As a blogger when you land your first paycheck it is an amazing feeling!
One thing I want to encourage you amigas is this:
Don't downplay your small beginnings
Whether your first paycheck is $200 or $2000, it is a win WIN!
Now I do want to be REAL and let you guys know that this is not a quick money making career! It takes a lot of hard work, strategies in place and time. Getting traffic and growing your audience comes with growth in your blog and your authenticity. You need to gain people's trust and trust in all relationships comes with time.
I want to encourage you guys that you can land a brand collaboration as a micro influencer. A micro influencer is defined as an influencer who has less than 100 thousand followers. This number to different people varies but let's just use this number for now. I currently have 14,200 followers on my Instagram and this was the number that landed me my first $5000 brand campaign.
Here are some of my tips on how I landed my first $5000 brand campaign:
1. Research what brands you want to collaborate with
Create a spreadsheet of brands that you love, shop at, are in contact with and that align with your followers interests and brand messaging. You should have some sort of personal or emotional connection to the brands that you want to reach out to. Working with a brand that you love or believe in will make the collaboration enjoyable and fun.
Also don't underestimate the fact that your audience can smell a fake collaboration. I have seen many influencers get draggedddd in their comments bu their followers by being called a sell out or changing due to collaborations that aren't even remotely close to aligning with this person's brand and messaging.
Don't just go after a collaboration for the money!!! Its is hard to gain followers but it is even harder to try to regain their trust back!
2. Reach out to brands directly.
For the majority of my time blogging and content creating I have relied on influencer agencies to pitch possible brand collaborations to me and the ones that aligned with my brand I applied for. Agencies are great when you are starting out but it comes with possible low ball numbers and a large portion of the campaign offer going to the agency. You don't get to see the brand's offer and you don't get to contact the brand directly.
Once I started to contact brands directly the rate negotiations were higher. You are given more say in the campaign deliverables and creative freedom.
I contacted my $5000 campaign brand via Instagram. It was a short and simple message and that is how I received the contact person's email address.
📱Here is an example of the type of dm(s) I send out:
Hello my name is Alana and I have a fashion/lifestyle blog called The Style Brunch. I would love to get connected with someone at your company to pitch an idea for a xyz collaboration. Could you please direct me on how to get in touch with someone in your PR/social media division? Thank you so much.
9 out of 10 times I get a reply back with a quick hello and the email address of the person to contact with such requests. Done! I found the person and now I can send out my pitch to the right person.
3. Pitch confidently
Know your audience numbers and strong sentiments. This includes swipe up numbers, engagement rate, dm(s), blog conversion rates, online visitors to your blog, your reach, your demographics etc. Learn your analytics and how they work for you. Pitch these numbers to brand confidently.
Here is an example of a bad pitch:
Hello [PR person name],
My name is Alana and I am a lifestyle influencer. I run both a blog and Instagram page that has a very strong engagement rate and lots of likes and followers. My Instagram has currently 14,200 followers. I would love to work with your brand. I think it would be a great fit for me since I am trying to grow.
If your looking for any influencers to work with I would love to be considered. Please let me know. I can send over rates and a media kit for your consideration.
Thank you for your time and have a great day!
Best,
Alana xyz
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Here is a strong email pitch:
Hello [insert brand contact name here],
My name is Alana Rodriguez, the blogger behind The Style Brunch
where I share with my readers style, beauty/skincare, lifestyle and
inspiration to a diverse group of adult women from the ages of 25-34.
I've been a customer and follower of xyz for over [x amount] years. I bought my first ever product from xyz when I started freelancing as a makeup artist. It was all that I used on my clients and got so many compliments when used.
But apart from your high quality products I admire
what you do in local communities including here in my hometown of xyz. I especially was touched with the work done with Volunteers of America.
I would love to support and
spread your message while showcasing your beautiful products in a blog post or youtube channel. I visualize a partnership with you around the concept of the high quality of your makeup brushes and the importance of self care in new motherhood. As a new mom myself without notice an entire day could be spent taking care of your family and not a moment for yourself. I want to write a post listing some self care tips for women along with my own self care routine while using your brushes and highlighting each one.
Is this something you would be interested in? Please let me know how I can serve you?
I have a niche audience that is dedicated to vegan and paraben free beauty products and natural looking makeup application. This means your brand will be getting targeted traffic from an audience that falls under your key demographic.
As mentioned previously, my followers or how I like to describe them my amigas, our relationship is authentic. On my instagram my conversion rate for affiliate marketing is 3.5% and my blog rate is 2.5% I can provide more data upon your request if needed.
For further consideration I have attached my media kit for consideration.
Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Alana Rodriguez
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There are so many differences in both emails. It is better to come from a place of service when pitching to brands. Mention phrases like "how can I serve you" or "what are some ways that I can support your brand." In this industry an authentic person comes from a place of serving others and not self gratification.
In addition do some homework on the brand. What is their mission statement? What are their key demographics? Do they do charity work or give back to the community? It always looks better when you do some background research on a brand and mention some highlights in your pitch email.
Be data driven. Find your strongest analytic numbers and data and include it appropriately in your email. How can these numbers specifically benefit the brand in collaborating with you.
Now remember we all pitch differently. So don't take my words as concrete method. I have changed my pitch a few different times until I confidently perfected my pitch email. Ask yourself how can I position myself so that a brand and/or company knows that they are going to gain benefits working from you and vice versa.
4. Know your worth and add tax!
When you are thinking of your rates you have to think about how much these brands are benefiting from your exposure. You also want to factor in your price your time to produce the content. On top of this rate make sure to include any outside costs such as hiring a photographer, props needed etc. All these factors need to be calculated in your pitched rate.
If you are confident in the quality of your work, your audience data and conversion rate and your time then you should be charging a premium price.
*Don't forget that your value increases when you also have other high engaged platforms. *
5. Visualize the partnership
When you are thinking about pitching to a brand already have in mind a concept of what this partnership will look like. Ask yourself how does this brand align with my audience and vice versa. In some circumstances you might really like a brand but if their products don't align with your audience then it won't be a good fit.
In addition to having your content visualized you should prepare ahead of time what platforms would this partnership fit best. Is it a blog post, an IG TV video, a youtube video, IG stories, or a takeover for the brand. There are many opportunities of ways to work with them but make sure that you are explaining to them in the ways that you want to. Don't just write "I want to work with you" periodt. Sis, NO this won't work or go very far.
You can also include how would this partnership fit into people's everyday lives. Pitching with intention, strategy and thoughtfulness will set you apart from all the hundreds of pitch emails brand managers get everyday.
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I hope you guys found this post helpful and informative. If you have any other recommendations that worked for you to land your first brand campaign please share below!
COMMUNITY AND COLLABORATION
OVER
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