Big bloggers make working with brands look fun and easy. They can have you thinking, “Well, I want a brand deal with Loreal. How do I get in on this?” It’s not as easy as it looks, but it’s not as scary as it sounds either.
As a blogger, one of your big goals may be to work with brands. We want to share the best practices for once you’ve signed that brand collaboration! If you want brands to work with you again, or if you’re not getting paid yet and you want them to pay you next time, here is what you can do to get their attention and make sure they love the content you created for them.
Before we begin, one thing we want to recommend first is that you have a professional email address. No one will tell you this is required, but it makes you look like you should be taken seriously. It’s a cheap investment that goes a long way. It’s quick to get it set up with your domain name and we’ve got a 20% off code for you thanks to G-Suite! Just head over to G-Suite by Google, and use code “MCAR3DW7V3FLLYV” to save 20% off your first year!
- Read and re-read the requirements
- This may sound obvious, but you’d be amazed by the stories we’ve heard about brand deal requirements people have missed and weren’t asked to do another. If you want to work with that brand again and get paid more, take notes, and highlight all the requirements. Then, make sure you’re ready to fulfill those requirements, and start asking yourself, how can I make this my best piece of content yet?
- Post on time
- Again, it sounds like a no-brainer, but sadly bloggers have created bad reputations for themselves by not posting by the deadline in the contract. Some brands will be lenient if this happens, others won’t pay you because you didn’t fulfill the agreement. The bottom line is that you want to make the brand happy and want to work with them again, so pay attention to the deadlines, get your content done in advance, schedule it, and post on time!
- Go above and beyond
- Does it say to share X number of times? We want you to make it your goal to get your analytics up and through the roof on the sponsored post! You want to wow that brand, as well as get them the return they need to help their business grow. So if that means you share it more on social media than required in order to increase your analytics, then do it.
- You should be excited about working with that brand and it should be a natural fit for you and your own blog, so make sure you’re creating organic content to share multiple times. Do extra tweets, share it several times on Facebook, and post about it on LinkedIn! Often these get overlooked because we’re focused on Instagram. Even if it’s a sponsored Instagram post, you can share a link to that post on different channels to increase the engagement on that post. Oh, and don’t forget to send it out to your email list! You can check out why a lot of Thrivers choose Flodesk in this Youtube video that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at Flodesk**youtube LINK**.
- Follow Up
- Share your analytics
- Even if it’s not something they require, you want to follow up with a golden report sharing the results. Since you put in the hard work of sharing the content you created, brag about it. Share the analytics reports, leads, sales if you have an affiliate link, and even highlight top comments talking about the brand. Share anything with them that you know will make them happy to have worked with you.
- Share your analytics
- Ask if they have feedback for you
- Constructive criticism is good for growth! Learn from every single collaboration that you do, and you’ll be making bigger and better deals with each contract.
- Ask them if they have anything coming up next quarter that you should keep on your radar for partnering together again
- Finally, end your correspondence finding out what’s next on their agenda. If you don’t ask for the next opportunity, it might not come. If they say nothing at the moment, ask when a good time to follow up would be. Keep in mind, that could be a month or two in the future, don’t be discouraged! Just write it down in your planner, and follow up when the time is right.
At the end of the day, you’re an advertiser and they’re hiring you to promote their brand. Just like when they spend money on Facebook ads, commercials, Google ads, etc. By investing in you they’re saying that they think your audience will respond to your content about their brand. That means click-throughs, page views, and purchases.
That’s why it is vital that you love the brands you work for because you should want to tell your audience about them and encourage them to check them out. It has to be genuine, or it will fall flat.
BONUS:
- Not getting sponsored posts just yet? That’s okay! Take steps 3 & 4 to heart the next time you share a brand. Work on creating posts (both on your blog, and on Instagram) that you’ll be able to share with brands when you pitch them! Not sure how to pitch? Check out our newly revised course, How to Pitch a Brand.
- Save time by using our pitch templates
- Know exactly what to say to brands and how to negotiate
- Learn how to price yourself
