Honestly, I expect to be rejected... if a company decides to work with me, I feel privileged ... they are sending out free products and have to justify their expenditures and giveaways. I figure that if I don't ask, I won't know what their policies are... and I have to say that even when rejected, I reply and thank them for their time and consideration and wish them well. It's their prerogative to choose what criteria they want to use - be it # of twitter followers, unique visitors, PR or alexa ranking... or some combination there of... they have a limited amount of product and want to get bang for their buck... and that's their right... I still have a PR of 0 and it's primarily because I am not a highly focussed blog... I post a whole variety of things and don't spend a ton of time worrying about meta tags, SEO and specialization... so if I don't qualify for a review or giveaway, I move on to something else... it may well be the company's loss, but there will be other opportunities...
I love that I am supplementing my world as a SAHM by testing products and reading books, offering giveaways and generally increasing my blog traffic that way - but I'm not going to complain or begrudge a company for having a policy...
Today was a unique experience though... I got a misdirected email from a company I cold called by email - the person that received my email to their general mailbox had been trying to forward my email to someone else in the company to ask how specifically to respond to unsolicited requests like mine that didn't meet their criteria... instead I got the email request...
I knew already that I had been rejected, so I emailed back politely and said that as a blogger, I appreciate when a company lets me know promptly and nicely that they are not interested in my opportunity. I also let them know that sharing criteria for bloggers, links to newsletters and social media, other ways to stay abreast of what is happening at their company are welcome, too!
As I said before, having worked in an industry where I spent 80% of my time cold calling companies, I expect rejection - I know my blog is small and similar to hundreds of other blogs out there... but if I don't ask, I'll never get bigger and I'll never know what opportunities I missed by not asking.
I will say one thing though - the combination of the embarrassment felt by the individual whose email was misdirected and my polite and cheerful response means that the company has offered me an opportunity to review one of their products on my blog in the next few months... and gets my foot in the door to prove to them that bigger isn't always better...
I'm also hoping that one day my blog will grow to the size where reviewing for them more regularly would be an option - I love their products and fully expect to try and pitch them again in the future.
This post was inspired by a discussion thread on a site I belong to where bloggers were taking issue with a company's requirement for Google PR to qualify to review products... my take on it is that I appreciate them being upfront about their need... because I don't have a strong PR - mine is 0 - I just didn't bother to apply... I know that there are other bloggers who will have the opportunity to review those products... and that's okay - someday I might get my shot...
Questions for my fellow bloggers: What are your expectations when you pitch companies? How do you deal with rejection? Do you have any interesting stories to share about pitching companies? Do you have a % that you are aiming for when you start to cold call or email companies through pitch/marketing sites?
Okay - this makes a second inspired rant today... I think I'm on a roll and should stop while I'm ahead.. or behind as the case may be :)
I am also participating in the following hops:
