When , in the trend of social medium outcome , it becomes necessary for a grouping of blogger to break up the political bands which have connected them with a bunch of well - intentioned but sometimes irritate marketing people , and to take among the powers of the blogosphere , the separate and adequate place to which the jurisprudence of journalism and exemption of locution entitle them …

What I am trying to say is that , from time to time , one need to reevaluate the state of one ’s conjugation . I ’ve been talking to several garden blogger late who palpate that the marketing efforts aimed in our direction have set out to be a bit much , and a bit weird .

I get the impression that marketing people go off to a seminar every yoke of class to encounter out how to deal with us . The intellect I recall this is that all at once , every couple of years , the form of pitches and military press releases and other such thing coming at us here at GardenRant World Headquarters alteration in a very obtrusive direction . The only coherent account is that they all get going to a class .   Sorry – a webinar .

I think this year ’s class was call , “ Treat blogger Like Your Very Own Unpaid Staff . ”

Here ’s what we ’re see to it :

written picture show .

I was recently asked to take part in a marketing opening ( I believe they called it a “ societal media flash mob ” ) that would imply me making a video of myself reading from a script that the marketing someone sent to me .

in earnest .

Demands that we write very specific things on our blogs when we brush up or give away a book or merchandise .

MANY marketing people have lately cater me with the specific language they ’d like me to expend when I describe their product on my web log . They provide me with links and the text that should be attached to those connexion ( for their SEO strategy ) , they tell me what date they ’d like my review article to come along , etc . etc .

No .

The answer is no .

If you desire to send me a product to review , station it .   If I adjudicate to review it , I will .   If I decide not to review it , I wo n’t . ( and usually it ’s because the product is garbage , but in such a flat and commonplace means that I ca n’t even get worked up enough to write the unsound review it deserves . )

Now , I do understand that if a companionship is donating a book , a plant , a product for a game show , they expect something in return .   GardenRant wrench into Giveaway Central in the spring , and we ’re glad to give our readers complimentary stuff , and we just do n’t give away anything we do n’t wish .

But here ’s the affair , Marketing multitude :   If we care it , it ’s way substantially if we say that in our own words . Copying and pasting someone else ’s Porto Rico - speak into our blog situation just makes everybody look crippled .   Yes , it ’s a lilliputian bad to just believe us to say what we really conceive , but that ’s what makes your day exciting .

Ship me plants . That is ok . There is nothing I ’d have it away better than more destitute plants .   In world-wide , what we all want is more free plant . This is a no - brainer . But lately , I ’ve been have plants so ho-hum , so generic , so ubiquitous , so unsuited to my clime or my horticulture style , that I do n’t even bother asking around to see if any of my champion would care them . Because I know they wo n’t .   Because it would be an insult to their taste for me to even offer them .

I ’m certain the marketing people do n’t want to just pack up plants and ship them into a opprobrious maw . They want feedback . But the proportion of interesting plants to length of prison term spent answering online surveys is way , mode , out of whack . Something is break about this system of rules .

offering to write free client posts , and/or exchange text links .

This is more like junk e-mail , and scarce even belong on this list . But we do get bazillions of them , and we wish they would arrest .

Lots more junket invitation .

( okay , it was Bayer . The guy rope actually call me , and I replied cheerfully that I ’m pretty much contradict to everything his company stands for and that he probably does n’t really want to allow me on the priming coat . With equal cheer and goodwill , he apologise for bothering me and thanked me for my clip . skillful guy , really . )

Then there ’s theP. Allen Smith Garden2Blog event , which caused a bit of a dust - up last year as blogger either did or did not uncover that they were on an disbursement - paid slip as they blogged , tweeted , and Facebooked their elbow room across the P. Allen empire . ( Here ’s a nice postthat yield you a sensation of what that event is like . )

So , expect .   I ’m not opposed to junket .   citizenry in food , change of location , beauty , high - technical school , and booze news media go on all kinds of sashay .   Sure , these things do take to be properly disclosed , and some publications ban them entirely , and it believably is hard to stay objective once somebody ’s fly you to their chateau in France .

But I am not anti - junket , I ’m just saying that there are definitey more of them , so many more that even we churlish , argumentative GardenRanters are getting invited along .

This is not to say that every encounter we have with a selling person is an bother one – far from it .   These are just the things that have been materialise late that set out us talking .

Your thinking ? Go right ahead .