Experience Is Worth Marketing

I’ve used Experience is Worth Marketing as my tagline on my business cards for the past two years. I didn’t fully grasp the importance of that statement until I started thinking about what my marketing our life experiences is really worth.

The holiday season is fast approaching. As a result my email box is overflowing with companies itching  for a space of some type of advertising on this blog. It got me thinking about my fees that I’ve been charging. This site is growing thanks to YOU!  I’m so utterly blessed that you feel what I have to share is worth coming back for more. God is working really hard on my behalf and I do honestly believe he’s leading me in ways beyond what I can ever express.

When you go to a newspaper and request them to run an article for you, you expect to pay a fee for it. The same thing applies for magazines and television. So, why should my blog be any different when it comes to companies requesting me to write something. I’ve worked with some pretty amazing companies over the past two years. I look forward to working with a bunch more for years to come.

As a blogger, we tend to think our words hold no actual monetary value, and I’m here to tell you that you are WRONG!! We are a national broadcasting system!! We broadcast across the world with our words, our opinions, and yes, even our life experiences. Our experience as parents, teachers, bloggers, product reviewers, and so much more is worth some compensation when we’re advertising that experience to the world. I’m not saying my blog is worth as much as what People magazine is charging, but what I am saying is that I’m going to take advantage of the God given talent of writing and of being outspoken with my opinion to our advantage. I’m not out to become a millionaire or get overly rich. I place more value on time spent with my family and friends than on money and materialistic things.

Check out this Infographic for further proof of my argument.

Infographic Source

I use to sell ads for a local newspaper, and I know how much goes into creating the perfect looking ad for a business. I know how valuable marketing is for a business as well. The wrong wording can really reshape the meaning of an ad. The wrong image can be devastating for a businesses success.

I’m pointing this out because as the holiday season reaches it’s full bloom I’m noticing more and more people are pointing out that they want to know what to charge for their work on their blogs. Truth be told, I don’t have a solid answer for that one. I don’t have a set rate card. I have a general range of figures I work with. It really depends on the business I’m working with. The PR representatives make a huge difference in how much and how far I’m willing to bend.

If you’re a business reading this post, please note I LOVE working with you. I have many years of management and sales underneath my belt. I know how rough your world can be! I believe in working with you any way I can without jeopardizing this quality of my site.

If you’re a blogger reading this post, please consider the amount of time you put into doing reviews. Think about the time you spend on writing the perfect blog post that is engaging for your readers and yet still gives the company what they ask for. (I do LOTS of product reviews for free because I love the products themselves! However, there are many product reviews that I do charge for my time and effort.)

This blogging gig takes me away from my family as much as a full time job does. Since I’ve decided that time is well worth it if I’m bringing in a solid paycheck to go with that time, it’s made a huge difference. My paycheck may very well come in the form of giving my kids new movies and products to try out. (My nine year old (soon to be 10) writes up his product reviews on his own that I count as part of his Language Arts/Writing assignments for the week, and he loves it because he’s not having to do the boring writing assignments as much.) I also love being able to give my husband products he enjoys trying out too. He’s itching to get his hands on video game products. I enjoy giving my readers the chance to earn products for free through the giveaways I host. However, those giveaways take a LOT of time to put together and promote throughout the week. Of course, I love getting new products for me to try.

If you’re just random reader, please take a note to all the back end things that happen to bring you all the material that we do promote to you. We go shopping in many cases for these products, take pictures of the products, actually use them for a period of time (while creating blog posts in the back of our heads), we write the posts, and then we also have to take the time promote them across various social media networks. We love what we do as bloggers, otherwise, you can bank we wouldn’t still do it! I LOVE interacting with all of you!! It makes my day when I get new comments. I love getting to know you as readers. I love seeing what interests you.

So, what is your experiences worth??