Bloggers/businesses asking for samples

[AmyW]

Much to my surprise, I've been getting emails from people wanting me to send samples... like the journalist wanting a sample to review which they post on their blog; or the company that puts together sample boxes that people buy... they allow mo less than 25, and suggest 40-100 (or more) so that they go to the largest audience.

Do any of you do this? The thought of sending 100+ bars out with no guaranteed results tells me it's a terrible idea, but what do I know? Maybe people actually would use my soap and go to my site to buy more...

 

[Lindy]

I decline such requests.....

 

[maya]

well, i would ask these questions:
who is the blogger
what are their site hits and how many subscribers do they have
what is their advertising revenue
how long have they been blogging and have they won any awards, mommy blogger awards, nomo awards, anything like that.

among other questions.

as for the send it out buy a box thing, i only have heard of a few of them actually being bought, birch box and one other.

as for me i don't do these things, it doesn't seem like a very good return.

 

[AmyW]

Thank you both, I'll just thank them for their interest and suggest they sign up on Facebook or for the newsletter to learn when I go live, then they can purchase them. Maybe the box thing will let me send business cards with a coupon on the back.

 

[agriffin]

I think it can be worth it if it's the right blog. But generally most are just out to get whatever they can for free.

The questions Maya asked are good questions.

Also, who are the readers? Are they likely to be your target customer?

 

[Genny]

I follow a couple "sampler box" places on Facebook and have been for a while now. That way I could get a feel on how well the boxes sold and if the customers were actually making purchases from the vendors in the box.

So far it seems like only one of the places sells out of their boxes and usually they sell out really quickly. I also see their customers talking about the samples, like which ones were their favorites and stuff. From every box I see some of the customers talk about what they just bought from the customer, too.

With the other places it seems like at the end of the month there's a lot of posts from the owner about how many they still have left and/or giveaways with the leftover ones.