Friday 5 May 2017

My Opinion On Approaching Brands

I've wanted to talk about my opinion on approaching brands for a while but I've never really known how to start and where I'm going to go with it but it's something that I've been thinking about for a long time, so I'm just gonna go for it!
I know this is something that some bloggers really frown up and think is a big no no, which I do get, but there are also others like me who actually think approaching brands is a pretty clever thing to do. I've seen quite a few tweets recently randomly about this topic and the fact that some people think it's basically just asking for freebies, and I totally get why some think like that, but I think saying that makes the people like me who do occassionally approach brands, look and feel a bit bad, when really a lot of us aren't doing it for the freebies at all! 

I'm not ashamed at all to say I've approached brands and got in touch first, but I've only ever done it with brands I'm genuinely interested in or have a love for their products, and I like to think I always do it in a way that isn't just like - send me products to review! because that isn't my aim. I have a generic email I send to any brands I'd like to work with one day, I introduce myself, include a link to blog, include a link to my review page featuring brands I've worked with before and give them some stats so average monthly blog views, social media followers etc, and then I just politely ask if I could maybe be added to a pr list or be considered for any future collaborations. Depending on the brands and the products I do then sometimes ask if they'd maybe be interested in being featured on my blog for the purpose of a review. I'm not asking that in the hope they'll send me stuff, I'm asking that so I can maybe have a working relationship with this brand one day, because I love what they do! If they choose to send me a few bits to review then FAB but if they don't, I haven't lost anything, and neither have they. When I send these emails they are under no obligation to reply or to work with me, and a lot them don't. Some I never hear back from and that's fine, some do reply wanting to work together straight away and others say they'll add me to a list. The way I see it is, if you don't ask, you don't get. With blogging a lot of PR's and brands will get in touch with you first and if they do that's brilliant but I get nowhere near the amount of emails bigger bloggers than me do, and I might never do, so if there is something I'm interested in and think they'd be a good fit for my blog, why not get in touch and just introduce myself?

I don't blog for freebies or for money, yeah it would be the dream to make this my job one day, like I'm sure it is for a lot of bloggers, but I do this because I love it. I love writing about so many different things and I am so so proud of my blog and how it's improved over the last few years. It's just a bonus if somebody wants to work with me! As I said earlier in this post I completely get why some people think it's bad to get in touch with brands and to some extent I agree spamming the #prrequest #bloggersrequired on twitter, looking for people to work with can be a bit annoying and come across wrong but that's a different thing I think. I think as long as you're polite, friendly and that isn't your main focus for blogging, then it's fine to approach people. I like to think that other bloggers can tell when someone is just in it for the free stuff, I certainly can, and I also like to think PRs and brands can too. Hopefully when people read my blog they see it isn't all about reviewing stuff, getting paid and working with anyone for the sake of it. I mention in every sponsored post or review for a brand that I only ever work with people that are relevant to me and my blog, and I stick by that. I have written about so many personal things on here, for no one elses sake but my own, I have written beauty reviews because I want to, I have posted recipes for me to try again in future, I really hope people see that I'm genuine and really do this because I love it, not for any other reason. 

I'm sorry if this is all just a bit random and doesn't make much sense but I've been wanting to get my opinion on it out for a while, I really hope it's come across how I've wanted it too. Anyway I would love to know what your opinion is on this! What do you think to bloggers getting in touch first? Have you ever done it or would you?

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