pitch policy

[last updated May 2013]

Dear Public Relations and Marketing types,

I hope you read this before you hit the send button on your press release, I really do, because this is going to save us both whole lot of time.

My name is Andrea and this is my personal website. I’m a professional writer and sometime photographer. I’ve been maintaining this little corner of the internet for over 14 years and the views I express here are entirely my own.

If you’d like to advertise here at the Fishbowl, please read this first.

If this is about pitching your product or service, please read on.

I’m often asked what this site is about. It’s a tough question to answer because I have so many interests, but if I had to narrow it down to one wee catchphrase I’d have to say that this site is a “family lifestyle blog” with a focus on healthy living, great gear, family-friendly events, and parenting life in the Ottawa area. Some people might even call this a MOMMY BLOG. Gack! (Free tip: please don’t start your email with “Dear Mommy blogger” … thank you!)

• I am located in Ottawa, Canada.
• My email address is andrea AT quietfish DOT com. You can also use this form to contact me.
• Your email should get to the point quickly, and contain enough information so I know what is being asked of me. I’d prefer not to receive a one-liner just asking for my mailing address, and you can bet that if I can’t tell what you’re pitching me within 30 seconds or two paragraphs I won’t be reading page two.
• I receive many press releases and email notices and can’t respond to every one of them, sorry! I am more likely to respond if you’re offering something exclusive. I love being the first to know.
• I honestly don’t expect you to pretend that you’re a regular reader, but I do hope that you’ll have at least read enough to determine whether I’m the kind of person who would be interested in your offer. Your product has to be the right fit for me and my readers.
• My readers are incredibly important to me and I value these individuals greatly. I am very selective about the products I write about. I don’t accept products or services just for the sake of getting free stuff. That’s not the main purpose of this website. I only accept products and services I will love and know my readers will love too.
• I cannot write about something I can’t personally recommend. It’s really not fair to my readers. I need to see samples because…
• … my goal is always to be genuine and absolutely honest about everything I review. I always disclose whether I am writing about a product I have been given for free. If the product is useful to me or my family I will keep the product I have been given. I do not accept loaners.
• Please keep in mind that I run advertising on this site. My patrons are good people and they’re helping keep this boat afloat. It’s not cool if Big Corporation sends me a three-dollar box of cereal in hopes that I blog about it.
• Your product or service must be easily available to Canadians. A U.S. based e-tailer with $35.00 shipping to Canada doesn’t count.
• Form letters! Ack! Please don’t just email me your press release. I prefer people to robots! I’m a person, you’re a person, so why not send me an original email? I’m more likely to respond too.
• Social media releases - I love it when PR people make it easy for me to get the information I need. Easy is good.
• Overpackaged goods is a personal bugaboo of mine. Please think about the environment and don’t overpackage your goods.
• Job opportunities are always welcome. ;)
• I’ve had inquiries from businesses and ad agencies asking if they could pick my brain about blogger outreach. I love talking about social media marketing and mommy blogging and I’m happy to share my experience about what works and what doesn’t work. Contact me for details.

Things I will likely write about (based on pitch emails to which I’ve responded) include:

• Special events, especially kid-friendly ones in the Ottawa area
• Family-friendly vacation destinations (like this one, and this one)
• Home decor, home furnishings (like this, for example)
• Great gear for families/kids
• Some charitable causes (like this one and this one and this one)
• Various gadgets and geekery (like this).
• Also: we are gamer types and wear our geekdom with pride!
• Photography and video gear
• Film screenings/theatre events (like this one)
• Healthy living, healthy initiatives (like this one)
• Relevant websites/services to me and my readers (tricky, I know, but there it is!)

I do host occasional giveaways. Yippee for giveaways! I’ve done lots of them. (Here’s one I did with 3 Little Monkeys for example.) But hold on a sec, does your product match the criteria as above? Hint: It should! Contact me for details.

I’ve had the good fortune of being given the opportunity to participate in some really fun social media marketing campaigns. Here are a few examples:

• I’m currently working with Sobeys as part of their ongoing Love Food campaign.
• Ford let me drive an Explorer around for a week
• Loblaw paid for our groceries for a month so we could try some of their new products. Read the kickoff post here. Some of the resulting posts are here, here and here. The wrap-up post is here.
• I was flown down to Toronto by Hellman’s in order to participate in a discussion about their Real Food campaign. Food is good. You can read about that here.
• I went to Disney World for the day - woot!
• Canadian Tire redecorated my back porch.
• Check out the campaign I participated in for the rebranding of Mark’s (Part I and Part II)

I’ve also worked with Ikea, Samsung, Camino, Xbox, Kobo, Telus, terra20, KitchenAid, Chevy/GM (and others!) in different ways.

Things I will likely NOT respond to (a.k.a. pitch emails I’ve deleted):

• Events in Toronto (I live in Ottawa! Unless you’re planning on flying me down there I cannot attend your event.)
• Chemical household cleaners
• Hollywood insider stuff. (Sorry. I don’t care.)
• Junky convenience foods. Emails about frozen pizzas, mini-yogurts, single-serving overpackaged snacks, frozen turkeys, and sliced ham are deleted without pause.
• Anything that begins with “Dear Mommy Blogger.”

That’s it for now. I expect this document to change over time, but I hope this provides a good starting point.

Any questions? Please contact me.

Thank you!!

p.s. Props to Kate Trgovac from whom I swiped this idea!