Why do some brands think that small bloggers are desperate?

I wanted to make this blog post for quite a while, but it is really sensitive topic to write about. Since starting my blog I had offers from many well known brands to make a blog post about their brand, but you really have to ask yourself is it worth it? If you are a small blogger do you really have to accept every collab that brands offer you? I’m not saying that I’m a big blogger, I mean obviously I’m not. But I had a lot of experience in blogging despite the fact that my blog isn’t big, so I decided to share it with you, who maybe don’t know these things.

When I started my blog I didn’t know anything about brands collaborations or PR. It took me 3 months of blogging to get my first ever collaboration blog post which to this day I remember because I learned a lot. That blog post was such a huge deal for me because I thought it was something amazing, I thought I made something in blogging world. Later I realized that all I did is promote their brand on my blog, gave them a little bit of exposure. What I got from them? Let’s just say I wasted about 6 hours making a blog post and writing a lot of emails. They didn’t do anything for me, I’m not saying they had to, but I mean they could at least share my blog post on their social media. Still, I’m glad that I did that “collab” because I saw the other side of blogging, where brands think that you can’t wait to work with them, just because you are a small blogger.

After that “collab” I really started to value my blog and my time more. If you are a small blogger you don’t have to work for popular brands and give them exposure if they are going to just use your blog. Most popular brands like to advertise on small blogs because they don’t pay for content, small bloggers have followers who read their content and trust their recommendations. When brands want to collaborate with big bloggers they have to pay them and send them products for free. I’m not saying that’s bad, but treat all bloggers the same. If we don’t have thousands of followers doesn’t mean we don’t put up good content and work hard on every single blog post.

I had many emails where brands want “collaboration”, but I know what they want now, because I learned from the experience. Since that first “collab” post I didn’t do any other, because you don’t get anything from it. I’m going to sound really harsh, but why would I waste my time making a blog post if the brand doesn’t do anything for me, or actually value that blog post? I do collaborations now when I get something for my work. We are talking about vouchers, payment or free products. I collaborate only with brands that I want my name to be associated with. If I don’t believe in the brand I don’t want to review their products or promote them on my blog.

I had many experiences where brands ask me for review about product, but they write what I have to say about product and include in a blog post. Let me be clear, I will never lie about something if I don’t like the product, I’m going to say it no matter did I get it for free, or bought it myself. Some brands really think that you are desperate to get product for free and that you’ll do anything they ask you. Let’s be clear, you are the one who makes rules, your blog – your rules. Don’t ever let the brand tell you what you have to write, because it’s not worth it!

Now I only work with brands that I respect and value. Don’t get me wrong I like getting PR, it’s amazing, but I don’t want to feel pressured to write about product if I don’t want to. The only PR that I accept is the one where brands don’t expect anything from me in return. What does that mean? I don’t have to write a review, to share products on my social media and I can do whatever I want with products. I think that whole experience of blogging though me a lot and I definitely know the other side of it! I’m not going to include names of brands that offer me “collaboration” because I don’t want to put anyone in spotlight, but let’s just say that there were many well known brands.

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I hope you enjoyed this post. I hope you learned something if you are not experienced with collabs and PR. Let me know what do you think about this blog post? Did you have any similar experiences maybe? Share them in comments, so we can all know about them! Thank you for reading. Have a nice day! xx