Saturday, December 19, 2009

Free Agent

Every time I read another giveaway post on a fellow parenting blog, I get a small pang of jealousy. "Hey" I think to myself "I would have done that. I would have reviewed that product and spoken earnestly about it on my blog, if you had sent me a sample - for free."

In fact, I'm sure that had I gotten the product for free, I would have (subconsciously, of course) probably even liked it that much more. Chew on that for a while publishers, flower shops....makers of cold weather wear.

But alas, when I hear other parent Bloggers complain of the constant barrage of offers that come in from companies looking to have their wares reviewed, and how difficult it is to chose the right ones to review and blog about, I sometimes respond "Hmph. Yeah I know what you mean!"

But the truth is, I have no idea what they mean. The LIAYF inbox, besides the endless Twitter follower notifications and the notices of blog comments, has been rather silent. Yes, I was excited a few weeks ago, when SAAB offered to send me one of their new 2010 models if I would review it here on 'Luke, I am Your Father'. Unfortunately, that was the last I heard from them.


(I will gladly test the local waters with your Yacht and give my honest take on the experience)

No matter. It is a new year in a couple of weeks. A new decade. A time for hopeful people all over the world to resolve to make their own change in their lives. With that in mind, I am officially declaring myself a free agent as of January 1st, 2010. What does that mean? Well, I will tell you what that means.

Let's say you are a new house cleaning service in the Seattle area and want to offer free service for a year if I would do a review of your services on my blog. SEND ME YOUR OFFER. I will give it careful consideration. Similarly, if you are a computer manufacturer and want to hook me up with your latest notebook if I would only give a fair assessment here at LIAYF. I'm listening.

What's more, I'll give the same consideration to car companies, high end clothing designers, gaming companies, restaurants, yacht builders, coffee roasters, toy manufacturers, or makers of jet packs out there who are looking for an honest opinion of their goods presented humbly to a worldwide audience of informed readers. This is your golden opportunity.

The sky is the limit corporate marketing types. Bring on those offers. I'll be waiting by my inbox at 6:00 AM 10:00 AM on January the 1st.

Photo credit: Yachtfan

10 comments:

Not From Lapland said...

you missed out purveyors of exotic holidays and airlines.

Mrs. M said...

If they start offering giveaways for those things, THEN maybe I'll hop on board!! For now, I am content to ignore most of my requests (the few that there are)...

ericdbolton said...

Since I want to be well liked in the blogosphere.. SO I jump at most of them.. I'll put a good word in for you..

SciFi Dad said...

Truth is, review offers have been fewer in the past six months or so than in the past. I've received significantly less email this holiday than last.

With that being said, there are review blogger listing sites where you can sign up to be considered. (I don't know any urls, but a friendly google search will probably turn some up.) Just be aware that the big ticket items aren't as common as you think: but if you're happy to get free dish soap, then go for it.

WILLIAM said...

I can't stand when other bloggers complain about getting offers to review stuff and advertise. I always say "give me that headache".

I get offers for reviews and I found the easiest way to get offers is to make your email address easy to find on your blog.

Blogger Dad said...

I don't mind when it's decent stuff to review. What I complain about is when I get pitched on scams, and questionable products. I also get annoyed when PR people email me all buddy buddy like they love my blog then pitch something for girls, when I only have a boy - stuff like that annoys me.

However, I'm perfectly game for quality stuff and in particular, a Playstation 3.

DGB said...

I will give you free, yes that's right free, access to my blog if you review it on your site.

Knatolee said...

If you come clean out my chicken coop, I will put a photo of you and the girls (hens, get your mind out of the gutter) on my blog!

Wait, that's not exactly the offer you were looking for, was it?

Steve @ MyBoys3 said...

I've been thinking the same thing lately - where are all these other bloggers getting all these product offers? I'm seeing nothing and frankly feeling a bit left out as well. You beat me to the punch on writing about it. If you figure it out, let me know!

James (SeattleDad) said...

@Heather - How could I have missed that one?

@Mighty M - I will pass on any extra offers to you that I can't take advantage of.

@Eric - Thanks Man.

@Scifi - Thanks for the information.

@William - Great tip. I may just have to use that.

@Blogger Dad - I will watch out for the Buddy Buddy types.

@Daddy Geek Boy - A deal to good to be true? I might just have to take you up on that!

@Knatolee - No, as nice as that sounds, not exactly.

@@Steve - And I have been at it for a couple of years now too.