Garden Blogging and Free Stuff — Some Helpful Tips
by Colleen Vanderlinden • December 7, 2011 • Blogging • 42 Comments
Recently, a bit of a firestorm has arisen in the garden blogging world. It began as one thing, and, as details about that issue came out, led to a bigger, more serious issue. The event that led to this is less important, and the specifics of what happened will, I’m sure, probably come out elsewhere. The details aren’t relevant right now, except that they made me finally sit down and write about something that has been bothering me for quite some time.
Garden Bloggers and Free Stuff
As a garden blogger and professional garden writer, I get probably more than my fair share of free products: plants, tools, books, seeds. I’ve gotten a few big-ticket items, such as rain barrels and compost tumblers. I’ve had companies provide products for giveaways here on In the Garden Online. So I am no novice when it comes to free stuff.
And “free stuff” is at the crux of this latest issue. Apparently, a company provided a blogger with free products. The blogger, who had generally posted positive reviews of this company’s products, published a negative review, pointing out some things that the company should have been grateful to hear about (more on that later). This blogger was essentially “cut off” from receiving further products from that company, and, worse, the company sent other garden bloggers to her post to refute what she’d said in the review.
There are so many things wrong here. But it offers us a good chance to take a look at our relationships with companies, and how to protect our reputation, both in the garden blogosphere and out of it.
Companies That Offer Free Stuff
There are a few things I want to say to companies that provide free products for review for garden bloggers. I think (hope?) that most companies understand this, but let’s go over it anyway:
1. Sending a blogger something for free provides you with two opportunities. The first is to get your name out there when the blogger posts about you. If it is a positive review, wonderful. But it also gives you a bigger opportunity. If they’ve written a negative review, this gives you an opportunity to seriously look at your product. Is it as good as it could be? Don’t write off a bad review just because “everyone else loved it!” Maybe they did, or maybe they were too insecure to write a negative review. Negative reviews are gold. Treat them as such.
2. No matter how much free stuff you’ve sent to a blogger, you do not own them. Ever.
3. Sending products for review does not guarantee that you will receive a positive review.
4. Sending products for review does not guarantee that your product will be reviewed, period. A blogger can choose to write about your product, or not. They are not beholden to you to write about you just because you sent them something for free.
5. Learn to tell the difference between sycophants and honest, objective bloggers. It’s easy for the rest of the garden blogging community to tell them apart. It should be for you, too. If you’re working with the same bloggers, over and over again, you’re not getting a diverse opinion of your products. And you run the risk of only working with sycophants, who are great for giving you glowing reviews, but are generally not respected much in the community at large.
But my concern is less with the companies (who are only interested in their bottom line, after all) and more with garden bloggers themselves.
Garden Bloggers Who Get Free Stuff
1. Getting something for free does not mean you should take to Twitter/Facebook/your blog squealing about how excited you are that someone sent you something for free. A bit of dignity is in order here.
2. Getting something for free does not mean you have to write about it, and definitely does not mean you have to give it a positive review. Write honestly, or don’t write at all. I dislike giving bad reviews. I don’t find them helpful to my readers. So if I don’t like a product, I don’t write about it. As a result, I receive WAY more products to review than I actually write about. If it’s not useful to gardeners, I’m not going to waste my time writing about it.
3. Don’t go on and on about how loyal you are to a company. This may gain favor with the company itself, and with other companies that are looking for bloggers to give them positive press, but it tells the rest of us that you are biased when it comes to this company. And we wonder, when you review other items, how biased you are on their behalf, too.
4. Companies do not give you legitimacy. I’ve seen some bloggers get excited to receive free stuff, and they often make it clear that they feel that, having gotten something for free, they now have some legitimacy in the garden blogging world as well. As if we’re not worthwhile or important until some company deems us worthy of free stuff. I understand. I do. We do this whole blogging thing, often at the amusement of family and friends, watching (maybe) the pennies from Adsense trickle in. Free stuff seems like payment of a sort. And to be recognized by someone else in our industry — well. The only legitimacy we have is that which we strive toward with quality work and honesty. It comes from us, not from someone else.
This situation has become a mess. At this point, how does a reader know which blogger to trust and which is not being objective? How to tell which gardener has devoted herself to servitude to a company, and which one just does her own thing? How to tell who is hoping to be one of the “popular girls” and who is more concerned about being true to herself and her readers? Garden bloggers have created a mess. We are heading down the road that the mommy bloggers traveled before us. And we see how well-respected they are, as a group. Do we want the same for ourselves?
Because if we don’t start acting with integrity, with honesty, and as professionals (yes, even bloggers who aren’t making any money should act professionally!) then that is exactly where we’re headed.
Couldn’t have said it better myself
. I’ve been cut off after negative reviews as well … My responsibility is to my readers not to the company and that’s the way of it on all of my review pages. 30 years in the trade and I know good from bad and don’t give a damn who knows it. The million plus readers hitting my sites figure it up pretty quickly that there’s not much BS there. Good article and it deserves wide reading
Thanks, Doug — for weighing in and for the kind words. It means a lot coming from someone I respect as much as I respect you. You’re proof that we can (and should!) be honest, straightforward, and keep our readers’ best interest in mind at all times. And you can be very successful doing it, too!
Yay, I feel many of the same things. I also feel the line is blurred when bloggers do not disclose their relationship with companies. If I write a review (rare), I always disclose I was given the product to review. I have been pretty picky about what products I’ve chosen to accept in the first place and then I’ve only really written reviews of a few, generally when they are a giveaway. Like you, I just remain silent publicly about products I didn’t find helpful (two in particular come to mind), but I did contact the PR rep in each case and explain why I wasn’t going to do the review, detailing why the product did not work for me. I would think that type of QA feedback would be gold to companies, but neither seemed interested in my feedback.
I’ve also had situations where companies send me things I did not ask for (and in one case specifically said I did not want) and then follow up about why I didn’t write about them. Um…
Great post. I too am getting quite a lot of review stuff here in the UK but only accept things I’m actually going to use or read and it’s always on the understanding it’ll be an honest review and I’ll disclose where the product came from.
I’m pleased that where the review has been negative (or the product had points for improvement as well as good ones), this feedback has been very well received by the companies concerned and on the whole has been actioned by them.
Great post! I always try to follow those exact same strategies. I seriously hope that companies look at the reviews as an opportunity to get better rather than an attack on their product.
@Monica — I’m with you completely on people needing to be clear about their relationship with the company — I don’t always see bloggers complying with the FCC Disclosure requirements. I get a lot of stuff I don’t ask for, which is frustrating, because I actually need very few gadgets for my garden!
@VP — I’m glad to hear that the companies you’ve dealt with have responded well to negative reviews. I’d hope that companies are sending these products because they REALLY want to hear what we think, not just so we’ll talk them up on our blogs and on social media. Thank you for stopping by!
@Dave — I hope so, too. If a blogger takes the time to write a review explaining what’s wrong with a particular product, they’re doing the company a huge favor, in my opinion.
Well said as always, Colleen. Of course, there will be that faction of the blogosphere who will think you and anyone who agrees with you are just “jellus hatrs” (jealous haters for those who don’t speak LOLcat speak) because you/we aren’t getting chosen for any of the action. Whatever. I am starting a new project and will be accepting paid advertising there although membership in the site will be free, and I’m making it very clear when I launch it what’s what.
I don’t get a lot of freebies from big companies partly because I no longer belong to the vanity love in that is the Garden Writers Association (where membership isn’t juried, any thud with the money can join and suddenly be a writer) and partly because I’m in Canada and it’s more complex to send plants unless they have a Canadian site to send from. Whatever. I do receive a lot of books, (mostly requested by me) and I write about them for the provincial newspaper and sometimes on my blog when I have time…but because I am a professional journalist and speaker, I say what I think. Usually diplomatically, & I stress that it’s my opinion/experience based on a certain skill level, but still…
It’s getting so I don’t read many of the blogs I formerly read, partly because of time, partly because they’ve become such pimps for everything free under the sun that I don’t trust them anymore UNLESS they do critique things evenly. Not every plant is perfect, especially for every condition. Most books, if read carefully, will have some weaknesses or even errata (I can point out those in my own book easily). Most tools won’t live forever. And so on.
I’ve been watching the conversation, at least parts of it (I left the garden writers’ FB group months ago after a gangup on Mr. Brown Thumb) and have been amazed at some of what I’ve seen. I’m also proud of you for writing this–your integrity is always intact with me.
Well said Jodi. Integrity is so important. I want to believe the reviews given by writers. It’s a disservice to customers buying these products to give a false review. Say it like it is or don’t say anything at all.
Oops, that should have said Colleen. Sorry, looking at Jodies comment at time of writing.
I’ve discussed this elsewhere so feels redundant to repeat myself here, but YES. We have to start talking about this now because the has been blurred to the point of not existing anymore. I appreciate how difficult it can be to navigate these waters when you first start out. It seems flattering and appealing to receive attention from companies offering “free” stuff and with it what feels like recognition.
But we do have to ask ourselves, Are we writers of PR people? How do we make a living while also maintaining our integrity and honoring the trust that our readers have placed in us? How do we define success? Is monetizing a blog the only way to reap value?
Oops. The “LINE” has been blurred to the point of not existing. Also, Are we writers “OR” PR people?
I sure can write the sentences with the words.
There’s so much about this story going on that I don’t even know where to begin or if I want to. I’m glad you posted about this and I hope someone does a big post about the drama that’s unfolding so that I don’t have to. Great post.
As far as a conversation…I would say that those of us who have been affected by such tactics and our comrades who are aware that companies do this, would do a great service to other writers to share the wisdom that has been learned from such experiences. Would it be at all possible to start building a movement to set a standard within our ranks? If we as writers continue to fall into this trap it will never change and only serve to fuel such practices. And how many of us know bloggers/writers who would happily jump on board to encourage this change…but how to make it sustainable. Its a perspective shift that for some writers is going to be challenging.
Way to go Colleen! Also KUDOS to Jodi as well. You characterized what I have been thinking so well. It’s a little maddening to witness people getting great opportunities to write books or travel and speaking engagements via the fact that they directly addressed products, media names and companies from paid or freebie bonus opportunities.
I know all of the “cool kids” who belong to the Group that does this and I think many of them are well intentioned, just naive.
It comes across to those of us who work hard at writing with integrity, conducting ourselves with dignity, that WE are the outsiders who will not get that same access unless we play along.
Hmmm….seems this topic is larger than just the politics of Garden Blogging eh?
Good post but I do have to disagree with a couple of points you made.
1.I feel that yes we do need to actually write a review if we agreed to accept the product.
It’s just being fair. You agreed to take a product so write about it.
2.I always give my honest feedback. You do need to write about the things you don’t
like about a product. Not writing a review just because you don’t like it is wrong. People
need to know what you don’t like about it. It helps them make their own mind up about
a product. If you receive a product the right thing to do is to write about it whether you have
positive ornegative things to say about it.
Thanks for your thoughts, Diabetic Snacker. Often, I’m sent products for review without having asked for them because I am on several companies’ lists of media contacts. I feel no duty to review something I didn’t ask for. And even if we do ask for products for review, I still don’t agree that it means we have to review them. We choose the ones we review based on our own editorial policies and the needs of our readers.
I’ll have to disagree with you again on the second point. This is one of those things that each of us must decide with our own audiences in mind. For my about.com site, I write about both the positive and negative aspects of each product I review. On this site, where my focus is helping gardeners, and pointing them toward helpful products and books, a negative review is pointless.
Hi Christina!
Thank you for the kind words. I agree that many of the people involved are well-intentioned. And I agree that we’re definitely touching on bigger issues, here.
Amen. But where’s all this free stuff you mention? I’d like an electric snowblower, and I may or may not sell my soul for it. But I figure I don’t get free stuff because my blog ain’t a how to blog, and it is opinionated. Eclectic me. Anyway–thank you for using the word “dignity.”
Benjamin –
Eclectic and opinionated. I love your blog
Hi Patty,
Thanks for your thoughts on this. I agree that it will be challenging to change some people’s perspectives. And it’s possible that we won’t be able to change the mind of anyone who is already involved in these practices. But it’s important to talk about them, firstly to define for ourselves what we consider to be an acceptable and sustainable mode of operation, and, secondly (but maybe even more importantly) to provide another viewpoint to someone who may be considering getting into garden blogging but is unsure about the commercialization of it all. There is another way. We don’t have to be mouthpieces for the industry to be successful as bloggers. I’m hoping this discussion continues, here and elsewhere.
Gayla –
“Are we writers or PR people?” — that nails it exactly. I think that line is very, very blurred right now. And we definitely need to start looking at blogs as something other than a way to make money, or gain attention from the “bigshots” in our industry.
Thanks, Kristin. I agree completely!
Jodi — Oh, I’m sure I’m being called a “jealous hater,” and probably a few other things as well
It’s fine. I’m very happy with where I am right now.
I don’t read as many blogs anymore either. The commercialization has gone over the top, and at this point, it feels like I’m reading advertising copy when I read many of the blogs I used to enjoy. There is a core group that I sincerely enjoy reading, and I read them almost religiously.
Thanks for the kind words. Nice to hear
Just curious if anyone who has ever received a free product from a company, reviewed it negatively and consequently sent it back? Maybe it would remove a lot of sense of obligation the company feels it is owed for positive reviews? Maybe the solution for bloggers is to review products that they have purchased themselves?
Great post, very well said!
This issue is not just limited to garden blogging, however. Food bloggers, for instance, get lots of products and cookbooks thrown at them all the time. We actually had a great panel on ‘positive blogging’ at a food bloggers conference in August. Much of the discussion centered around being honest while maintaining positivity in a niche category that is often maligned: vegan food. The crux of the issue was not wanting to shut down a company’s efforts at creating products for a niche market but also managing expectations so people don’t say, “see, it all sucks.”
My own preference is the same as yours. I won’t post a review if I hate the product so much that I can’t say anything positive about it. Yeah, that might make me a wimp sometimes, but fuck it.
Well…back to work on that porn novel that’s sure to make me rich ;-P
Pingback: SnarkyXmas list: What to get that vegan gardener on your Christmas list. « SnarkyVegan
Great post, simply fascinating. I am relatively new to garden blogging and am so surprised and appalled to hear, even today, companies are still so incapable of handling negative reviews. Though this is not unique to the blogging sphere. Think of complaining to a restaurant/company about poor food/service, 99% of the time the reaction is aggressive. Be it positive or negative, companies should by now realise that reviews provide vital information about their target market and hence improve where necessary.
Particularly shocking is the development of (some) bloggers ‘working for’ companies to combat potential negative blogger reviews. There are no words for this kind of behaviour.
In terms commericalisation of blogging; it is sad that some bloggers are blinded by freebies, or worse still, willing to lay their objectivity on the line in return for a cheque. However, I have no qualms about bloggers seeking a return for their work as good quality content does require research, time and resources. Just as VP pointed out it must be done honestly, above board where the content has to be uncompromised and objective. The majority of blogs provide very good content, sometimes even better than traditional (heavy on advertising) media. Therefore, blogging may have become more commercial because of that, but if the content is good and objective, I really don’t care if there are freebies involved, banners, or flashing adverts etc.
I’ve enjoyed the comments. I’ve been pretty beat up over my outing of PW but it was expected. On a bright note–I’ve received more positive comments than negative ones. Most people believe my story. I’m very glad I came forward. I want my reputation as a gardener to be respected. I think I’ve achieved that. I will continue to review plants but not be loyal to one particular company. The independent garden centers have overwhelmingly given me support as they have been beat up by PW also. They understand. I think this revealing has done more to heal the community of bloggers than tear it apart. Before I came forward–it was just an undercurrent of frustration to watch so many bloggers in the select group keep moving to the top while the rest of us just felt we were left behind. Now we can be a united group that refuses to be intimidated by them and we’ve shown them that we are on to their tactics.
Warmest regards to everyone—Anna
Hi Colleen – I found myself nodding a lot when reading this post. Here in the UK garden blogging is a little behind you in the US and I think companies are only in the last year or so realising the potential garden bloggers offer. I tend to review books rather than products and will try and give a balanced review give negatives and positives. I do think that if I received something that I couldnt be at all positive about I wouldnt review it and I certainly wouldnt pretend to like it. I have allowed guest posts before from companies but I have stopped doing that now as it takes away the individuality of my blog. I have also stopped having adverts on the blog as I dont want to be seen to be promoting companies. One company started to hassle me saying they hadnt had much traffic via the ad and could I write some blog posts to promote them – their ad was removed.
My stance is that my blog is personal to me, I will write what I like and like VP I make that clear to any company offering free stuff. I do beleive that as a community we need to set ourselves standards if we want to be respected – after all as you say we dont want to become a laughing stock like the mummy bloggers, who can be just as bad here in the UK!!
That’s great, Anna. I do want to make one point though: You said “Before I came forward it was just an undercurrent of frustration to wastch so many bloggers in the select group keep moving to the top while the rest of us just felt we were left behind.” I don’t know how everyone else feels about that. I don’t consider the group of bloggers selected for things like this to be “the top.” I guess that would depend on what your idea of “the top” is. What I do know is that I wouldn’t want to be any of them for all the free stuff in the world. I’m happy being just what I am: someone who writes what I want to, makes a steady income, has a couple of books under her belt, and runs her mouth whenever she darn well feels like it
Petra — Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I am in complete agreement that there’s nothing wrong with bloggers seeking a return on their investment of time and effort. The problem definitely comes when they are willing to lay aside objectivity and honesty to do so.
Helen — Thank you for adding your thoughts to the conversation. I think the best blogs are those that are personal. We definitely need to set standards for ourselves — (interesting that the mommy bloggers are seen the same way on both sides of the pond!)
Wonderful post Colleen
I’ve been following this debacle from a distance–as editor and co-owner of a Canadian gardening magazine, I try to be neutral. But this *is* a big issue, and I support and admire your efforts and those of other bloggers and freelancers to encourage everyone to be transparent and straightforward—and fair. Professionalism is key, and at the end of the day (sorry for the cliche), all we have is our own reputations.
Oops….meant to write, “all we have are our own reputations.”
Hello Colleen: Thanks for your courage in writing this post. As in most debates, there’s truth on both sides. I’ve been struggling with similar issues at work and in my garden blog and I posted about it tonight. I included a link to your post because it is so objective and well-written. Thank you.
Colleen.
You’ve raised some excellent points in your article. I knew that bloggers could be given equipment and books etc but never realised that it even extended to the giving free plants. I only thing I’ve ever won was a set of tools in a competition and as yet have not even blogged about it as I wanted to use the tools for a whole year of gardening to see if they really were up to the job first before I wrote a review. I could blog every day about products the company I work for sells including plants but I’m not in blogging for that. My blog is personal to me and is all related to ‘my neighbourhood’ and my own garden and it’s my journal to look back on over the years. If it doesn’t grow in my garden or in the hedgerows locally then it probably won’t get blogged about unless I’m writing about a garden visit elsewhere. Any affiliate link on my website is marked as an affliate, I have a clearly written disclosure policy and I also have a disclaimer on every page and I would like to think that I’m part of the growing group of garden bloggers that blog with integrity.
You are 100% correct. When companies send free stuff to traditional media outlets they have always taken the risk of a bad review.
Why would it be different with bloggers?
My guess or quick thought would be the fact that there are more bloggers than traditional media. If your town had one newspaper that was your shot for promotion. Now companies can pick and choose online.
I do think that positive all the time is a poor way to do business for both companies and bloggers.
Great insight.
Oh my, what a well written article on a topic we all have opinions on!
I recently received a mail from a company asking for my blog stats because they were “considering sending you our product to review on your blog”. The implication (if you read the mail) was that a). I was sitting here waiting for them to send me their freebies and b). that I would write reviews in exchange for product.
I wrote back and said to them my Stats were my business and I am perfectly capable of paying for my own garden products and did not need their freebies. They were however welcome to send me their product to try, but I would only review it if I actually found it of any benefit.
The result? They sent me their product, I did not like it and returned it to them without review. I found the whole thing insulting from start to finish.
I think there probably are some niche markets that are prone to people starting blogs in the hope of getting freebies – perhaps there are even some garden blogs that do it, but to target an individual with the implication that they may be a “blog whore” is just insulting and I’m still seething over the incident.
I’m not at all surprised that the companies in question were not interested in the reasons behind your (collectively–referring to both Colleen and the commentators above) negative reviews. Had you spoken with a product development person, your feedback might have reached someone interested in making their product better. I’m willing to bet that you spoke to a PR person instead.
PR people are, for the most part, only interested in you in terms of what you can do for them. If a PR person can go back to the boss and let him or her know that their product was featured in a good review, they will get anything from a “gold star” to monetary compensation. Many PR people who contact us are not gardeners, and some of them are not even tied to gardening through full-time employment in the industry.
Frankly, PR is often a function that is outsourced to specialty firms, in larger companies, or interns, in smaller companies. The former has no incentive to pass along a negative review that might be perceived as an insult to a client. The latter are often enthusiastic but still learning, and it might not ever occur to them to pass along your review because they simply haven’t thought of it, because the scary product development people might hate them for it, etc. They also don’t have a vested interest in the company, as they are planning to leave at the end of the semester or year… so they have zero incentive to improve the product.
Sad…but true. There ARE good PR people out there, but they seem to be few and far between sometimes. Or, at least, we fly under the radar in comparison to the others.
(Yes, I said that “we” fly under the radar…most of my real-life work is centered around creative writing and design, but there are also PR functions in my career. My previous job, which I left after 12 years, was even heavier on the PR aspect. In both positions, I have been lucky to work for companies that are committed to being up front, respectful, and caring. Wait, I shouldn’t have said lucky–if they were not those things, I wouldn’t have worked for them.)
By the way, I missed most of the firestorm, but I have to say that the issue of blogger freebies has left a bad taste in my mouth in general for a few years now. I have always refused freebies personally (purely because I really wanted to keep any hint of my day job–marketing–entirely out of my hobby garden blog for selfish reasons)… but I definitely don’t mind when other bloggers do reviews on theirs, as long as they are completely transparent. Reviews are often good ways to get an idea of the usefulness of a product without trying it yourself–love that!
However, the transparency thing is key for me. There are at least 2 or 3 bloggers that I pretty much quit visiting entirely when I saw them post glowing reviews of a new yard machine that I had recently declined, without noting that they had gotten the product free from the company. Their posts would have seemed entirely objective to anyone who didn’t know that Company X had emailed multiple bloggers offering them said machine. One blogger in particular gushed repeatedly about the wonderful company and its wonderful products so much that I almost left a comment asking her if she shouldn’t tell her readers how she obtained the machine that she had been basically telling them that they NEEDED. It just turned me off entirely.
I’ve been writing a garden blog since ’06 and fortunately have not run into the problems described in this thread.
Sorry to hear about the bad experiences. This is supposed to be fun.