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Darwin Binesh

Is featuring other makers and their products for free a good idea?

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I have a tech & business newsletter/blog and have been thinking about this for a while. Thought this would be a great place to ask. What do you think? On one hand, it's nice because we create a little community, meet people we feature, and spread a little love. On the other, I'm worried it cheapens the brand and people will try to take advantage. We've done it a few times now, but many people haven't shared their posts like they said they would, so it's a little demoralizing. Would love for it to go two ways and help us grow too. I once offered to do this in a community and got a lot of condescending responses. Overall, not sure about this, and would love your thoughts. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

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Anand
As long as your readers get value out of what you are featuring, I would say it's all good. I noticed one of your recent posts was about LinkedIn - maybe if you were featuring a partner who does LinkedIn marketing, then that's an added value to the reader, and worth it. Otherwise, it's an ad that you didn't get paid for - and is not worth it.
Darwin Binesh
@anand_sriniv That's a good callout. Practically the only benefit would be the exposure from them sharing it, or proof of process on my side. Some leave testimonials etc. Thanks for your note I appreciate it.
Fernando Pessagno
If you wanna help out, do it with no strings attached. You don't have to expect something in return, it's not always gotta be a two-way street. Otherwise people can tell when your love isn't genuine. Plus, if you wanna showcase other newbie entrepreneurs, it might hurt your own brand because people could associate it with yours. I used to do this and it was a real pain to keep updating all the tiny ads when there were way more important things to do. I'd avoid it and if you want to spread the love, Twitter shoutouts are a better way to go.
Darwin Binesh
@fer_momento Hey thanks for this it's a good point. In some cases we expect nothing. In other cases we feature them because they asked us so we say "sure can you share it though?" and they reply yes but don't. Tough balance, but good point regardless. Thanks for your comment.
Richard Gao
I think as long as you're using common sense featuring startups (don't feature illegal things, blatantly offensive things, etc) you're always incurring a net benefit to featuring. You stated that some don't share their posts like they said they would, but some do. And for the ones that don't you only lose a few seconds of your time. As for cheapening your brand, I'd have to ask, what type of articles do you write? I just read a few and it seems like it should be fine. On the professionalism vs "relatability" scale, you seem to be in the middle, which means your audience will probably be more accepting of product promotions. So overall, I would say continue doing what you're doing. Some people will take advantage of you and some will not, but the cost benefit analysis skews greatly in doing what you're currently doing. PS: I'd actually be interested in getting my product (evoke-app.com) featured. I'd be more than happy to share your post. Feel free to DM me on twitter @TheRealEtch. It's also something AI related, so it'd be a great fit if you write an article about AI.
Darwin Binesh
@therealetch @richard_gao2 Thanks for your comment I write business and tech news and tips for business owners. Thanks for your comments, i'll look for you on Twitter. Cheers!