Contacting a website owner for copyright permission

Hello everyone,

I am starting a new website dedicated for review of baby product (product info. where to buy. pics etc), it will be one product only but by numerous big brands.
It will be like one place where customers can see and compare different brands.

I was initially hoping to write all content, take photos, product videos myself, and provide cons and pros…But since the product is not cheap and the range of brands is about 30 plus models…I can not afford to purchase all of them for review.So I checked this forum and decided to get the content, video etc from the manufactures websites and I saw few ppl advising that I should get the permission from the website owners…

I will in future add my own info, as I buy more and more of this product, but will take quite some time. For the purpose of getting a website running I need content so going to email the manufacturers, like Sony, Samsung.

My question is who should I contact and how to get a reply?? As many of those websites have just a customer care numbers, or general emails, therefore not sure if I get anything at all.

And in addition I do not have the website yet, just domain, so really worried if anyone will give me permission to use their contect before I have a website running.

Can you guys please advise me on this? How should I approach and if any of you have had same issue and how did you get about it?

I rally appreciate all feedback, since I do not have anyone who can help me.

Thanks a lot.

since

Most big companies have a marketing/advertising department, that’s the department you want to contact. I would be surprise if they denied your request to use their product in a review, just remember though the review can’t be totally negative in nature.The trade off, well no company wants their products to be shown in a negative light, so if your review is going to be a scathing review then I would recommend taking the picture(s) of the product yourself, but just remember you’ll still have to give that company for the actual product credit and a fair chance to respond to the review. However, in general most products that you review I would guess would have more favorable points or at least nothing that would make the company cringe.

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Hello Strider.
Thank you so much. Very valid points. And yes I did think about it, that the review should be more positive, if I need the company’s website info etc.
In future I am definitely planning to take photos of products myself, review the product, add product description in my own words, that way I should be safe right? I mean I can be very honest about products, because some of them I experienced are quite bad:( and I want to attract visitors, who will trust my review.

Thank you again, this means a lot. I will contact the marketing/ad department as per your advise.

you can do as this website productreview did. But work is very hard by yourself.

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Thanks Jane. Ye it is very hard. That is why I am starting with one product line only. Great link you sent. Very nice website, that is the idea I was thinking in the long run.

You should go on twitter or social media networks and find similar bloggers blogging in your niche.
Reach out to them.

I recently reached out to a major produce brand in my niche through twitter.

Thanks for advise, I reached out to a blogger and got a lot of info…Really happy about that.

Hi Zalinka! You mention that you don’t have a site yet, just the domain yet. Do you already own a few products you could review, or know someone who does? Having a few reviews on your site will go a long way towards showing brands that you’re serious about the project, and not just looking for a freebie.

Some brands have a person/team that specifically deals with blogger relations. Look at other review sites, or bloggers who sometimes feature sponsored posts (the first that comes to my mind is A Cup of Jo), make a list of their sponsors, and contact those brands directly.

A warning: brands get dozens, if not hundreds, of similar requests per week. Anything you can do to show that you’re serious will help! Proofread your email, make sure it’s not a generic template, and have a simple but nicely designed website.

Thanks for info…will take you on advise and make few reviews…brilliant idea.

You can contact marketing/PR/Content department for further information or collect, refine article on Social media FB, twitter, blog. Good luck