I've posted three pieces on how MommyBlogging Marketing can work:
- Ripples from the Johnson's Camp Baby experience
- BlogHer Swag Winners
- Continued relationships with companies for which I've done reviews

Here are two examples of blogger marketing gone wrong because the company wasn't organized about either the outreach, the product itself, or both:

Be Organized: Case One

I received an email from a lovely person who appeared to have read my blog. She addressed me by name, and offered to host a giveaway on my site. Alas, I wouldn't get the immensely cool product for myself, but one of my readers would. I enthusiastically agreed. In fact, I was ready to actually purchase the product because it seemed so cool. It would have been a great holiday present. Still, part of me wondered if the product was too good to be true.

The nice lady wrote back later saying there was a mistake, and they didn't have any free products to give away -- but hey, you can give your readers this 15% off coupon code, here's a link to our online catalog! This was accompanied by that deadly "If you want hi-res images of our product, just let me know!" quip.

Whether they only decided to pick a few "higher ranked" bloggers for their giveaway, or if they seriously had a flub in their communications, if they are that disorganized in their marketing, I don't want to trust that their way-cool product (which if it works would be so awesome, but if it doesn't would be a waste of dough) actually operates properly.

Be Organized - Case Two

Several months ago I received an email from a company creating what is essentially a knock-off of a popular product. Although I love the original version of the product, I figured "Hey, might as well try the knock-off as well, 'cause my boys would love it."

In the subsequent months, I've gotten odd emails saying that the product isn't yet ready, or the product's name might change so they don't want anyone blogging about it just yet.

At this point, everything is up in the air, and that isn't very confidence-inspiring for the actual product. But if they had waited until it was ready to go, they could have begun their blogger outreach at that time, shipping the products out immediately, thus looking extra-organized.

Of course, the majority of the pitches that are in the "don't work" category are ones that get deleted immediately, not those that go as far as the above. Several times I've gotten follow-ups from dud pitches like, "Hey! We noticed you didn't talk about our product on your site!" even though all they had sent was a press release: no product for review, no giveaway for my readers, no compensation for mentioning their product. If I want to promote a product it is because I like the product, not because someone else says it is cool. Don't get offended if I won't publish a free advertisement for you.

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Up next Monday: When it Doesn't Work - Part Two: Know Your Audience