Talking to Matchstick Marketing

After I posted about my friend, Rebecca from Miss604’s experience with Matchstick Marketing, I realized that I was basically doing exactly what I was trying to teach people not to do: I wasn’t getting a balanced view of the situation.  Made me no better than a mud-slinger. So, I reached out to them and asked if we could chat.

Gillian Sloan, the senior account manager got back to me right away and we set up a time to chat with both her and Matthew Stradiotto, one of Matchstick’s founders.

They were both great to talk to, and were completely candid about what had happened with Rebecca and also what they were doing to make sure that similar situations don’t happen in the future.

Gillian and Matthew explained that Matchstick views the bloggers they work with as consumers first and foremost, which I thought was a great way to look at it.

The main thing that Matchstick wants to do, before sending product out to the people they’ve determined are influencers (what they call the bloggers and consumers they work work) is to understand them as people first, rather than just an influencer. They want to know what makes people tick so they are sure they’ve found the right fit.

Gillian has circulated one of Jason Fall’s “how to conduct blogger outreach”  [post] around the office and they were meeting later this week to go over everything with their staff.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if all companies responded this way to a compliant or problem?? I have to applaud Matchstick for responding so quickly and for being as honest and transparent as they say they are. Hallmarks of any company operating in what is now a social media world.