Should brands pay for blog mentions?

And I love to share my life lessons, so here goes: I talk daily to brand managers and agency reps about their outreach process. This gives me an in-depth understanding of blogger outreach from the point of view of marketers and PR pros. This is a one-sided perspective.

This became really apparent when I wrote a post discussing the value of the mid-level blogger. I made a “not thought out” remark that a mid-level blogger’s mentions are often free. Whoopsies! This opened a can of criticism from bloggers—something I wasn’t prepared to address.

Lessons learned

I definitely learned a lesson, and then I took my experience a step further. I asked bloggers who work hard to curate perfect content to engage their audience for their perspective; I did the same of the PR pros and marketers who just want sincere recommendations for the brands they represent.

After talking to some lovely bloggers and PR pros about blogging for pay, I found there are actually three sides to the proverbial coin.

To pay