Sunday, October 2, 2016

My Experience With Brands


Blogging has always been a hobby that I have loved. I've loved writing on this platform for over five years and it still baffles me to this day when a company says they want to work with me. I am extremely grateful to some of the brands I have worked with who have allowed me to review some amazing products and experiences on my little Iridescent Places blog. I've seen a few of these posts floating around, and I thought I'd give it a try. Here's a rundown of my experiences with brands. Although I've only been working with brands for a little over a year, I've definitely seen a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Let's start of with of course, the good. I'm so grateful to some companies who actually want to work with me. There's something really lovely about getting an email through asking if I'd like to work with a brand as it makes me that little bit more proud of my piece of the internet. I've worked with some great brands from Spectrum Brushes, nailbox.co.uk, Seventeen, Vichy, Makeup Forever, Lush and Benecos beauty in the past, all who have been amazing. To me, it's been a real pleasure working with them, solely because of the fact that they care. I have received thoughtful emails from each of their PR teams, ones which actually have time and effort put in them. I'm currently working in PR myself and I know how important it is to make an email genuine and well, basically, not look like spam. If an email from a brand mentions an old post they liked of mine, or specifically why they think it would be a good fit on the blog, I really appreciate it. On the other hand I've also had brands who have written to me who don't fit the blog, but still write to me thoughtfully, saying if I would think about starting category on my blog etc. I will of course turn this down as my blog won't be changing, but I will spend the time back explaining exactly why and also thanking them for getting in touch.

Then again I've had the bad too. "Hey Iridescent Places" (funnily enough my name is Iridescent Places). There's nothing worse than getting an email which generically just has "hey" written on it, or "hey [blog name]". My name is written on each one of my platforms whether that be Instagram, Twitter or on my blog so I really wish some companies took the time to actually find out what my name was. I understand that it takes time to have to go through each of our names instead of just BCC'ing us in an email, but I think common courtesy would be appreciate by all of us! I also think sometimes brands don't particularly really take a look to see whether or not their product would actually fit into my blog. I've had some great pitches sent out to me ranging from sex toys, cellulite cups and sports gear. Like sorry, what are you trying to say about my cellulite?! 

We then come to the ugly. My favourite experience with brands so far have been the "no shows." One company in particular has promised me numerous times that the sample is "on it's way to me." The conversation started in July. July people. I've chased and to be honest at this point I've given up. I don't particularly understand these companies? If you've decided that you don't have enough samples to send out, just let me know. Another one which really got me is the "hey we'd love it if you could feature our product in your blog post. However stocks are low so are unable to provide you with a sample. Please feel free to purchase and link us with your post" uhhhhh? I'm not saying that bloggers should be handed out freebies non-stop at all, it's just that I'd personally spend my money my own way?

Collaborating with brands is an amazing perk of blogging and something I'm always happy to venture into. It's a lovely gesture when you get invited to some lovely events or gifted products to review. However saying that, it's definitely not easy sailing. Sometimes you can be taken advantage of and other times, you wonder why they think you a cellulite cup would suit my blog. Maybe they're trying to say something else.....

I'd love to know if you've had any amazing/bad experiences with brands! Let me know in the comments below!
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19 comments

  1. I haven't actually worked with any brands but I did work in PR for a while and gained a few pointers, I've written a couple of posts regarding reaching out to a brand on my blog and I always think people aren't brave enough to make the move but it can really pay off!

    www.sophieblxck.com

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    1. I've reached out to a couple (want to do a separate post on that) and agree sometimes they can't just find you and you have to go to them and show you are passionate to work with them! xx

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  2. such an interesting post, it's a pet hate of mine when brands don't even call you by your name. like if you're going to reach out to someone at least address them first!
    jen / velvet spring

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    1. I know right! It's like on every single one of my social medias as well! xx

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  3. I can definitely relate to you with a lot of these experiences. It truly is annoying when PR don't even bother to research your name and the no shows really are the worst! I've had one experience when I spent the best part of a year supposedly designing a product to release and then all of a sudden the company suddenly shuts down with no warning, no goodbye, no explanation, just completely shut down their web page and haven't published on their social media accounts in months. I was gutted as I put so much time and effort into the project. Sometimes things just aren't meant to be!

    Toni x
    www.clarkecouture.co.uk

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    1. I now it's definitely the worst thing! Oh my god I cannot believe that! That's actually horrendous and can't believe that would have happened!! xx

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  4. I couldn't agree more with people not taking the time to find out what your name is. It is the same for when other bloggers have approached me too to do guest posts and they haven't taken the time to look at my blog!

    Danielle xx
    http://www.fashionbeautyblog.co.uk/

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    1. I know right and suddenly I'm asked to write a guest post on something completely random too? xx

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  5. This is such a true post! sometimes PR people totally get it right and other times you wonder if they've actually read your blog or not haha!

    http://claresloves.blogspot.com/

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  6. I haven't had a ton of PR experience but most of them have been really good, although some are a little bit too specific about what they want me to say, how to say it, how to link it, etc. and I prefer to write my own posts lol.

    www.beautyfromkatie.blogspot.com

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    1. Yeah that's not my favourite - like telling me exactly how to get photos and what to include, some direction is good but some is too much! xx

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  7. i've not worked with that many PRs. But i had similar experience, where they kept saying they'd sent a product (i wonder if its the same one haha) I'm still waiting! xx

    LPage Beauty

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    1. oh my god I wonder!! Can always talk on the sly on Twitter DM's ;) I'm still waiting and they contacted me right after I posted this post! xx

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  8. I'm lucky to get the opportunity to work with many brands and the experiences have been great so far. The bad ones are cheap Asian clothing sites that send me emails to create a post for them for a huge and they will pay me USD10 and then tell me to include 5 do-follow links. Like seriously, just reading the email is a waste of time.

    Shireen | Reflection of Sanity

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    1. Exactly! I don't want to inundate my viewers with a bunch of links! I want my content to be my own! xx

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  9. Loved this post, can 100% relate. It's so frustrating when you get an email saying they want to work with you but then they never reply or after you've worked with them you send them the link to the post and ask for their opinions but you never hear back from them. It's always 50/50 for me but it is definitely a brilliant feeling having people wanting to work with me.
    Charlotte // www.charlottespicks.com

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    1. I know exactly! I'm very lucky to have worked with some great ones but some just have no clue how to work with some bloggers or have common courtesy! xx

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  10. Yes to all of this. I haven't worked with too many companies yet, but I can already see he hit and miss of different PR contacts. I definitely have a few companies right now that contacted me to do posts for free, no products or compensation -just free advertisement for them. Also one asked me to purchase the product to write about it too -__- I was interested in the product so I did but they sent a follow up less than a week later to see when the post would be up. Haven't even received the item yet lol. Some people just don't understand.

    But I do love getting the emails where people have genuinely taken the time to read through posts and address you by your first name. Hoping you put up the post on reaching out to PR companies as that's something I'm definitely starting to do / could use more tips on! :)

    Cindy | www.cindyhyue.com

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