Lessons learned from a failed blog promo

Last February, a hair care brand’s representative approached me and asked if I wanted to hold a contest for my readers. I agreed because it was perfect timing. I was about to celebrate my blog’s second year online and I was holding my annual anniversary giveaway.

After the promo concluded, I announced the winners and supplied the representative with the winners' details (names, addresses, and contact nos.) for shipping. He acknowledged receipt via email and told me he had already forwarded everything to the company.

Two months after the contest, despite my constant efforts to follow up, the winners still had not gotten their prizes. I tried to email and chat with the contact person but to no avail. He would avoid me like the plague and log out whenever I would try to talk to him. As a last-ditch effort I posted my concern on the brand’s Facebook Fan Page but as I expected, moments later my post disappeared. Well, the entire Fan Page vanished actually. I took a screenshot because I was pretty sure they were going to delete my post.

The winners were already asking me about the prizes at this point. More than two months had passed and I could not tell them anything except that I had already forwarded all their details for shipping. I was getting frustrated since no one from the brand would talk to me. I decided to post an apology and tell my readers the truth. I assured them that I had not yet given up and was still working on trying to get a hold of the contact person so that they in turn could get their prizes.

I've learned a few things about holding contests and giveaways on my blog from this unfortunate experience:

• Have the prizes on hand before launching a contest or promo. I could really kick myself for not following this basic rule.
• Make sure the person you are dealing with is legitimate, meaning you know his/her exact designation and what company he/she is part of. The contact person for the hair care brand was the same person who invited me to the launch event, but it was actually unclear what his affiliation with the brand was.
• Keep all correspondences between you and the company or person for reference. This is so when anything is in question, you can always go back to what was originally agreed on. At least I was able to do this. Do have things in writing if possible and have both sides confirm it.

I am very lucky because all the contest winners have been very understanding and forgiving of the situation. More than a week after I posted the apology and explanation, the representative sent me a message detailing some legal issues they encountered with the brand’s name or something like that. I didn’t really understand it. Bottom line was he provided me with a new person to contact with regards to the prizes. I’ve been in touch with this other person. She has assured me that the prizes are being processed and will be ready for claiming in about a week’s time. I hope she keeps her word. I just wish that I didn’t have to resort to exposing what actually took place just so I could get them to address the problem at hand. We’re still waiting.