Are you ready to collaborate with businesses as an influencer? Partnerships with companies are one of the most profitable ways for an influencer to generate money, but pitching yourself and your work to a company may be difficult - particularly if you're new to the field.
Should you DM, call or send an email? Should you reveal your lack of experience? Is there anything you should do before contacting brands? These are all excellent questions. Here's what you should do to put your best foot down and and what you SHOULD NOT when it comes to interacting with a brand for the first time:
Considerations prior to approaching a brand
Before contacting any brand, you must create the basis. Work through this set of tasks:
1. Create a media kit
A brand will request your media kit, which functions as an information-dense digital résumé. The package should contain personal experience, as well as audience breakdowns, engagement figures, and collaborative examples. Here is a free template for you.
Extra tip: Don't attach your media kit on your first pitch email. Only send it to the brand if they ask for it and never, I repeat NEVER send your rates sheet unless they specifically ask for it. Otherwise you may miss out on a better deal and it puts you in a less appealing negotiation stand.
2. Organize your social media channels and come up with a strategy
Examine all of your social media profiles. Ensure that your bio has appropriate information and that all of the links function (If you have an Amazon storefront, other channels and a blog use liinks to gather all of them together), and pin an outstanding post to the top of your profile (I recommend the one with the most likes or comments). Ensure that a brand can quickly locate your contact details.
Another tip is to link all your accounts and promote each of them on the other channel. Brands are looking for well rounded creators who can cover as many platforms as possible. If you don't already have a Youtube, Tiktok or Pinterest you should definitely start one and advertise that in your next brand pitch.Plus you can offer better packages to the brand and earn more money with one single campaign.
3. Join a platform for influencer marketing
Frequently, brands use these networks to identify influencers and negotiate a campaign.
The platforms function not just as an influencer, but also as communication and payment tools, allowing a full campaign to be planned and executed from a single location. GRIN is a very popular platform for example.
4. Research brands which you associate with
Besides from attending an influencer network, you should take the initiative and investigate products that fit your feed aesthetic and niche. A recipe developer may seek out baking businesses, a beauty influencer may seek out a cosmetics company, etc.
Brands also desire influencers whose audience matches their target demographic. A beauty company prefers usually female users between 18-35 years and your posts and follower base should match that. Delete fake followers, push content that looks similar to the brands own feed and follow other creators that already work with the brand. See what kind of content they create and get inspired by it. Maybe post more GRWM reels or start a "workout" highlight if you want to partner up with NIKE or other sport brands.
5. Get social
Once you've compiled a shortlist of firms with whom you'd want to collaborate, begin posting about them on your social media networks. You may, for instance, spotlight a product that you like. Best case you already have their clothes or products so start tagging them in your posts. This is how I landed A BUNCH of paid partnerships by the way. I usually tag up to 20 brands on my 10 image carousel post and it is a game changer trust me!
How to Sell Yourself to a Company
After you've completed your pre-pitch checklist, it's time to contact the businesses with whom you wish to collaborate. Here's how it's done:
Create a brief and straightforward email. It should begin with a definition of your niche and a description of the sort of content you usually publish.
Next, propose a particular cooperation, such as collaborating on an Instagram Reel highlighting f.e. the brand's Christmas shoe selection. Your proposed campaign should be just as detailed, rather than merely asking, "Are you open to collaborating?".
The final portion should describe why you are an excellent match for the company. You might emphazise your target audience's preferences, passion of the brand, or other successful collaborations that offer credibility to your presentation. If you haven't worked with ANY brands yet make sure you write more about the individual deliverables you can offer and don't mention they would be the first collaboration.
Include a link to the social channel (s) you want to utilize for the cooperation and offer to be flexible with the deliverables.
Finish the email with a call to action or a positive sentence, such as "Looking forward to working with your brand!" or "Please let me know if your brand is interested."
Then, finish with a simple closing and your name.
P.S Understand your value!
While you will not include rate specifics in your first email, it is something you should be prepared to discuss.
Are you curious how much you should get paid? If you have no previous experience dealing with companies, you may find yourself promoting a product in return for the product itself rather than pay. Once you've completed a few campaigns, you may begin charging in addition to obtaining a free product or service. Ironman Agency will also offer content creator workshops next year in Tampa! You can RSVP now on our homepage.
You don't live in the Tampa Bay area but still would like to join the workshop? No worries we got you as well! You can RSVP for our upcoming INFLUENCER ONLINE BOOTCAMP!!!