How I feel today

You wouldn’t expect a magazine to print your ad for free, so why me?

I recently burned my bridges with a brand over a potential ‘collaboration’. The experience has left me feeling a bit icky inside, and I wanted to talk about it a little bit. This is, after all, my blog and it’s what it’s here for.

Last year I took the decision to make my blog my job.

That’s why you’ll see sponsored content on here, and why I have adverts, annoying as you might find them.

I love writing, and for a long time I did this for nothing and that was fine. However things change, bills have to be paid and the fact of the matter is that unless I make this blog pay for itself, it will have to go to make way for a 9-5 job.

I’ll be honest, I really don’t want that to happen. I love blogging, so I want it to work out.

Contrary to what a lot of non-bloggers might think, it’s not a whirlwind of freebies and money for nothing, and it’s definitely not easy. Blogging involves a hell of a lot of time behind a computer screen, late at night and early in the morning. Like any other kind of self-employment it can wildly fluctuate month to month. Some weeks I hardly stop, others I send myself emails because I swear my inbox is broken.

In this brilliant stock photography, someone is poising with a pen over a printed invoice. Why? Who knows.
In this brilliant stock photography, someone is poised with a pen over a printed invoice. Why? Who knows.

You need to be on top of everything. You need to be a writer, a photographer, a social media guru, an expert at pitching and negotiation, and then there is all the boring admin. I’ve spent longer chasing some invoices than the payment was worth.

But anyway, back to the topic at hand.

I was recently approached by a large brand offering me the chance to take part in a big campaign.

They are the really exciting emails to receive, when it’s a brand you’re familiar with and use yourself. Their email offered me a really great prize to give away in exchange for hosting a competition. In their initial email, the word ‘receive’ made me a bit confused and I incorrectly assumed that they would be sending me an item in lieu of payment.

Rightly or wrongly, that’s quite common in the blogging world. Obviously cash is king, but as I see it, if you can get something for free that you would have to pay out for otherwise then although it’s not as good as money, it has to be weighed up on merit. Will it bring a lot of traffic to your site? How will it fare on google? How easy will the post be to write? How much do you want/need the item? Do you have an ongoing relationship with the PR person?

Sometimes, you get the balance really wrong and say yes to a ‘hamper’ that ends up being worth two quid and I’ll tell you now, those posts are always the hardest to write. On the other hand, I find writing toy reviews a breeze, the kids love doing it, and it brings traffic to the site. It’s a win/win and so I’ll often say yes to those without payment.

Some classic blogging stock photography because I didn't have a picture of me weeping into my tea
Some classic blogging stock photography because I didn’t have a picture of me screaming into my tea

Anyway, it was quickly made clear that no, there would be no item and there was no budget.

Just an expensive prize for some lucky comper to win, but nothing for me.

Sure, there would be some page views in it. Empty, meaningless page views that would come from compers scrolling quickly to the end of the post in order to win the item. They wouldn’t be like the readers I get from Pinterest or Facebook, they wouldn’t be reading the post that I had spent time writing, they wouldn’t care how long it had taken me or what I could have been doing instead. It might earn me a fiver in advertising fees depending on how fast their scrolling fingers were and how many had ad blockers on.

But there was definitely no budget.

And further to that, they wanted a post created to complement their current PR activity, giving details of their product, embedding their advert and using their hashtags, sent to them three days in advance for draft approval and then shared over social media to the followers that I have worked hard over 2.5 years to build. It was at this point I started to think about how much those page views would really benefit me.

All this for nothing. No budget.

But this is a multi-million pound company.

I can promise you no blogger's desk is actually this tidy
I can promise you no blogger’s desk is actually this tidy

They do have a huge budget for marketing.

They have hired a PR company. They’ve created a TV advert.

They have a huge budget but they have chosen not to pay bloggers because they think that they can get away with it.

And the worst bit is that they probably can. I very nearly let them take advantage of me.

It’s wrong. It isn’t fair, and I just couldn’t get over that feeling. So, despite the potential page views, I said no.

And instead of spending time writing their post, for free, I’ve written this one instead (also for free, but for me).

Because it shouldn’t be the way. We – all bloggers, whether we have 30 followers or 30,000 – should not be expected to work for free by huge household name brands, when this is the way that we pay our mortgages and feed our children. When it’s hard work.

I’m not saying I expect and demand hundreds of pounds for next to nothing, but I do expect to be compensated fairly for the work that I do.

You wouldn’t expect a magazine to print your article for free. You wouldn’t expect a TV channel to air your advert for free. You shouldn’t expect it of us, either.

Pin it!

You wouldn't expect a magazine to print your article for free. You wouldn't expect a TV channel to air your advert for free. You shouldn't expect it of bloggers, either. Why #bloggers should be paid fairly for their time and it p*sses me off when big brands try and take advantage #blogging #blogger #blog #rants #earnfromyourblog #blogforwork #blogyourjob #jobblog #wahm #rants #bloggers

20 thoughts on “You wouldn’t expect a magazine to print your ad for free, so why me?”

  1. Laura: Adventures with J

    I am outraged on your behalf and for all bloggers everywhere! How is this not illegal?! What happened to the minimum wage?! The company should be ashamed of themselves! Please share it with them. I think I would have been tempted to name and shame…

    1. Oh I won’t go that far, because I actually don’t want everyone to think I’m ‘difficult’, which is awful because wanting things to be fair shouldn’t mean you’re labelled as difficult but it will. However were they to stumble across it I hope they realise how much they are taking the utter piss.

  2. Some of the big brands are the worst in my experience. I’ve run lots of giveaways for free to benefit from the traffic but I’m now starting to charge a fee for it. What also rankles is the amount of stats you’re expected to give for all your social media and that’s on top of the ‘tracking link’ they often insist on. I really hope the brand in question reads this because it is wholly unethical.

    1. Even if they don’t, I will be directing future enquiries without budget to this post. It’s just one too many times now and it is, as you say, wholly unethical.

  3. I’m appalled for you. Its so hard to actually get recognised as anything other than someone playing with a computer getting shit for free

  4. This is such a well-written timely post. I love it! Thank you for sharing your candid experience with other bloggers. Lately, I’ve been experiencing more of companies wanting “something” for free. It’s so important for us to know our “worth” and value our time and say NO when an opportunity doesn’t resonate with us. These are all things that I’m definitely learning as I continue blogging. Thanks again for this fantastic post. I look forward to reading more from you.

  5. This is such a well written post. There is no “free”. It’s an exchange but it can feel a bit like a sweat shop for bloggers. It really shouldn’t.

  6. Rachel Bustin

    These emails are getting to frequent. Expecting the world for nothing!

    I have a draft email set up explaining why I don’t work for free and unfortunately it gets sent out far to often.

    Excellent post!

  7. Jenny @thebrickcastle

    It is hellish. I’m still chasing a payment from October from a brand I worked with a lot. In the new year they reduced their fees to 1/4 of what they used to pay me, and I did a post for them at reduced rate, but the time involved means I earnt less than minimum wage for that alone, never mind all the admin and other work involved in keeping my social media and page views going. It simply doesnt work. It doesnt pay the bills. They aren’t even keen to pay me the missed payment because, well, they just aren’t paying that much now.
    It does make you think it’d be a lot easier to go and work at ALDI, and I’d never have to be online at 10pm or work a 7 day week, and like a lot of PR’s, I’d be paid just for turning up, and I’d always be earning minimum wage for my time at work.

  8. Random Musings

    Yes to all of this – the PRs don’t work for free so why the hell do they expect us to do it?

    The thing that bothers me the most about all of this is that you just know there are bloggers out there who are doing it. It makes me want to scream – partly because it devalues us all but mostly because it upsets me that people don’t know their worth and the value of their audience. I remember in a bloggers’ Facebook group a brand posted asking for a sponsored post. The fee? A single bar of chocolate (not even a big bar). And bloggers where clambering over each other to do it.

    Anyway, good on you for telling them what to do with their “offer”. Perhaps you should have sent them this for pre-approval haha 😉

    Debbie

  9. I’m with you. My blog isn’t my job, but it costs me time and money to run it, as well as having it for 6.5 years and building up credibility and audience. The request for freebies is why I very rarely do sponsored stuff, and only reviews I really want to do.

    I love the magazine/tv ad point. That’s exactly it isn’t it. Plus sponsored posts or reviews actually get people to read them because they’ve usually searched for that item to find out about it. Magazine ads get flicked past like wallpaper, and tv ads are usually fast forwarded nowadays.

  10. Clare - My Tunbridge Wells

    Love this post Fran!!! I get sooooooooo annoyed about things like this. For me it’s particularly annoying when I see local (and very profitable) businesses advertising in the local print media but trying to get content out of me for free. Grrr…..hope you sent them the link to this post 😉 xx

    1. Especially when the print media will be in a recycling bin next week but your post will be searchable forever!

  11. As Linda says above – some of the biggest Brands are the worst. And whilst you haven’t named them in this post, your experience of their Brand is tainted. And when you meet up with bloggers and someone mentions them, everyone will pull a face… And slowly the big budget for Brand growth will dwindle away because they have “visibility” but what they’ve also got is word of mouth and a bunch of bloggers giving them side-eye and a wide berth.

  12. Really interesting post and you have made lots of very valid points. Big brands are very good at trying to get people do something for nothing. I won’t do anything anymore unless it’s paid at a reasonable rate, or the product is of a good value. I simply refuse point blank to work for nothing they don’t work for free so why should I.
    Sadly bloggers can be their own worst enemy working for peanuts or nothing, pr’s and Brands think all bloggers will do it. Great post well done for holding out and refusing. In my experience I have said no before and then a month later they come back to you.

  13. Some advertisers are even funny. They will say it to your face that they have spent so much on this and that, hence, left with nothing to pay for promotion on blogs. Ain’t that crazy?

  14. I’m surprised they didn’t come up with the classic “ no payment but just think of all the exposure it will bring you”. This is penny pinching at its worst just taking advantage of social media publishers.

  15. That’s awful! They had a few fairly big names in the adverts last year, I bet they didn’t offer them next to nothing!
    In the light of Covid amongst other things, I’m really evaluating who I spend my money with, companies that treated its employees badly etc and really focussing spending more on local small businesses, looks like Matalan will be off the cards!

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