By Britnee Nguyen
Here’s the new marketing technique: Companies using top bloggers to write, blog, and talk all about their product. How do they convince bloggers to willingly do this for free? They give them goodies.
Ford Motor created a new model “Fiesta” that is set to launch next year. Instead of spending money on expensive advertising, they got 100 top bloggers to talk about the product for six months. Bloggers were enticed to do this because they received the “Fiesta for the entire six months.
Not just large corporations are taking advantage of the power bloggers have, but local companies have taken advantage of this also. For example, a small jewelry shop in Utah was giving away free pearl necklaces for a few weeks. How did they get the word out? They invited the top Utah women bloggers to the shop and gave them free stuff then asked them to talk about their experience and post the free coupon on their blog. Their turnout was more than expected through this campaign.
Next time you read on someone’s blog about a product, think twice. They might have been given the actual product or other freebies to get them to talk about it, so it might not be a completely true opinion about it. Nonetheless, companies have found a great way to tap into the on-line community to get the word out about their products in a cheap way.
