welcome to a new segment that i'm calling honest answers where i take
questions that you guys ask me and answer them honestly today's question
one that i've received many times is how do you guys get companies to send
you the samples of computer hardware that you're always showing off
well let's get started
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check out the link in the video description to learn more so there are
two underlying meanings to this question whenever people ask me some of them want
to become product reviewers or vloggers or they just want a sponsor to you know
throw them a free video card or SSD for their new rig while others are just idly
curious about how it is that we get all these cool products to review or show
off since most people are astute enough to figure out that no one is crazy or
wealthy enough to buy all of the stuff that they need to run a tech review
channel our size let's start with the folks who want to
know how to get review products for themselves since that's a simpler answer
and here it is sorry but basically you
can't if life worked that way that would be super cool but it doesn't
unfortunately and the odds of a pr or media relations contact even replying to
you unless you're affiliated with a significant publication is very very low
software sometimes works on a different set of rules since there's no actual
bill of materials for emailing someone a license key but physical items that have
a real cost like money that had to be paid to a
supplier or a factory associated with them are not handed out without some
kind of benefit in return this is known as roi or return on investment now there
are exceptions i actually had a viewer contact me once asking for advice on how
to review some ssds that he had managed to finagle out of crucial and Intel of
all people i mean minus tech tips has never gotten an SSD sample from crucial
to which i replied well dude you really should have thought
of that before you requested review samples ssds are among the most
complicated devices to properly review then i gave them some homework that
involved reading every SSD article ever published on a non-tech starting with
the x25m review which he either didn't do or didn't understand based on the
finished video and that is exactly why most people
never will and probably never should get a review sample if a pr agent cares
about his or her job because they've generally given little to no thought to
the roi i used to handle sample requests at ncix by the way don't bother
contacting retailers why would they have samples
and i'd get presentations that are like hey if you guys give us eight 24 port
network switches we can have a 200 person lan party and i'd be like
good for you delete instead of asking what a hardware
manufacturer can do for you instead of sending a presentation that outlines the
cool games you plan to play on your free graphics card figure out what unique and
compelling value that you will provide in return which doesn't mean that i'm
saying that you should be some kind of a cheap horror ripple shill that was close posting
misleading positive reviews in exchange for a product most brands by the way
will not even be willing to engage in that kind of marketing because a it's
deceptive to the real customers and b in america anyway it is outright illegal so
find another way to justify it i mean maybe a really cool guide centered
around that product or prominent positioning in a build log with many
posts in the threads across a bunch of forums online which i guess leads us
pretty well into how we handle things part two of this how does Linus tech
tips get access to review samples well
it's pretty straightforward the company thinks that their product is awesome so
they send a unit to us and hope that we will agree with them and post a
favorable review pr really doesn't get any cheaper or more
effective than that since sending out a loaner unit is just the price of a
return label and even a keeper unit is only the cost of the product itself
which is nothing compared to a decent sized ad campaign on facebook or a tv
commercial or whatever they are taking a risk that the findings
we present won't be positive but with some exceptions astro never replied to
me again after i posted a negative review of their a50 wireless headset
most of the brands that we've ever worked with value our honest feedback
even if they didn't get the result they wanted and will work with their product
development team to make it better the next time around
though with that said we've gotten to the point where sending us something
isn't that risky since a negative review seems to generate a bump in the sales of
a given product for some reason anyhow so it's gotten pretty easy for us
to request whatever it is that we need which leads us back to the first answer
again before wrapping this up why is it easy for you Linus but not for
me the viewer brands love
influencers and they come in many forms influencers who are really good at
something directly related to the product so like esports players gaming
and preferably winning with logitech or razer mice would be a perfect example of
this influencers that are good at something only sort of related to the product or
service being offered so this is where the good old picture of the athlete on
the box of wheaties comes in or influencers
that are just cool so cool that brands want their products
nearby however untalented the individuals may be
wherever consumers are directing their eyeballs that is where brands want to
put their products which is how content like sevengamers1 CPU came to be
so that my friends is what you will need if you want anyone to reply to your
emails influence or eyeballs which means that
if your plan is to be a phone reviewer or something and you don't see a way out
of this chicken and egg box where you can't get any phones until you're an
established phone reviewer and you can't be your phone reviewer until you get phones then frankly you need to get more
creative i mean i worked at a computer retailer which is how i got access to
computer hardware and lots of guys start out making simple guides that are
applicable to any device to establish themselves before they get into the more
high-end stuff that is either expensive or you need a media contact for you'll
need to think outside the box because i can guarantee that your path to success
will be different from mine or anyone else's i hope this video clears it up
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description all right so thanks for watching guys if
this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit
that like button or even consider supporting us directly by using our
affiliate code to shop at amazon instructions up there by buying a cool
shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through our
community forum now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click
that little button in the top right corner to check out the video where i open up
holy a system that can accept eight graphics
cards all at once
which by the way was a review sample oh yeah leave a comment if you have
suggestions for future questions answered whatever i call this segment