It’s really great when people you don’t know can see the value in what you’re doing and today was such a day. I received a nice little email about my Glastonbury post where I mentioned buying walking boots in place of wellies. It said something along the lines of…
“shame you’ve already bought some walking boots as I’d have given you a pair in exchange for a link”
As a died in the wool Yorkshire man, I couldn’t resist a freebie so I quickly emailed Adam from Fitness Footwear and opened expressed my interest.
It seems that Adam is using product bribes as a way of increasing his serps for the term ‘walking boots’ (amongst others), approaching blog owners like me and offering a sly bribe of some free equipment in exchange for some juicy links.
Needless to say, this post is the result (let’s throw in another reference for walking boots just for good measure lol) however it begs the question…
“Why don’t other product suppliers offer goods in exchange for marketing assistance?”
In my previous life, as owner of a small web studio, I’m no stranger to blagging some freebies from the occasional customer. yet in the realm of online marketing with millions of casual bloggers creating masses of content on a daily basis, such an approach could yield massive results. Sure, you have to cherry pick the brightest and best of blog owners, the articles need to be well written and come from authoritive sources, and you’re offer has to be tempting enough for a bite, but this is no different from ‘obtaining links’ for cash.
Where it does have the advantage is that its a more personal relationship and instead of a couple of pounds spent buying some dodgy links from an Indian blog network, you could get bigger and better product placement reviews from a more Google friendly sources.
Adam also mentions that It’s also worth mentioning that bloggers have been so impressed with Fitness Footwear that they’ve bought products from us, essentially making our money back on the freebies that were sent out in the first place.
So if you’re a marketer working for a product based company consider throwing some freebies at worthwhile bloggers… you never know, it could be the trust/authority/juice you need to top the rankings.
I’ll post a picture of my new walking boots when they turn up next week shoe money stylee :)
…and thanks for the bribe Adam.
