Originally shared by Lars Fosdal

The value of an endorsement

Cleaning out my inbox today, I stumbled over a comment that I had missed on one of my old blog posts.  It turned out to be a comment that was a bit out of the ordinary.

Hi Lars, I’m a developer of Product.X (you can check it at Product.X dot com). This is a product for [description removed]. It is for Delphi developers too. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of promotion opportunities, but even Embarcadero is among our customers! I want to ask you, is it possible to write a small article about Product.X and delphi, and then you post it on your blog? I can write about [description removed] , or about [description removed], or about [description removed]… There are a lot of topics 🙂 Please write me your opinion. Thank you in advance!

The poster did not use his real name.  So – I am supposed to do what?  Post an endorsement of a product I have never heard of and never used, and you (who I don’t know who are) will actually write the post it for me? 

Needless to say, it took me mere milliseconds to decide that this wouldn’t happen.

Why?  If I am to endorse something, there are certain base requirements:

– I need to actually have been using it

– It would need to fill a particular need that I have

– It really needs to actually be of good value

– I’d be doing my own writing, and you would know about the stuff I didn’t like as well

What if you paid me to post it?  Trust me, you can’t afford the price of my integrity. So – the answer to the question: No, it is not possible.  Had this guy posted it himself on a blog, and shared it in a community, I might have reshared it – if I found it of interest – but to act as a marketing puppet – no way.

What are your requirements for writing an endorsement, or post the words of someone else on your blog? Would you endorse for a free license?  For cash?

What would you do?  

#some   #marketing   #integrity  

(Image: www.innerchildcrochet.com via Google Image search)