Diane Gilleland (Sister Diane) of CraftyPod did a guest post at Oh My! Handmade Goodness that touches on an increasing worry for bloggers. What to do about the increasing volume of requests from businesses trying to market their products through them.
She says it raises the following ethical questions:
1. Do we really want to be marketing engines for the craft industry?
2. Do we bear any actual responsibility for promoting the craft industry?
3. Should we, in fact, be compensated for this service?
4. How much of this marketing will our readers actually tolerate before they start drifting away?
Here’s my opinion. It’s a love-hate relationship that’s tipping towards hate. I often love what is sent to me free of charge (books, cutters, scissors, fabric), who wouldn’t? But there’s a downside. It takes a lot of time to write thoughtful book and product reviews and/or host giveaways. I may get the product free, but shipping isn’t. I once spent $49 USD to send a book to a winner outside the US. Ouch, that’s why now I only allow US and Canada readers to enter my giveaways.
All of this trying out new products in projects, creating tutorials with said product, reviews and mentions amounts to unpaid work. But, in terms of money spent by a company for marketing purposes, it’s truly a dirt cheap option for them in getting bloggers to market their products.
For me, if I limit what I write about to the products that I truly get excited about, then I see it as a service to my readers and I can feel good about the arrangement.
Image credit: Jessica Wilson {jek in the box} via Oh My!
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