of putting thier name and email on a comment to generally remark on anything, because it makes them seem like trouble makers. Either stand up for what you believe in, or dont waste your time on our site.
I’m a bit confused. You asked a company to send you a $170 product (plus their shipping costs which I’m guessing to be about $30) in return for a review on your site. As you and Radio Flyer were hashing out the details it came up that you were asking for TWO $170 products (plus their shipping costs on both) and $40 for the ad and you are mad that you were turned down? I may be the minority here, but I think if they were the ones who started the conversation then I would be miffed when they reneged, but since you were the one who went to THEM asking for free product I’m not sure I can blame them. It sounds to me that once they saw your actual stats for past months they decided that the investment (which seemed to more then double from about $200 to over $400 over the course of the conversations) was too great for the volume your site receives. Most companies have policies on these things and the PR (like it or not) is a huge factor and line-in-the-sand as to where they will spend their money or not.
I’ve let this sit for awhile before getting ready to hit the “magic comment button” and I have re-read the post several times. I keep coming back to the part where you say “I respect your decision, as I know you are doing what you believe is best for your company.” but here you are airing dirty laundry for all to see. I like this site and I just hope you (and other “mommy-bloggers) don’t get burned by this from other companies who see how you do business with potential clients. I’ve already heard rumblings from inside the marketing world that this area of the blog world is not worth it because of the entitlement and the “don’t mess with the mommy’s” attitudes – and this feeds right into that stereotype.
how rude!
Wow Bridgette!! What an ass!! Good for you for posting this and for standing up for yourself. Your blog is worth much more than Classic Red Wagon. There must be plenty of other GREAT companies out there with wagons that would love the exposure from your blog. Its that guys major loss.
wow, he seems like a copmplete jerk! Why not just say he’s not interested, kwim
WOW – They don’t deserve anyone reviewing for them not even a PR 10 blog. I would never consider putting up a review for them now at all!
My response to the company would have only been two words:
FUCK OFF.
Wow Bridgette, this guy sure has no idea what he’s talking about or the true value and worth behind mom bloggers. Clearly he didn’t get the memo about our vocal nature and willingness to spread the word on companies/products…good and BAD in this case.
I am going to update this post tonight, but I just wanted to let you all know that Radio Flyer did contact me to apologize (even though they didn’t have anything to apologize for!) for the issue with Classic Red Wagons. They have offered me a review for the new Ultimate Comfort Wagon! How nice is that?!?
From what I can tell, Classic Red Wagons is not an authorized Radio Flyer affiliate, at least they do not appear on the list at Radio Flyer.
I’m so glad you posted this, Bridgette, but sorry that you had to deal with it. What a waste of your precious time – and it is precious! Writing a good review takes a lot of time and effort. And a positive thorough review would have been worth its weight in gold (and sold wagons.) Their loss.
I ALSO think that stats are NOT the bible as far as figuring out if a blog is a match for their product. It’s a shame they only looked at that. (and even then, your stats are good so it makes no sense)