If you’ve got a decent website then there are lots of companies in your industry that want to give you free stuff. The travel industry does at least, I know from experience. So far I’ve managed to scam a two week unlimited Busabout pass, a canoe trip, a discount on a backpacker tour of Scotland, free books, a discount on travel insurance and heaps of random mugs, stickers and stationary that I’ll never use. Some of this has come my way without even having to ask and others have taken no more than a simple enquiry.
If you offer to do a write up on your site about a product or service, your chances of getting something are probably better. Publishing companies seem to give out new books for review pretty willingly so if a new title is out that you think your site or blog readers would like, hit them up for a copy. If you see an affiliate program that you’d like to use, contact them and ask for a sample of the product. Companies have it in their marketing budget to give freebies to people in their industry and if you don’t ask, you won’t get.
The trick to all of this is getting in touch with the person who pulls the strings and being able to sell yourself as an expert. If you can do this then you’ll almost always be guaranteed at least a wee package of crappy stickers or a mug or something. If your site is a good match with their product then you should be able to wrangle more than that.
I’ve only tried this a handful of times but in the few times I’ve tried this I’ve never been turned away without at least some sort of discount. I’m pretty confident that there are discounts and freebies out there ripe for the taking if you go for it. The most important thing is having a quality website that targets the same market.
Professional writers get free things all the time. Don’t devalue yourself or your website. Think of this as a legitimate business and consider yourself to be a writer in whichever industry you’re in. Just because you’re self employed doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the same perks as someone who works for a major magazine.
This is another example of why choosing a topic you’re passionate about is so important. I’m a lot more inclined to get excited about a few free nights at a hostel than I am about a 10% discount on car insurance!
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