Let's be frank - or sam or andrew, but mostly frank; as in honest. Not sure what 'sam' or 'andrew' would depict.
Bloggers who blog on a regular basis, especially if the blog is relevant to a niche audience (think pet blog, gossip blog, fashion blog, food blog, political blog, whatever), get noticed by PR firms looking for places to promote their clients. My women's marketing blog gets LOTS of pitches from PR firms looking to connect with women.
We had a session at the conference on this topic and Paris has a good post on it over at Dogtipper (this pic is from her post). I thought I'd mention a few things here, and send you another link to a post about how NOT to do pitches and create product reviews, as noted by Lena West over on Lipsticking.
It's all relevant. We bloggers like getting "free" stuff, and all the bloggers I know report on the free swag they receive, when they write about it. That's a big key to being a successful product review blogger. You must make sure readers know you were given a free item to review, or that you got invited to attend an event, with free registration or travel provided. And, brands need to follow those rules, also.
As Susan Getgood would tell you (and did tell our bloggers), "...disclosure and the importance of revealing whether or not you accept products for review"...is key. I'm paraphrasing. Susan is part of Blog Integrity and it behooves all bloggers to be part of that movement. When you use integrity in your blogging, you do not risk the wrath of the FTC, or other bloggers.
Mary K. Engle, Associate Director of Advertising Practices with the FTC, spoke on the new guidelines, which echo what Susan and the other panelist, Jennifer Tilly from Mr. Tuck's Neighborhood, said - that being open, honest and authentic will keep you out of trouble.
If you're interested in doing product reviews, check out the presentations on our events session page, and read Paris's post. Be sure to ask your questions here where we can answer them or get one of our BlogPaws' panelist to answer them. Read about what Ann Taylor LOFT did - all wrong. And learn from their mistake, as written up on Lipsticking by Lena West.
For more advice and examples, visit Chat with Sandy - and review her PR/Disclosure.
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