Tips for Working with Brands

In this #backtoschool series, we're going over 4 of the main income streams for bloggers! First up, Working with Brands! We're going over how to get set up, the research phase, and how to find brands to pitch, the pitch, follow up, and what to do when brands don't respond! 

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"I want you to remember that there is a human behind the email. And humans are busy, right? We're really busy! I want to encourage you to follow up until you get a reply. That may sound crazy and feel extreme to you. But you can keep following up. It's okay, it's not unprofessional to do it, I would follow up every single week."

Discussed in this episode...

The Setup

This usually starts with some type of media kit, which is helpful to have created in advance if a brand asks for it! It's also helpful just for you to have the stats and information ready to go at your fingertips at any time. Things that we would include in there are what you blog about, what your audience loves, the demographics of your audience, stats about your own brand, different followers on different platforms, page views, email list subscribers, and all the things like that. You could also include past brands that you've worked with and examples of possible collaborations.

Something we often suggest when reviewing bloggers' media kits is to extend their media kit beyond one page. with a few blocks where they can really show off imagery. We find that being able to do that and showcase to brands what you're able to do can go a long way! You can easily make this for yourself in Canva, or you can look on something like Etsy or Creative Market for a media kit template. We also have an example you can see here.

The Research

You're going to need some way to organize things. We love using air table because you can sort things super easily by status, or when to follow up.

When you're looking at brands to pitch, it's going to be harder to reach the big names like Target, Michaels, Disney, or Nordstrom. Instead, if you need inspiration, look at the brands that are on the shelves! If you're feeling stuck, go shopping! Head to the store with a notebook, or create a list on your phone, and write down those brand names. Which ones would your audience love? What do you love? Start there!

Another thing to try is local brands! This could be a huge opportunity for people with a primarily local audience.

The Pitching

Now you get to revise your pitch! Our suggestion is to have a couple of different pitch templates and follow-up emails saved and ready to go! We love saving email templates directly in Gmail so they're super easy to access, and with one click you can have a nearly finished email. It's a huge time saver! If you're stuck on where to even start, or aren't sure how to negotiate for higher payment on a project, we've written some pitch templates that might be helpful.

So, how often should you pitch? You can create your own formula for this! It really depends on how many pitches you need to send to get a yes. This formula is made through practice. Let's say you have to send out 27 emails to get one yes; if you want two brand deals a month, you need to send out 54 emails a month to get those two brand deals. So the first step is consistently pitching and figuring out how many emails you need before you get a yes, and then using that data to figure out how many emails you need to send to your target amount of brand deals.

Following Up

This is one of the most important parts; you have to follow up. This is what is often missing! Or people only follow up one or two times, and then stop. We want you to remember that there is a real, actual human behind that email! And humans are busy, right? It may sound crazy and feel extreme to you, but you need to follow up until you get a reply. It's not unprofessional at all! Our suggestion is to follow up every week. If it's five or six weeks and you've not heard back yet, pause for a month or two and then re-pitch them. It happened to Bree personally when she followed up for a few months, and the end result was a $5,000 contract! They weren't irritated or annoyed; they were grateful she had followed up! They had simply been busy.

It will happen that a brand says no. When that's the case, keep in mind that you could just be a wrong fit for that campaign. Or you're out of their budget, or the timing isn't right. When they say no, ask if there's a good time to circle back. If they say you're not a good fit, ask what they're looking for! Maybe you can connect them with a friend would be good for their brand. Get feedback from them, because with that feedback we can learn, grow, and improve! 

Resources Mentioned

• Shift
• The Profitable Blogger Society
• How to make a media kit
• What to include in a media kit
• The Pricing Guide

More about Bree Pair:

Bree Pair is a blogging coach and founder of Thrive - A blogging community built to empower and educate bloggers to make a full-time income by spending time on the right things. Her passion is helping bloggers create a strategy for growth and working with them on every side of their business to give them the confidence they need to be successful. Bree is propelled by the results of seeing bloggers go from overwhelmed to steady and sustained growth and creating the lifestyle they want.

Follow Bree on Instagram!