Debbie Lavdas of Peace Love and Momminess and the Martini Monovlogs on Orange County Moms Blog has had enough. Last week she poured a drink for all the annoying requests she’s had for free publicity recently.
It’s a very hot topic. Jessica Gottlieb wrote about the “Welcome Wagon” effect this week too, in response to another blogger’s post. Her attitude was that sometimes, you have to walk away. It’s not worth your anger. I tend to agree but I don’t pretend to have the answers to this problem.
On the one hand, you have brands just trying to spread the word about their product or service, worried that a press release will come off as offensive. On the other, you have bloggers who are sick of being used like a ventriloquist’s dummy. There’s a chasm in between that never seems to get any slimmer.
Most of us love to share online – a tip, a recipe, a sale, an opinion. We’ve been doing it for years. It may have been our original motivation for blogging, tweeting and joining forums. But now we are inundated with more tips, sales, recipes and opinions than ever before – many coming directly from the horses mouth. The brands, the experts etc have all got something to help us along on our quest to share. PR firms are happy to stand by and fuel our discussions with their tasty morsels. It’s not all bad. Sometimes the morsels are just that – tasty. That is, they are relevant and welcome. But… sometimes not. And there is nothing worse than being nagged (or worse bossily directed) relentlessly to post, tweet, coupon, share, facebook etc a message or product that is not appetizing to you.
One thing is for sure – it’s easy to get indigestion trying to digest it all. Weeding through what’s relevant, what’s good, what’s useful, can quickly become a full time job. One that most of us do not have time for. And won’t be paid for. Cue resentment.
Who’s going to build a bridge and define how brands and bloggers should (and shouldn’t!) work together? I certainly have questions and would love your thoughts on the following:
- Do certain bloggers self sabotage, doing unpaid work or nearly unpaid work-in-trade, to publicize rands?
- Should all bloggers adhere to the same general standards and practices when it comes to PR/brands?
- How should bloggers set their prices for work with PR – taking into account their time, traffic, audience, and real estate?
- Should bloggers share a deal/sale/event/info for free, ever? When & why?
- Is there a way for stores, brands and PR agencies to distribute info to bloggers without offending them?
Leave me a comment below – I’d love to discuss!
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