Tea Bloggers - How do you Receive Products for Reviews?
Hi all,
I’m fairly new to Steepster so I apologize in advance if this is not the correct thread to be posting in.
Recently I decided to create a tea blog and was curious for those of you who are pro tea bloggers, how do you receive products to review? Do you email reach x amount of companies and hope that a percentage will get back to you? Have you ever received products from big name tea brands, such as Teavana, Davids Tea, etc, or do they just shut the door in your face when it comes to sending out samples? Do you strictly stick to small businesses for reviews only?
Currently I only have a few posts on my blog (working on writing more) that are more factual, informational posts about various different tea infusers. I would love to be able to actually receive demos or samples so I could write actual ‘reviews’. I’d love to be able to reach out to both small and large businesses for tea and tea products, but not sure the best way to go about it. I’m curious to see how others are currently doing this.
They come to me. It is very rare I ask for samples. Actually, I can count the times I’ve requested samples on one hand in the almost 3 years I’ve been blogging.
edit: not counting the times tea companies say “Hey, we are looking for reviewers”. Keep your eye out for those. I find around now they start popping up for xmas, then around Feb/march as they are unloading last year’s tea on us or something.
Stick to blogging for 6 months to show you are in for the haul (most bloggers disappear at around 6 month mark) and have the content. Big companies tend to ask about your stats, some may ask your unique views/traffic/number of followers to see if it’s worth sending you things, so you’ll want to have a following already. Self hosting looks better too to show you are invested in your work and you don’t have to worry about TOS rules of free platforms.
Besides tea blogging I sell stuff on Etsy. The amount of times people ask me for free stuff for their blog is crazy and most often you can tell people are just fishing for free stuff or scams. Many of us don’t even look or consider those offers unless you got a relationship established with the seller or we know of the blog.
TBH, many tea bloggers I know buy their products. If you are running out of stuff to write about, go hit up some swaps or purchase cheap samples.
This seems to be the general consensus I’m getting is that most tea bloggers purchase their own products, at least more so in the beginning. You mentioned that it’s rare that you ask for samples – how did you manage to write reviews when you first started blogging? Did you already have a large collection to begin with?
Out of curiosity what do you sell on Etsy (if you don’t mind me asking)? I thought about the idea of approaching tea stores on Etsy for samples for reviews, but based on what you mentioned this may come off the wrong way, unless there is already an existing relationship.
Actually, I was doing lots of reviews here on steepster and companies were already approaching me. Some had told me “we will send 2 samples, if you are a blog we will send you 4”. It seemed like a better idea to move it to my own turf where I call the shots.
I think when I started blogging I had around 200 teas. Now I’m close to 600.
I sell crochet patterns on etsy and I’m about to start selling yarn. It’s kind of a big problem on etsy, us sellers talk about it on our own communities and have been told to report all conversations as spam. There’s a lot of blogs out there and a lot of scams. A lot of us don’t have much cash to play with for marketing and it’s a risk especially to a new/unknown bloggers.
Actually, I just looked it up and it’s against Etsy rules to ask for freebies, so I wouldn’t do it.
As a tea supplier, I always looking for reviewers.
Beatrice, I think you can mention that you are willing to receive products for reviewing in your profile’s bio section. So, it is easy for tea merchants to identify you and follow your blog.
BTW, Beatrice & Oolong Owl, both of your blogs are awesome!
Welcome to the wonderful world of tea blogging. It’s so much fun! I buy my tea, receive it from companies for review when they contact me and also send out contact emails here and there if I see a company that catches my eye. It just depends on the company etc. If you want, PM me and we can chat more about how I reach out to companies etc.
I’ve been blogging on SororiTea Sisters (since March) and my own blog CuppaGeek (about 6 mos) and I’m seeing more tea companies reach out to me.
Also- Marzipan and I co-moderate a reddit for tea blogs. Feel free to post your reviews there :) We’d love to have you!
Tea blogging is definitely a lot of fun! It’s been a huge learning curve so far for me, but I feel every day I get a little bit better and learn something new.
I’m curious as to how you reach out to companies, so I’ll definitely PM you for a bit more insight.
I noticed the /r/blogsabouttea on reddit a few weeks ago and have always been tempted to post on there but haven’t yet. Maybe I’m a bit intimated by all the great reviews that are already on there, but I’d love to be able to contribute as well.
I think the key is to have original content and photos. Once you have that companies will notice and ask you to feature their teas. Initially I blogged things I had or bought, and I will still buy things if I think they will be interesting to write about. None of your photos look original and I didn’t see credit to the source anywhere. Just something to watch out for. Also if something is provided free or at a discount for review, there are FTC guidelines you should follow about disclosing that.
Sadly I don’t physically have the products myself in order to take original photos, but I made sure to use images that were readily available all over the internet and google. This is something high on my to do list which is to actually be able to use my own original photos. I’ll definitely keep the FTC guidelines in mind for any free/discounted products for review (although I’m not located in the US, so I’d have look into the rules, but better to be safe than sorry). Thanks!
Even though you aren’t located in the US it will make you more credible as a reviewer to disclose that you’ve received an item for free or at a discount. I tend to provide this information as part of my intro paragraph of my review, then post a full disclosure at the bottom of my post, so there is no chance my readers will miss it.
So all of the items you have written about, you haven’t actually used them?
Beatrice, I’m also wondering if you’re actually using the items you write about? I assumed you were a reviewer, but if you’re not actually reviewing products from your own experience, I’m wondering what your intent is – a collection of information from other sources? If so, you really should credit those sources (for text and/or images).
I’m still starting up as a tea blogger myself (http://www.booksandtea.ca!), and at this point I either buy samples to try, purchase subscriptions, or ask for samples. I’m nowhere near as established as Oolong Owl, so I’m okay with that. I normally state right at the beginning of the review whether I purchased something or not.
I have had one or two companies straight-up offer free samples to me, but since I only started the tea blog in June, I’m hoping that number will grow over time.
EDIT: When the opportunity arises, I will take part in contests and giveaways as well.
Few are as established as Owl (hoot!) I have an “If I build it, they will come” philosophy though. And I started blogging for myself and was happy if other people enjoyed it too. It’s sort of empty nest therapy.
This is great to hear as a relatively new tea blogger, you were approached by a few companies already, it gives me hope!
Great tip about contests and giveaways, I’ll keep that in mind.
I should note something important about my blog: I write reviews about books as well as tea, so tea is only half my focus. I usually write only one review of each a week.
Because I also do book reviews, I try not to review too many teas at once, because I want to pace myself. I figure that 1 review a week is enough to show dedication and structure without inundating my house with tea. Plus, I get a lot of the books I review from the library, so that reduces the costs of acquiring materials to review.
Since you review books as well you might consider NetGalley as an avenue to acquire books for review. It’s been a valuable resource for me, although your options will be more limited if you aren’t based in the US.
I used to blog book reviews a few years ago and my profile on NetGalley never got any response from publishers. I’ve had more success approaching individual authors/publishers myself. I’m also happy to purchase books from LGBT/PoC/Non-English authors directly – I want to support their efforts with my dollars.
When I first started blogging I reviewed the teas I already had on hand or ordered sample sizes from my favorite companies. It gave me time to gather a loyal following, find my writing voice, and fine-tune how I wanted to structure my posts. There is a lot of trial and error in the beginning, but by the six-month mark you’ll have things figured out and companies will notice. Focus on producing quality content and the offers will come, in a slow trickle at first, but by your first year you’ll have more tea than know you what to do with. I’ve recently begun declining offers because I know I won’t get to them in a timely manner.
Like Oolong Owl, it’s rare I reach out to a company to request samples. Before you consider it you’ll want to show you have something to offer. You’ll also receive a warmer response if you don’t ask outright in your initial email for a free sample to review. Contact the company, explain to them who you are and why they should work with you, then leave it up to them to decide if they want to email you back. If I haven’t heard from a company in 10 days I sent a follow-up email, if they still haven’t replied I usually move on to a different company.
Having a media kit to send companies is helpful (you can see mine here: http://www.notstarvingyet.com/media-packet although it’s out-of-date.) It shows them you’re serious about what you do and gives companies all the information they need to make a decision about working together. If you treat this aspect of your blog more like a business you’ll have better luck when asking for review samples.
I really resonate with the part you mentioned on finding your writing voice and structure of posts. This is something I’m currently struggling with now. There has definitely been a lot of trial and error involved, that’s for sure. I wish I had that problem where I had more tea than I knew what to do with though :)
I think the approach you mentioned is great where you contact a company follow up in 10 days, and move on if you haven’t heard anything. Once my blog is a little more established I’ll try testing this.
It sounds like you really have a process down in terms of having a media kit on your blog. Do you find a lot companies want to know what your stats are in terms of viewers/followers/comments etc?
A lot of blogging is trial-and-error, even when you’ve been at it for a long time. What has really helped me stay focused is to write a one year plan and five year plan for the blog (you can even do a list of monthly goals to start, I prefer to things on a grander scale ::grins::) These are lists of things I hope to accomplish such as securing advertisers, sponsors, improving photography on certain posts, or updating posts that no longer fit my writing style. As I have spare time I try to work towards these goals so I can grow my blog.
Since you’re just starting out you may want to focus on your About Me page. When a company comes to your website it’s one of the first things they’ll look at to get an idea of who you are and what you do as a blogger. You may want to consider adding section that lets companies know you’re open to working with them and how they can contact you. Not all bloggers are open to accepting samples for review purposes, so making this information visible can be helpful. Just be wary of using the keyword PR friendly as your readers may find it off-putting.
As for companies requesting stats about my blog, I find it really depends on the company—some ask, some don’t and I haven’t noticed a particular pattern about who requests the information. I haven’t had my media kit very long, so it’s been one of those trial-and-error things I’ve talked about—I’m still trying to figure out the best way to use it.
When I first started reviewing, I was drinking exclusively bagged tea. I had a website because blogs didn’t really exist yet. I bought my tea at the grocery store and used the company product pictures. Along the way I found some loose leaf locally like Twinings, and Ahmad. Then I discovered Steepster and slowly started the switch to mostly loose leaf. Moved much of my old content into blog form. Bought a cheap point and shoot camera with macro mode and started taking my own pictures. Along the way I replied when companies offered samples for review. With time, I started being approached directly. It takes time, hard work, and personal involvement.
My advice, since your main focus is on infusers, write reviews about the ones you already own. If you know people who have interesting infusers, borrow them and write about it. Keep an eye out locally for new and unique items to write about. I don’t see how you could write a review about a product you have never used.
I do not recall, except once, ever contacting a company out of the blue for samples. If you are in this for the free stuff then walk away. You are in it for the wrong reason. Be in it for the love of infusers, because you will find it is a lot of hard work. That is probably why most blogs last maybe 6 months.
Well said! Most blogs that are successful are the ones that are in it for the love of tea, not so much for the free stuff. Blogging has literally become like a second full time job. It takes time but it has been incredibly rewarding with experience and the people I’ve met along the way.
Totally! When I first started I thought blogging wouldn’t take much more time than steepster reviews. Totally wrong – it takes more time to write posts, take photos, and edit. Then it’s handling technical stuff like updating, formatting, plugins, SEO, stats, affiliates, and spam. After all that, the bulk of the time is dealing with comments, emails, and social media.
The expense has been more too – camera stuff, host costs, domain costs, business cards, swag for expos/festivals. I went in as a tea drinker drinking out of pretty basic stuff to now needing a bigger range of tea ware for better photos. I used to always drink out of stained dirty tea ware and now I have to clean everything all the time for photos!
I find that one thing that surprises me is the mental calculus involved in scheduling my posts and figuring out which ones I have to review. I’ll often drink the tea in question 2-3 weeks before I write a post, or I’ll write it as I go and have the post scheduled in advance.
However, because I want my tea posts to sync up with my Steepster posts, I’ll often write a tasting note on Steepster weeks after I actually had the tasting session so that it goes live when my review does. (So sometimes it’s hard to remember which teas I’ve sipped down when.)
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