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6

We do have a product without demo, we only give out evaluation copies to potential clients and people who'd like to do a review the product.

It's a long story why we don't have a demo, suffice to say we won't have for another couple of months. So for now we don't have a public demo

How can I ask bloggers to review the product? What's the best way? Shall I just send them a nice email with an evaluation copy and ask them to write something up in their blog? Shall I just send them an evaluation and not even mention about blogging? Or shall I give them a free version to get attention (product costs about $1000)? Or offer it, I don't want to offer it only if they write about it (which is kinda dirty!)

I know similar question asked about pitching to top bloggers but in my case it's not where they can just jump and try so I thought it would be OK to ask it

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4 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

The easiest way is to ask. You can send them an e-mail asking if they would be interested. Or you can message them on Twitter. They're unlikely to approach you directly (although depending on what your product is, maybe I'll review it for you) and will want to know what's in it for them.

If you want them to blog about it, though, they need to be able to evaluate it. But don't send them the evaluation copy unless they indicate interest - so try something like:

Hey Blogger,

I have a product you might be interested in checking out - it's a really cool program that helps people do something really awesome, and has the following 3 hot features. You can get some more information from our product site, www.somecrazysite.com, and if you think you might be interested, drop me a note and I'll forward you an evaluation copy.

I look forward to hearing back from you,

Product Manager John Doe

Not too complicated, says what you want, and only commits you to sending an evaluation copy on request.

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1  
I'd put some more detail in about why you want their opinion specifically (don't e-mail bloggers you know nothing about), but that's definitely a good way to frame the 'free-copy-if-you-want-to-get-involved' pitch. – Jay Neely Jan 19 '10 at 22:37
Good point! I forgot to point that out. – Elie Jan 20 '10 at 0:11
up vote 7 down vote

Peldi from Balsamiq explained how he got 100 reviews in 6 weeks in this interview which contains further links to the actual emails and process he used.

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up vote 5 down vote

You can't just go to a blogger and say "hey, you don't know me, but here's my product. Will you spend some hours toying with it and then a couple more to write about it? thank!" That will not work. You need to engage with him first. Read his posts, comment on them, get the conversation going. Get to know him, and most importantly, get him to know you. That way, when you finally send him an email asking for a review, you will be off his black list, and he will actually read your email.

Second advice: get a demo, fast! That's the first step to get attention from anyone, especially from bloggers. If they cannot see a 2-3 minute video that contains some sort of WOW factor, you'll have a bad time pitching your review in plain text!

Finally, be aware that there is a new guideline in town. If bloggers accept any sort of payment, free product or promotional giveaway to "pay" for their reviews, they are obliged to include a disclaimer in their review saying they got paid for it. The full FTC’s guideline is here: http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf

Hope this helps Michel

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up vote 3 down vote

if they are on twitter, approach them with something like this.

"hey @superimportantblogger what do you think about our product http://bit.ly/6gl6LZ Would really appreciate your opinion?"

The fact is that if they are really important they get a ton of people asking them to review. If your product is good he would wanna do it for his own reputation and if it's bad he wont (but you won't get a bland or negative review)

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