There are a few ways to pitch companies for reviews, but the MOST important thing to remember is that you have to let the company know how (and why) it will benefit them. This is very, very important! They’re not going to send you a product for review because they’re nice people. Companies see it as word-of-mouth advertisement, and they need to make sure you have a good mouth.
Here is an example of a pitch letter:
Hello (Insert Name Here),
I’m writing to you about an opportunity that will benefit both of us. I’d like to review xyz product on my blog, (Insert Blog Name Here).
ABC blog has a Google PR rating of 3, a loyal subscriber base of 15,000, and over 10,000 subscribers via Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. Each blog post is promoted across all of those social media platforms multiple times. In addition, I’d be willing to do a giveaway for my readers, which would cost you only product and we’ll handle the rest. As a result of the review (or giveaway), you’d get more traffic from my readers visiting your website to further investigate xyz product as well as others you have to offer.
Please contact me at (abc@xyz.com) to discuss this mutual beneficial situation further. I look forward to hearing from you!
(Signature)
Um.
It’s as simple as that. Seriously, it is. You might also want to go into some detail about the demographics of your readers, and why they’d be interested in product xyz as well. For example, if you’re pitching for a stroller or car seat, you would add that your readers are primarily mothers, or women from the ages of 25-35. You can get the demographic information of your readers at alexa.com.
If you have done reviews on similar products, you may want to include links to those as well, so the company can see what they will be getting when they have you review their product.
Pitching companies for reviews seems a little overwhelming (and scary) at first, but after a while it will become second nature. The worst thing in the world that can happen is that they say NO. In that case, you can pitch them again in 6 months or so and see if they’ve changed their mind. Also, the more you pitch, the better your chances of getting a yes are.
Sometimes the answer you get has no rhyme or reason other than LUCK, so don’t be discouraged if you get many “no”s at first. Your pitch might hit someone on a very bad day when they just want to tell everyone no (it happens), or you may get someone on a day that they’re feeling OVERLY generous (for me, it’s usually after Monday) and you get a great one that you never dreamed possible.
Keep trying and don’t give up. The day will come that companies are pitching you for reviews and you won’t have to pitch very much at all.
Do you have any pitching tips you’d like to share?