I got an email last week from the IT department of an online bookstore. No, it was not Borders. I wish it was! I would be jumping up and down if it was! But shucks, it wasn’t.
The email read like this (for those who don’t know, I have a personal blog over at Mayakirana.com so everyone always writes to Maya. I named my blog Mayakirana for a reason.)
Dear Maya, I am ________, IT Manager from (the company shall remain nameless and you will know why in a bit). I wish to put on affiliate banner on your blog. Reply me if you interest. Thank you!!
But you see, I didn’t immediately reply the guy. I wanted to check this company out first.
Mayakirana is for my ramblings and rants and praises. It’s for updating friends and family about what Maya or Krista is doing, was involved with, was thinking about, was peeved about etc.
It’s a blog for me. It’s mine, mine, mine (like what my 2-year-old darling niece always screams when she gets her chubby fingers on a pack of peanuts). No one can touch it.
And in the case of my blog, seriously, no adverts.
Read that again. No adverts on Mayakirana.
While everyone (and if Margaret my cat could blog, she’d probably have Adsense on her cat blog too and Margaret the fat tabby is one helluva smart cat) has ads and an assortment of widgets (think Voki) on their blogs, I think I’d rather be selfishly Zen about my blog.
But Maya, you’re nuts. Why not earn a couple of bucks? After all you have free space on that blog. I can hear you going.
I was a panellist during a Q&A session at MIRC’s Internet seminar not too long ago and what I said during that session still resonates with me. I explained why I don’t have advertising on Mayakirana.
Sure, ad money can pay for my domain and web hosting.
But advertising does not tie in with my long-term vision for the blog.
The blog has a value that far exceeds the money gained from the clicks. Ever heard of PR? The PR value of Mayakirana far outweighs the US dollars any time.
I’m interested in building up good PR and part of why Mayakirana is Mayakirana is that she has her own ideas and principles about what should and should not be on her personal blog. Blame it on the stubborn streak of her journalism schooling.
I don’t do pay per reviews, I review whatever as and when I please. I can diss all I want because that blog is my space just for that. I can be partial to friends and clients by supporting and promoting their causes.
But wait, that’s not the end of the story of the bookstore that wanted ad space on my blog. I wrote back and asked for details. And what details I got.
Read on (the email is reproduced verbatim):
Dear Krista,
Thanks for reply. Regarding the size of banner, I think a width 160 X height 125 will suite to above of “Recent comment” box. Thanks for reply.
Regarding charge, actually we are not budget on this, because I not have the proven data regarding the amount of traffic that can drive from your site. I suggest that can I put on banner for at least one month. If I satisfy with the traffic hits (from google analytic) then we just further discuss about payment.
Currently I keen to find blog site that have related to my product as long term partner to put on advertising banner. Hope you can give me the chance.
What would YOU have done if the above email landed in your inbox?
Insulted? Indignant? Pissed?
Excuse me? Put your ad for free on my blog? What sort of transaction is that, assuming I am keen on the idea? What’s with people these days?
If you want to ask others to help you, don’t give them the short end of the bargain.
Puh-leaze.
You want to stick your ad on my blog for free for a month and then decide on payment? (Read what makes a stinky bargain.)
Don’t make my toes laugh.
But seriously, sarcasm aside, I was quite tickled by the way he approached marketing for his company. He’s using a machine gun approach where he’s trying to write to bloggers and get them to trust him (and why should they anyway? He’s a complete stranger) and stick his ad on their blogs.
If I were keen on ads, why wouldn’t I go the way of Adsense? What makes your affiliate banner so damn enticing?
In marketing, the approach is not one blast hit all (that’s what I call machine gun). You hope to God that your gunning downs you something, anything.
The better approach is to shoot like a sniper. It means knowing your target and when you shoot, it hits. And it takes planning and patience and being smart about your target. This is what counts in Marketing.
Maybe if he weren’t so presumptuous, I wouldn’t have been so annoyed. Maybe I would’ve been a lot more polite. But really, I was polite in my reply. I just said, thanks but no thanks ya.
May you always get your target, Krista
*Oh yes, the danger of writing to a blogger is that she gets to bitch about the stuff in her own blog. The good bit is, I always turn a horrible, laughable conversation into a marketing lesson that everyone can benefit from. Isn’t that fun? That’s fodder for my blogs, you know. It’s just like talking to a writer – like Robert. He’s super keen on observing people and I never really know if he’ll turn me into a character in his upcoming novels. It’s scary. Good but still scary!
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