Do you make cool stuff that moms must have? Do you own something that makes all your friends scream, “Where did you get that? I MUST own six of them now!” Are you involved with an organization that hip moms across the country could get into? Don’t just sit there, tell us about it. Email us at info@coolmompicks.com.
Send us a url and a few sentences explaining why it’s cool. Easy!
What are you looking for exactly?
We look for things that are cool and buzzworthy, and excellent design is a must. Our archives can give you a good sense of what we write about. Please look there before you pitch us “sexy nail appliques for dogs.”
We definitely have a heart for boutique and independent brands and emerging designers, great fashion, cool decor, new-to-market toys and games, and we’re always suckers for a social or eco-conscious backstory.We cover lots of family tech too, at our sister site Cool Mom Tech. But we’re open to all kinds of things.
Except diaper cakes. Please, please no diaper cakes.
We also don’t cover multi-tiered marketers, but we wish those of you sales affiliates the best of luck with your businesses.
Last, we want our readers to be able to simply click and buy. Parents are busy people, you know? So if you make a product that you only sell at church craft fairs in the Netherlands we’re not the right site for you. (But we’d love to visit you over there some time.)
When will you let me know if my submission has been picked?
Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we can not respond to every email. If we’re interested in an item for review, we will get back to you with an address where you can send samples if we feel we need one. Please don’t follow up 6 times in a week–although we appreciate your enthusiasm. We will try to inform you if and when your item is scheduled to be featured or better yet, set up a Google Alert for your brand name and you’ll know yourself.
We make every effort to review products and services in a timely manner, but as moms, sometimes things like runny noses and day jobs get in the way. Sometimes we hold reviews for an appropriate holiday or newsletter theme.
My website is not ready yet. Mind if I submit it to you anyway and make you weed through all my broken links and fuzzy photos?
Sure! That’s not annoying at all!
My website looks terrible and our photos are small and pixelated but my product is great. Will you review me?
Probably not. Do you like visiting terrible websites? Yeah, neither do our readers.
Will you beta test my product for me and give me some marketing tips?
Email us at info@coolmompicks.com and we are happy to provide consulting rates.
If I advertise with you will that guarantee a feature?
No. Though we truly thank you for your support.
If I send you a sample will that guarantee a feature?
Nope, sorry. But we won’t ask for a sample unless we already think we’re interested and need a closer look at it for some reason. It’s the eco thing to do and saves us time.
We accept samples for the purpose of evaluating products and services first-hand that we intend to feature. We do not return samples, though we can accept certain loaners of high value with an agreement beforehand.
We reserve the right to hold onto some samples for future promotional opportunities, media appearances or contests.
Do you accept compensation for reviews?
Nooooo. Although when we do write a feature on behalf of a sponsor, or post an affiliate link, we make it clear. We value our readers’ trust too much to make recommendations we don’t truly believe in and wouldn’t buy ourselves. Also, please don’t offer us gift cards in exchange for a feature or for promoting brand information. That’s icky.
If you’d like information about a sponsored post or other partnership, please contact our Director of Ad Sales and Brand Partnerships, Lisa Barnes: lisa@coolmompicks.com. She’s amazing. You’ll like her.
Will anything guarantee a review?
Just us thinking something is cool. You can also tell us how awesome our site is which may or may not help.
If your suggestion is not featured, you are always welcome to send us other ideas–as in, not the same idea that you’re just hoping we forgot that we didn’t like in the first place.
A special note for PR professionals
We love PR folks. Some of our best friends are PR folks. Here are a few tips that make us more receptive to your pitch:
- Read our site. We think it’s pretty clear what we do and don’t write about. Cool stuff: Yes. Fast food chain coupons: No. Cause marketing: Yes. Nuclear bomb manufacturers: No.
- Include links in your pitch, please, so we don’t have to search the web ourselves.
- We don’t need 600 hi-rez JPG attachments to get a sense of the product. Or even 10. A link is best.
- Ideally we’d love a few sentences about why the product/service/event/sale is right for our site and our audience. This doesn’t generally include things like “Someone from the Real Housewives owns one” or “Strippers love them!”
- We receive hundreds and hundreds of pitches a day. Generic press releases addressed to “Ms. [your name here] ” or “Dear Blogger” are very easy to skip over. Pro tip: Address them to Kristen and Liz.
- We don’t mind the occasional follow-up but we’d rather not get one every day. We promise we’ll get back to you if you are promoting clients of supreme awesomeness.
- Please oh please pleeeeease be transparent and let us know who you work for. If you pretend to be a regular old mom who stumbled upon this product and just happens to know all the SKU numbers and distribution channels for retail purchase we will talk about you behind your back.
- BONUS TIP: There is a basic setting in your email preferences that lets you change your typeface from 24 pt. comic sans to pretty much anything else. Check it out.
On guest posts, or lack thereof
We do not publish guest posts; that’s what our amazing team of writers are for. Any unsolicited posts, articles, or essays will be deleted unread.
One more kind of sucky thing…
We’ve heard about unscrupulous people claiming to be writers for popular blogs in order to score freebies. Pretty awful, especially when small businesses are the victims. If someone contacts you directly on our behalf and does not appear on our list of contributors, feel free to email publishers Kristen Chase or Liz Gumbinner any time at info@coolmompicks.com for confirmation.
Because we like ending on an up note:
Here’s our kids’ favorite joke these days:
Why did the chicken cross the beach? To get to the other tide!
