PR Firm Tries To Pitch Vegetarian Protein Powder To Low-Carb Blogger
Filed under: Health — @ August 26, 2010
When you make “health and nutrition” what you do for a living and are successful at reaching an audience of people like I have been the past few years, it opens up a whole new world of opportunities for the public relations companies out there who represent a wide variety of clients offering products and services that fit within that mold to reach out to you. Now that the combined reach of my blog, podcast and other related sites has extended to well over a million faithful readers and listeners each month, these PR hawks have become so hungry seeking out their prey for a chance that maybe, just maybe I’ll talk about their client’s stuff in a positive way that they’ll send you press releases about every item you could ever imagine under the sun. But one thing I have deliberately tried to do especially as the traffic has increased with any potential new sponsors is to be very selective about who I work with making sure I personally like the product or service first and then having the discernment to know whether it is appropriate for my fans. That way when you see a banner on any of my web sites or hear a sponsorship spot at the beginning of my podcast, you can feel confident that it is something I have personally vetted out for myself and believe would be an excellent enhancement to your healthy low-carb lifestyle. That’s exactly what you get from both Steve’s Original PaleoKits and QuestBars–two of my latest sponsors–who have some truly remarkable products that I’m proud to associate with the “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” brand!
Unfortunately, sometimes there are some overenthusiastic people working in the PR profession who sees the popularity of a blog like mine and forgets to see the name of the blog is “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb.” I’ve been pitched everything from soy ice cream to “healthy” whole grain crackers to fat-free fruit chews–obviously none of which would be appropriate for people on a carbohydrate-restricted way of eating. Sometimes I’ll get these press releases and have the notion to write back to them explaining why I won’t be doing business with them at all. It’s amazing how ill-informed these people are about what their clients are promoting as “healthy” and I have no problem at all sharing the flaws in their products as I see them. These PR representatives try to sound smarter than they are by cloaking their client’s intent for some exposure for their products or services as a “news” release with an offer to conduct an interview with someone about that subject. There’s nothing wrong with this practice, but common sense would tell you to be sure you don’t turn off the recipient of your press release with nonsensical statements. I got the perfect example of this recently.
Click here to see what a PR company tried to get me to write about and the crazy “pitch” they made to a low-carb blogger about their “plant-based” product.
