Sep 26 2007
Using Your Website to Get Free Stuff
If you’ve got a decent website then there are lots of companies in your industry that want to give you free stuff. The travel industry does at least, I know from experience. So far I’ve managed to scam a two week unlimited Busabout pass, a canoe trip, a discount on a backpacker tour of Scotland, free books, a discount on travel insurance and heaps of random mugs, stickers and stationary that I’ll never use. Some of this has come my way without even having to ask and others have taken no more than a simple enquiry.
If you offer to do a write up on your site about a product or service, your chances of getting something are probably better. Publishing companies seem to give out new books for review pretty willingly so if a new title is out that you think your site or blog readers would like, hit them up for a copy. If you see an affiliate program that you’d like to use, contact them and ask for a sample of the product. Companies have it in their marketing budget to give freebies to people in their industry and if you don’t ask, you won’t get.
The trick to all of this is getting in touch with the person who pulls the strings and being able to sell yourself as an expert. If you can do this then you’ll almost always be guaranteed at least a wee package of crappy stickers or a mug or something. If your site is a good match with their product then you should be able to wrangle more than that.
I’ve only tried this a handful of times but in the few times I’ve tried this I’ve never been turned away without at least some sort of discount. I’m pretty confident that there are discounts and freebies out there ripe for the taking if you go for it. The most important thing is having a quality website that targets the same market.
Professional writers get free things all the time. Don’t devalue yourself or your website. Think of this as a legitimate business and consider yourself to be a writer in whichever industry you’re in. Just because you’re self employed doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the same perks as someone who works for a major magazine.
This is another example of why choosing a topic you’re passionate about is so important. I’m a lot more inclined to get excited about a few free nights at a hostel than I am about a 10% discount on car insurance!
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I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go. 
I wholeheartedly agree, Kirsty, and have been trying to fit a post about this very topic into my blog for a while. Though my blog didn’t kick into high gear until this year, I’ve already received a number of freebies from a variety of people - all of them unsolicited. People just send me e-mails saying, “Hey, you want a free [fill in fun bit of schwag here]?”
As a natural follow-up to your post, I’d recommend every blogger have a “Contact” page right in their site’s main navigation. I get e-mails just about every day from folks completely out of the blue. It only takes a few minutes to set up and it’s well worth the return on investment.
I also agree with you and can’t emphasize enough that what you say is true, “if you don’t ask, you won’t get.”
Having been a marketing guy on both sides of the product fence in my previous life, I fully understand the fine line finesse of finagling free stuff from manufacturers. But anyone can do it! Companies are always looking for press opportunities. But they also understand that you get what you pay for.
We were contacted through our canine cancer three-legged dog blog by the makers of a new pet support harness, who suggested we should consider their new product. We politely told them that we would be glad to write a product review for our blog if they sent us one. And they did!
When I discovered this custom fit product was made to order, I decided to go the extra mile and created a detailed product review video for their Pet Support Suit.
They were thrilled with the results! We got a free dog harness out of the deal. They got a free marketing video. And we both continue to receive traffic from each other’s websites.
Thanks for sharing this information. Keep up the great work!
That’s cool Mike, I don’t tend to get things out of the blue except books. Most of my freebies have needed a gentle nudge from me.
Hey Jim! Sorry, your post was living in my spam box for a while there. But it’s been rescued. That’s cool about the dog harness… I mean, who can’t use one of those?
But that’s a great example of a company probably having it in their marketing budget to give out samples and you were on the receiving end because you suggested it.
[…] Using Your Website to Get Free Stuff is a great article to continue the marketing theme for the day. Kristy writes about using your blog to get promo items from companies (since it’s already in the budget.) This article is great. […]