If you’ve been blogging for a few months, you’ve probably noticed those tiny little disclaimer statements at the bottom of blog posts and PR pages- “I received complimentary product for the purpose of this review…” and wondered how in the heck are bloggers are getting such awesome free stuff with their blogs for reviews and giveaways?
Well wonder no more, I have got some answers for you that will help you to get started on scoring free stuff for reviews and giveaways with your blog…and better yet- if you’re reading this a few weeks before a major holiday, this post will help you how to learn how to score your Christmas, holiday, Valentine’s, or birthday gifts for FREE.
Also, be advised, this is just an introductory post- the complete Action Guide for “The Freebie Filled Gift List: How To Score Your Christmas Gifts For Free, chalk full of juicy details, will be coming out as a gift with my new guide, Rockstar Blogging that launches October 31st..Halloween!
If you’re serious about blogging, there is no excuse to not have branded Twitter Account, Facebook Fan Page, You Tube channel and an up to date “About Page.” You need to be stupid-easy to find and get into contact with- if your social media accounts aren’t either named after your blog or named after you, fix it now! For FrugalBeautiful.com- my Twitter name is FrugalBeautiful, Facebook Fan Page is FrugalBeautiful, Instagram is FrugalBeautiful, Youtube is FrugalBeautiful. You see a trend here? Haha! You can name your accounts using your own name with numbers, or your blog name- but be consistent.
As for your blog- make sure you have “Contact me” either as it’s own page, or somewhere obvious in your sidebar and on your about page. Be sure to have your social media accounts linked in your sidebar in a prevalent and obvious location. You need to make sure you’re easy/fast to contact by email, Twitter and Facebook- this crucial and often overlooked. If you’re hard to find, you’ll miss out.
Why am I such a stickler about this? Many bloggers don’t realize that the first relationships you’ll make with your blog, will be when PR reps come to find you and ask to send you product, no effort required on your part. This is by far the easiest step to getting freebies!
What do you need for the next upcoming holiday, or who do you need to shop for? If you’ve ever noticed that stores stock the next holiday’s items ridiculously far in advance, take heed! When you start seeing Christmas items at Halloween, and Valentine’s Day items at Christmas, that’s your cue that you need to get hustling if you want to score your entire gift list for free!
Don’t forget other holidays like back to school (for kid’s clothes, school & office supplies, pantry items), New Year’s resolutions (great for health, finance & organizational items), and Mother or Father’s Day. Make a list of all the types of items you’ll need for an upcoming holiday, so you will know what companies to contact and thus, have a great selling point for them to work with you.
Companies, and thus, their Marketing/PR reps will be thankful that you not only contacted them for a review/giveaway in advance to coordinate with their promotional schedules (that run long before most people even think of holiday shopping) but also that you have an idea in mind that will help them achieve their marketing goals. When you talk to a brand, letting them know you want to run a review/giveaway to help them with those goals & build brand awareness is a great selling point to get busy PR reps to talk to you!
In the next part of this series, we will discuss how to write a good pitch email and start to email companies directly- but before we get into that, you need to make sure people know who you are. While many companies respond quickly and easily to direct email pitches, others need to be romanced first and you should work in advance to build a relationship with any brands that you really, really want to work with! So, how do you flirt with the big kahuna brands?
Flirt With Your Blog- Give them something to smile about with some blog posts where you mention how awesome they are (and if you haven’t used their products, do NOT lie or make things up, they’re smart!) or join their affiliate program if you already stand behind their products. They may notice you this way first (without you having to reach out) or, at the very least, it will help build rapport with them when you make your first email connection by pointing PR reps and their marketing staff to posts you’ve already done.
Flirt On Social Media- The bigger the company, the harder it can sometimes be to build a relationship and get an “in.” If you really love their stuff, build brand synchronicity with your blog by rewteeting their tweets and sharing their Facebook posts on your fanpage to align yourself as the ideal brand ambassador and the ideal blogger to work with! Not only is it good practice for when you snag that free stuff, but it makes you appear brand-savvy, so get to flirtin!
Until then, if you found this article helpful & want more information about topics like this- Sign up for the V.I.P. Rockstar Blogging List to snag your Backstage Pass to score 20% off the week of launch!
Learn how to get direct ads, freebies for reviews & giveaways and talk confidently to major brands to earn more with your blog!
OOh, can’t wait for part two! I want to get stuff for free!!!!
great tips! I can’t wait to read more 🙂 (bg)
Great post, keep it up, I have added your blog to my news reader.
[…] Shannyn wrote about How To Score Free Stuff With Your Blog. I can get behind […]
Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank you, However I am having difficulties with your RSS. I don’t know why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting identical RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!!