As I review a number of different products as part of my freelance writing career, I interact with a good number of public relations representatives and other people responsible for getting review units into the hands of media outlets. Some of these PR reps have the right attitude of getting the products out there and being thankful for whatever feedback they can get. Others don’t.

These other reps sometimes start refusing review units to media outlets that have given their products less than stellar reviews. Their rationale is that the reviews are meant to generate publicity for the products and they don’t want the negative press. That might make sense to some, but it’s still not the right mentality. Instead, it is much more valuable to use this feedback and develop a better product.

The reviews are there for a reason. Based on the feedback received from these media outlets, as well as customer reviews on various stores and online opinion communities, you have the ability to make for a better product in the future. You can factor in these criticisms and address them accordingly. When the revised product is released, you can send it back out to the same media outlets and ask them if the improvements address their initial concerns.

Yes, you want as much positive exposure as you can, but that shouldn’t stop you from soliciting real, objective feedback from the experts in the industry. No product is perfect and you have to accept that not everyone is going to automatically give every product of yours a ten out of ten.