The difference between PR, collaborations, giveaways and Affiliates!

Can everyone finally start using the correct terms for PR, collabs, giveaways and Affiliates please?! Please learn the difference, lovely people! It's been driving me crazy lately! 😉😁 I know many brands don't know the difference either but weither if you're a brand or an Influencer / Creator, if you want to come across as professional, experienced and good at your job, (and we all do, don't we? 😊), I feel like we all should know this too! PR boxes are typically send by well established and famous brands (or PR companies working with these brands) to Influencers and Media figures with a huge following, who made it onto the brand's coveted and usually quite limited PR list. PR boxes are randomly send to people from that list without any posting requirements. It's kinda similar to going to a blogger event where you receive a goodiebag: while you're not required to post about it, it is highly appreciated if you do post something. If you want to persue a spot on a brand's PR list, you just have to inform the brand or the PR company working for the brand of your interest in getting onto their PR list and ask them if they have available spots left. When applying for a spot on a PR list through a PR company, you might receive invites for blogger events too, since PR companies usually work for multiple brands in the same niche. PR boxes are never guaranteed when making it to a brand's list though, however, you should also receive Press Releases through email when the brand launches a new product with info and press images included for you to share on your page, socials or blog. The goal usually is to introduce a newly launched product. Sadly, many (mostly Korean) brands aren't using the correct terms themselves, what they refer to as PR isn't actually PR, it's a good old, plain collaboration. Collaborations are a partnership between the brand and the creator and they can be bartered or paid. Collaborations often take place after a contract was signed to set the terms of the collaboration but they might happen without signing any contract too. Having a signed contract is better though, it's a form of safety for both parties. A bartered collaboration means the products are send for free by the brand and in return, the creator posts about it on their socials, webpage or blog. The products are your payment and shipping is always included! A paid collaboration is a collaboration in which the brand pays you money for advertising them. Usually, they also provide free product(s) besides the actual payment. You will be asked for your rates when a brand wants to do a paid collab with you and your rates should be determined by your followingbase, engagement, experience and the quality of your own brand as a Creator and your posts. Shipping is also included here! Both bartered and paid collaborations usually come with posting guidelines and the goal usually is advertisement: brand awareness or attracting new customers and achieving more sales. A giveaway is a free product you can win. It's not a collaboration and it's not PR. You take the necessary steps to apply to the giveaway and you might or might not win. That's it. There can be posting guidelines involved (like the giveaways here on Picky), but that still doesn't make it a collaboration. It's a giveaway and you have a chance to win. Another possibility is enrolling in Affiliate Programs. If you apply for these, you usually receive a link and / or a discountcode to share with your audience and everytime someone buys something using your link or code, you will reveive a small percentage of the amount they paid for their purchase. Affiliate Programs usually don't provide any other benefits other than the percentage payments, the brands expect you to have some of their products already at home, since affiliate programs are meant for fans who already know the brand and have used their products before. And most Ambassador Programs are the same, it's just different wording. Never pay for shipping, in either one of these! Shipping should always be covered by the brand! And if you receive an email from a gmail account, it's fake! Brands always use their official email to reach out, not a throwaway account! Just a little tip! 😊 Anyway, let's all use the right terms from now on, shall we?! 😊 It makes us look like the professionals we truly are! Thank you all! 😁