This is a "bedtime story" -all about my new bed, and why it's SO awesome. 
I also want to share the entire process of this "product review" - to give you some creative ideas for your own reviews...
First, check out Nodical Bed.
If you're shopping for a new mattress, and you want the BEST one on the market, be sure to use our exclusive coupon code: VIP100 to save $100.
I'll tell you WHY I decided to review this (seemingly unrelated) product, what I negotiated with the company (and why), how this opportunity came about, and how I'm promoting it for them. As you know, I have a business/marketing blog and a food/travel blog - so this is all about "creative angles". This should easily give you some creative ideas for your own blog!
How I Got This Product Review Opportunity
This opportunity with Nodical came through a professional connection. The person handling their outreach is someone I met online through my online circles, and then met offline at local meetups.
I said local, but it was actually through a few groups in Atlanta (where Nodical is also based) which is about 3-4 hours from where I live in TN.
My advice: get out to local meetups and business & blogger events every chance you get! The connections you'll make in person are priceless.
Of course, I can't be "out & about" all the time, so I rely on virtual groups as well - and Facebook is full of them! Look for blogging groups, or groups in your niche, and put the word out that you're looking for opps. LinkedIn is a great spot for connections as well.
You need a Media Kit, and you should be doing your own outreach as well. A great way to get started is to join brand networks like Social Spark. Read Bloggers & Brands too - it includes tons of "sources" and even templates to use for outreach.
Why I Chose To Review The Nodical Bed
As I mentioned, I have two blogs - and neither of them are about beds. ClickNewz, which you're reading now, is all about online business & marketing. My other blog is a food & travel blog, specifically about the low carb diet.
When they got in touch with me, I listened anyway.
Mainly because I've been suffering from muscle aches and repetitive stress injuries, and insomnia - which sucks. As you know, I recently got a reclining office chair for exactly this reason! And of course, sleep (er, lack of) has a serious impact on weight loss. So there was definitely some potential for creative tie-ins there...
I did my research on the company as well - which you should ALWAYS do. They make the best memory foam mattresses on the market, and at a price anyone can afford. So they're both cheaper AND higher quality than their competition.
Plus they're an amazing company. You'll see what I mean in my videos.
Product Review Negotiations
Typically I would charge around $3,000 to get on board with a big promotional campaign. That said, I'm ALWAYS open to negotiations - especially if I can bring a great deal or a cool product to my audience.
Keep that in mind: "everything is negotiable". That alone will serve you VERY well in your business. A "no" or a lack of response even, is never the end of the line. Ever. It's all about talking to the right person, and finding the right combination of benefits for everyone involved (the merchant, the marketer AND the market).
For this review, which was going to require video - and A LOT of creativity, I negotiated a few simple things. I decided I was willing to do the review & promo within their budget (and more so: their concerns about working with bloggers for outreach), so I waived my usual rates and negotiated some fun trades...
Remember, there are no set rules about this sort of things. Figure out what would make you happy, what would make the merchant happy they worked with you, and most importantly: what would appeal to (and serve) your audience best.
You heard one of my "negotiations" in the video above. They sent me a Nodical Bed so I could do an "unboxing video" and also test out the actual product. I asked them to also send one for Slim... TOO. He's an aging Great Dane at over 6 years old, and let's face it - he gets more "likes" than I do, LOL. They agreed to make a custom Nodical Bed just for my "furry best friend". How awesome is that?!
The other thing I negotiated, which is one of my favorite "perks" when working with a cool company, is an exclusive discount for my readers. They agreed to offer a very generous $100 discount (code: VIP100) to my audience. Bingo!
I also requested a tracking link (which you can see that I used in my links here), and 4% commission on any sales that resulted from my recommendations.
Product Review Promotion
Before I could actually test and review the product, I needed to unbox it and set it up. The "unboxing video" was part of the negotiation, so I took a lot of videos and photos in the process of doing that. To get the ball rolling, I combined some fun photos into a slideshow and created a video with those:
This is just a really simple slideshow created in iPhoto, which comes preinstalled on any Mac computer. I exported it, then you can use a video editor (like iMovie) to add even more effects. Here's another example slideshow video on my low carb channel.
Getting IN and OUT of that box was quite the challenge (lol), so I decided to use that video footage on my Facebook Page - just for fun:
Lynn, Slim... and a BoxI thought you'd be interested to know how I got IN the box, in the fun little slideshow video I shared the other day. LOL. Unfortunately, my first attempt did NOT get caught on video, where I fell and injured myself.
Stay tuned for the official Nodical Bed Unboxing Video. In the meantime, go to: https://nodicalbed.com/?utm_medium=VIP&utm_source=Lynn+Terry&utm_campaign=affiliate+review (and use coupon code "VIP100" to see our exclusive discount at Nodical!) - See you soon. ;-)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZFM9emIKKo <- Is the video I'm referring to, in case you missed that one.
Posted by Lynn Terry on Saturday, August 1, 2015
Remember, you don't have to be perfect - you just need to be REAL.
That's why companies and brands hire bloggers: for reality, candid discussions, and to create real conversations with real people about their products.
Next, I broke the video up into segments. You saw the first video above - introducing Nodical Bed and basically discussing why the company and the product are so cool.
Next, we unboxed and set up Slim's new Nodical Bed:
And then I did mine:
I personally thought all of that was a bit boring, and I get sick of hearing myself talk...
Geez, I can be so chatty! lol. So next, I did a "fast forward" video to show just how quick & easy it is to unbox and set up a new Nodical Bed restore mattress:
That was much better, don't you think?
iMovie (on the Mac) makes it super easy to edit videos, including the speed and audio and adding music. I still have PC's in the office (two at the moment) but my Macbooks are priceless for video editing and product creation!
Moving Forward...
Knowing I had negotiated this product review, I started priming my market with discussions in that direction. It was already "no secret" that I was struggling with back pain and insomnia, as I'd been talking openly about that across my blogs & social channels. That's what blogging should be all about, by the way: real conversations about what's going on in your life.
I discussed it a bit more on my low carb blog as well, specifically about how lack of sleep stalled my weight loss (including a visual graph illustrating my plateau).
With my low carb blog, I can easily tie this promo in with FitBit, which is another company I want to work with - and which tracks your quality of sleep along with other healthy factors.
Of course "good sleeps" tie in nicely with productivity, which is a hot topic here at ClickNewz, and also with repetitive stress injuries - which are common with people that work online or with a laptop for long periods.
And let's face it - some of us are just plain getting old and knotted up, lol.
To state the obvious, this post you're reading now also serves as a great example of a creative angle. I told you all about the Nodical Bed, but from the perspective of doing product reviews. Cool, right?!
So there you have it: A bed. Creative tie-ins. Lots of tips for negotiating and promoting products. My advice: get creative, be real, and have FUN. And of course take lots of photos & videos so you can repurpose them in lots of different ways - on your blog, and across your social channels.
* * Questions, comments? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Best,
p.s. You can learn more about Nodical Bed using my link, and don't forget to use our exclusive "VIP100" discount code to save $100 on yours!
I am LOVING this product so far. You get 100 sleeps to test it out (they have a 100-night guarantee), but I can already tell you: this is the first time I haven't woke up stiff... in as long as I can possibly remember. WOW. As for Slim, I can't even get him out of his new bed -LOL. The Nodical beds are super awesome...
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