This pitch sent to a Blogger School reader, who forwarded it to us for publication, did not leave us chuckling.
Christmas Cracker or damp squib? We are leaning towards the later.
The Initial Approach
We’ve made a funny food and christmas[sic] related (very) short animated film that I think you’ll like:
(this link: [REDACTED].)
If you do like it, then maybe you’d share it with your readers? (It might still be a little early… some time, when it feels right, between now and Christmas?)
If you do feature it, a link to “[REDACTED]” would be also be greatly appreciated, and if you let me know what you’re doing I’ll tweet a link to your blog from @[REDACTED].
All the very best
[REDACTED]
Producer / Director
To be fair it is a rather nicely (and presumably expensively) produced film, humorous, just the right length and has the potential to go viral thus earning the company lots of commissions and You Tube ad revenue.
Alarm bells ring at the use of “I think you’ll like” and the fact that they are asking for a link and their twitter account has around 60 followers – our blogger has about 100x that number.
Having got no response they sent a chasing up mail
Hey [REDACTED],
I’m just chasing up my previous email – did you get a chance to check out “[REDACTED]“?
[REDACTED]
Our blogger responded in a very sensible way…
What’s your budget for placement? My standard rate is £250 to embed within a new post.
They replied …
Ah! Sorry. There was me thinking that the ‘content’ might have some intrinsic value. Sadly, I can only pay in chuckles.
Thanks for the reply!
All the best
[REDACTED]
Our blogger, rightly incensed at the chuckle line, went in with this mail.
“Hi [REDACTED]
Ah, I see, intrinsic value. Forgive me, I’m a little confused.
I can see that if I wanted to approach you to do something for me, I’d be looking at paying:
£40 per hour for a writer/producer
£700 for a two-person crew
£375 for a director
£375 for a sound recordist
£350 for an edit suit for the daySo it would start to add up, wouldn’t it?
Is there some charitable angle to your production and promotion of [REDACTED]?
Or, shall I just spend my (unpaid) time writing a post on my blog, adding editorial content and code, publishing it, sharing it across my networks, replying to comments to engage with my readers – to promote [REDACTED]?
Perhaps you’d like to shoot a recipe video for me and I can pay you in ‘chuckles’???
Best wishes for a very merry and intrinsically Happy Christmas
[REDACTED]
Anonymous blogger, here at Blogger-School we salute you!
What would you have said?
Fantastic reply. I would love to have said the same, but probably wouldn’t manage it so creatively. Mostly I don’t reply, because, I don’t have the time to keep up with the e-mails I feel deserve a reply, never mind the ones that don’t.
It was a very good reply. High fives to our anonymous blogger.
I use a text expander to deal with these e-mails. You set a short code, type it, press return and it expands to a paragraph. Saves hours and also gets the message out there.
I really like reading your posts – this is just genius – thanks for sharing – it’s great to know I’m not the only one who receives ludicrous requests. I should bother to respond rather than simply ignore.
We hope that the more responses which set the record straight that are sent, the better it will be for the entire community in the long run.
Another fantastic post! I know I speak for a lot of your readers when I say how helpful, valuable and very entertaining posts. Do keel up the good work- I appreciate how much work you all have on with your own blogs let alone with this amazing resource!
Thanks Kate.
This one was a very quick win and all it needed was a quick copy and paste job from the e-mail we were sent.
I receive so many emails from companies that want me to post their information about products on my blog for free. I love the comeback of What is your budget for this project as it is a good professional way to ask for payment. I am glad to be noticed by companies, but I am not willing to give everything for free especially since my blog is growing quite well being 4 years old now and established. Great post !!
Thanks Rosemary. Glad you enjoyed it.
I’m chuckling at this, intrinsically, but chuckling nonetheless…. such flippancy deserved a suitable response