I was having one of those days and minor things pissed me off for no reason. I guess I was irritable that day but this one e-mail I received from a company I was working with, rubbed me the wrong way.
I’m not badly talking about the company, but sometimes I need to blog about the other side of the things. Don’t you think? I want my readers to know that I speak the truth, rather than pretending everything is gravy. I felt like the public relations company I’m talking about, took a little dig at me. But in reality, they were just following protocol and speaking in general terms. Like I said, it was one of those days where I was irritable.
I’ve had some great experiences with this PR company, as I’ve already reviewed a few EOS lip balms and hand cream in the past, and was looking forward to working with them again. The primary contact person I was e-mailing at the beginning passed me onto their colleague who kept giving me the run-around. To make a semi-already-long-story, not so long the convo’s between us took about 3 months to get anywhere else.
In July it was mentioned that I could get more EOS products to review on my blog in the upcoming months. I only bug the companies that I really want to work with, so I didn’t want to let this one go.
As you would, I thought we’d be moving forward with more product and I’d supply content on my site here.
I followed up with the PR rep for EOS and asked if things were moving forward, and when. I’d like to be in the know-how of things, so I can stay organized and write down my to-do’s for blogging. Right?
They e-mailed back and said:
(Click to enlarge)
I got a little annoyed seeing that they only send product to approved beauty bloggers for trial and review. At first I thought, what the heck does approved beauty bloggers even mean? Who made up this title? But now that I take a step back, I know that PR companies can’t just send to everyone. They have their own specific bloggers that their company has approved. Makes sense. But in a way I couldn’t help but be annoyed at my time being wasted. From all those e-mails that went back and forth for a few months.Plus. I can’t review high res images…
 You guys already know I blog about Fossil things, and that’s for free. I have no problem doing that. I don’t want to sound like a greedy blogger, who only blogs for free stuff. I hope it makes a bit of sense at least. But I wanted to share my experience, to keep things real.
7 Comments
I can definitely see both sides here…. and honestly my advice is to not take it personally at all. It’s important to remember that press samples are limited, and companies will reserve these samples for magazines/sites with a large reach. I’ve been turned down countless times because I wasn’t “big” enough, so I just accept it and try harder to build my following :) On the other hand, they definitely shouldn’t have told you that you’d receive samples first, then not follow-up with it. I think its a sticky situation, but I wouldn’t lose hope girl and definitely don’t take it personally! :)
Nancy says: Thank you so much Jess. That’s exactly what my boyfriend said too, not to take it personally. They have their set amount of bloggers, etc.
Jessica recently posted..7 Holiday Brush Kits from Sephora from $10 to $125
I definitely agree with Jessica. Don’t take a personally…but sometimes that is easier said than done. I would be so annoyed with the wasted time going back and forth. Why couldn’t they just tell you this up front? Anyway, it’s their loss Nancy! :)
And can I just say how COMPLETELY annoying it is when PR companies email you “high-res images for review”???! Does anyone actually use these images and create a free publicity post for these companies?
Enjoy your day friend!
XO – Marion
Marionberry Style recently posted..Casual Weekend Wear + Giftcard Giveaway
Skip the part where you worry about sounding like a greedy blogger. You invested time, text, and insights in them and their products (the ones they represent) and were misled. I’d be mad at having my time wasted too. If products don’t have people like you, how will they get the word out to the market?
KymberlyFunFit recently posted..Don’t Be a Pretender: Protein Satiates Appetite
I get pr companies emailing me all of the time… Asking me to “review” hi res photos! Lol. Or put eir banner on my site without any sort of exchange or compensation :/
That sucks that you went back and forth and were left under the impression that you would be receiving some product for review! I would like to know who is on their ‘approved’ beauty blogger list
gl0ssi.blogspot.ca
Nat recently posted..And some more reviews
Try not to take this too personally! I agree with the other commenters, what exactly is an approved beauty blogger? I mean, if you run out of samples, or I no longer fit your ideal criteria, please just tell me upfront, don’t lie or make up other terms!
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Every now and then I put myself out there and offer freebies to companies. Being from a small town if I could try the product for free I might consider buying it. Our local Walmart has very little selection wise. I see others using drug store brands and I wonder what drug store, so for me getting the chance to just try something is a bonus. My big problem and I totally agree with you Nancy is that companies play around with you. I get e-mails all the time and say no because I cannot get a good feel for them. They always rub me the wrong way. It’s not just the blogging, it is the back and forth e-mails. Those take a whole lot of time. 10-20 e-mails, I’m tired and my patience is gone.