This post is seriously off the rails for this blog, but I have had some questions over the years on how I, as a beauty blogger, get access to PR samples. I’m not going to be divulging contacts, but give you more of a background on how to acquire them yourself.
So let’s start off with the basics.
PR Samples: These are items sent to you by a brand in the hopes that you will promote their product with a review or use it in some way (like a tutorial). While I don’t believe there is legislation yet in Canada on stating whether or not a product was sent to you (I think that requirement does exist in the US though), for transparency reasons, it is often recommended that you state somewhere in your post that you did receive the items for free.
- Note: PR samples are NOT sponsored content. Sponsored content is when a brand will pay you to promote a product with actual cash. (And/or sending you away on vacation I guess.)
So why do bloggers want PR samples? Well, because it’s really just not financially possible for us to buy every single new product on the market. And let’s get real – the beauty product turnover rate is INSANE. PR samples help keep a blogger’s content fresh and exciting for readers.
For some people, this post is going to be a lot of useless information (or maybe slightly insightful!), but for the most part, if you’re reading this, I think it’s because you’re a blogger or YouTuber and you want to know how to get access to brands. I’m also going to assume that you’ve been doing this for a little while. Let’s say somewhere in the ballpark of 6 to 12 months. That kind of timeframe is important because you need to prove to a brand that you’ve reached some kind of level of stability with your blog/YouTube. And that stability generally comes from putting out consistent content several days a week, for months on end. (For reference, when I started my blog, I was doing about 3 posts a week, but that eventually turned into near daily posting.)
The one year mark is helpful because it shows you’ve got some experience with blogging and you’re in it for the long haul (no one likes a flaky blogger – not readers and definitely not PR). However, you also need to consider follower numbers. This applies to not only how many people come to your blog per month (also referred to as Users on Google Analytics, or sometimes UMV which means “unique monthly views”), but also how many people follow you on social media (Twitter, Instagram, etc.). While not every brand cares about follower numbers, you need to be aware that at the end of the day, these brands are potentially sending you product and you have got to be worth their while. Well lit photos, good interaction with your readers, high follower numbers and a relatively high UMV all contribute to your worth as a blogger and make you more appealing to a brand. Some brands have requirements and if you don’t have those stats, they don’t consider you worth their while. And while that may sting if you don’t qualify, you need to accept that they have a requirement and you need to hit that level in order to be considered of value. (I’m Canadian, so I can only speak to the Canadian PR relationships I have, but 5000 UMV does seem to be the benchmark that most brands are looking for.)
Alright, so now that I’ve covered the background on why stats are important, let’s get into how the heck you find these contacts in the first place. More often than not, YOU need to do the digging to find these people. There’s a heck of a lot of beauty bloggers out there in the world and brands really cannot be bothered with hunting down one blogger in a sea of thousands of them. Being Canadian, I actually have a lot more access to PR than I would if I were American, just because our market in Canada is so much smaller – so keep that in mind too if you’re looking at all of the products I receive and wondering how on earth I managed to snag some of those relationships. Some brands will pay attention to me here with my lower numbers simply because I’m Canadian whereas my value as a blogger/YouTuber would be near worthless in the US.
I can hear you saying “alright, shut up, just tell me already”. So here it is: you need to become intimately involved with Google. You know what you do when you think your significant other is cheating on you and you got to TOWN on the internet trying to dig up pictures, contacts, time stamps, etc. etc.? You need to do all of that, but apply it to the PR world.
Some brands have in-house PR which means they produce and promote their own content (so they’ll have an e-mail address like @brandname.com, etc.). But some brands outsource to a PR firm. This is generally the easiest way to find a brand’s contact as a PR firm will usually list who their clients are on their own web site (and you can usually find some kind of contact e-mail address). Other methods involve looking through LinkedIn and finding out what person works for what brand (if they work for a brand and their title is something associated with social media/influencing, you can probably bet that they deal with bloggers). E-mail addresses aren’t readily accessible there, but once you have a name, it is possible to search for that person online and sometimes their e-mail address will be posted publicly.
And yes, a lot of it is horrendous hours of diligently digging through the internet, using search terms (like “press release” or “[brand name] PR”) and trying to find a glimmer of an e-mail address of a person that is attached to a brand. It’s slow, tedious work, but it’s worth it once you’re able to make contact with a brand.
Once you get that e-mail address though, that’s really only half the battle because then you need to introduce yourself and prove your worth to that brand. If you’ve already done posts on their brand (which I would highly recommend you to have done if you’re going to be approaching someone), you can send those reviews along to help beef up your e-mail. They’re cold call e-mails, so you need to be able to introduce yourself quickly and then ask to get placed on a media list. And yes, the first few times you do it, it is TERRIFYING. But you eventually get used to it and it will be come second nature.
Other things to keep in mind:
- More often than not, you have to reach out to them. Do not wait around hoping that a brand will notice you – be proactive and approach them!
- Brands don’t owe you anything, so try not to get too offended if they don’t want to work with you.
- Perseverance is key. If you don’t get a response, keep following up.
- Be polite and to the point. Don’t write a brand an epic story when you send them an e-mail. You are far more likely to get a response to a short, concise e-mail than a long-winded one.
- Don’t ask strangers for PR contacts. There is nothing grosser than someone I don’t know messaging me on IG or Twitter asking for a particular contact. Keep in mind that if a person readily hands out a PR contact, they can run the risk of ruining their relationship with the brand and that is not a risk many people will take on a stranger.
I hope this was helpful to some of you who are bloggers looking to make connections with brands, and maybe at least interesting to those of you who were just curious about the whole process. I’ll happily answer any further questions if you have them!
Great post hun! I’ve done a lot of digging myself for contact names. It’s also important to note that the same contact you’ve had may not always be there so it’s good to stay in touch after you’ve made contact just so your info stays with the right person. It’s a LOT of work to keep up with staying in touch with all of the brands and PR companies but it is worth it in the end 🙂
Ah yes, the constant maintenance of who works where and staying in touch with them. So scary when someone leaves a brand and you have to worry about it severing your connection!
Very excellent information Chelle – thank you so much for sharing!
You’re welcome!
Thanks for this post! I definitely need to get my stats up before reaching out to any companies myself but it’s useful information to have when the time comes.
Yeah stats can be the first hurdle to get over, but I think it’s good to set a precedent, you know? Gives people something to aim for.
This was actually such a helpful post!! x
So glad it was helpful to you Ariadna!
This is neat! I’ve been wondering for a while how all of the PR stuff works! Thanks for sharing! It was an interesting read! (:
I’m glad you enjoyed the post Katie!
Excellent post! I’m a blogger in Canada too but I don’t know anyone here and this post help me to have some ideas on how to get to know more.
Thanks!
Yay! I’m so glad you found this post helpful! Good luck!
This was a very insightful post to read but I also notice you have a YouTube channel. I feel like brands prefer it far more to send PR to channels instead of blogs. I don’t double as a YouTuber so I’m wondering what are the chances brands would send anything to a blogger without a channel?
Hi Ivvie! I didn’t have a YouTube channel until about two years into blogging, and I was still receiving product from brand back then. I think a YouTube channel certainly helps as it makes someone more enticing to the brand as a whole, but no, it’s not necessary to have and I know plenty of bloggers who have no YouTube that pull in a ton of product. Hope that helps!
I would love to get the products. My mom is trying to save money for food bcs she works all the time for us an dshe doesnt want to spend money on anything extra. I Luv ur porduct soooo.
Good luck Maya!
I AM A SELF TAUGHT MAKEUP ARTIST AND I WANT TO GET PR BOXES FROM MAKEUP COMPANIES! I WANT TO KNOW HOW I CAN GET PR BOXES AND WHICH COMPANIES TO TALK TOO! I DON’T HAVE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL OR A BLOG, BUT MANY PEOPLE COME TO ME TO GET THEIR MAKEUP DONE!
I would’ve thought that my post would’ve already convinced you that you would not get free samples without some way to show your merit.
Before you even APPROACH a PR company you need to have a portfolio, a blog, a YouTube channel, or a highly followed Instagram account. Being a self-taught artist isn’t enough I’m afraid.
I am currently a blogger and I am on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t have a huge following. Would PR Company still be willing to send PR packages or free samples? Also do you have any suggestions on increasing my followings?
It depends a bit on how you brand yourself. I went over to your page (briefly) and I saw more stuff geared towards being an MUA, and less an influencer. You may need to review things a bit more in order to get some pull with PR companies. How long have you had your blog for? I wouldn’t even try reaching out to brands until you’re about a year old. And PR companies are sometimes willing to send to influencers if they feel like their content is quite unique, but it’s also less impactful for them if you don’t have much of a following. Best way to get noticed/increase followers is as such:
– Leave genuine comments on other peoples’ blogs. Not ones that say “this is neat – please visit my site”, but ones that respond to the content that the person is posting. This will help you build a community of people who will end up clicking on your name and reading your own content.
– Post regularly. Twice a week at bare minimum, three or more is ideal.
– Get into conversations with bloggers you follow on Twitter or IG – it’ll help boost your page if you’re interacting since people will tend to follow back.
I hope that helps!
This was great info! What exactly should you say without sounding spammy? I never get responses back and I’m never sure if I should try to reach out to another email contact
My e-mails are all pretty much the same when I first approach a brand, and they go like this:
Good morning/evening [name} –
I hope this e-mail finds you well. Please allow me to introduce myself – my name is [x] and I run the blog/YouTube channel [link]. My Media Kit can be found here [link].
I am contacting you because I believe you are the PR rep for [brand] and I would love to connect with you. I have been interested in [brand] for quite some time and have posted about them before [insert links to blog/video reviews]. I was wondering if you had any space on your media list as I’d love to hear about new launches.
Looking forward to hearing from you!”
Your best bet is to keep it very short and concise. Do not overburden them with information – they are extremely busy people and they don’t have time to read long e-mails where we profess our undying love for a brand/product.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for this! I am a fellow Canadian beauty blogger/reviewer as well and I’ve hit the 7 month mark and think it is time to reach out if only to see what I can get. I’ll be following all of your socials fellow Canadian!
xo,
Elyssa
It’s definitely worth a shot Elyssa! Good luck to you!
Hello Chelle, thank you for this article, it is very helpful. I wanted to get an approx on how many instagram followers is a good benchmark for companies to notice and accept PR requests? Thanks, I will really appreciate your input!
Hi Marriam! I’m afraid I don’t have good information on Instagram, and it’s a lot more difficult there since a lot of people buy followers. If you’re using that as your main platform and have no blog or YouTube, then you’d be looking at a baseline of 50k followers I think.
so, this might sound wrong but can i sign up for free stuff just to try them out and not promote them on social media?
You don’t “sign up” for samples – there’s no form to fill out that a PR company will send you. You have to prove your worth to them by showing them how consistently you blog, post on social, YouTube, etc. So if you have nothing to show them because you don’t have any of those things, the brand/PR team would have absolutely ZERO reason to send you any product. They need to get value out of you in exchange for sending you product, so if you can’t provide any to them, you’re just a regular consumer.
I am currently a blogger and I am on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, but I don’t have a huge following. Would PR Company still be willing to send PR packages or free samples? Also do you have any suggestions on increasing my followings?
They are so long as you can prove your dedication. For example – how often do you post? One a week may not be enough to convince a brand that you’re consistent. Also, if you can show them content where you’ve already talked about their products in the past, that’ll go a long way too!