Earlier this year I started to hit what I call “blogger burn-out.” I started to feel frustrated and aimless when it came to my blogging journey. I also started to battle with that little green monster and felt envy towards my peers- how were they landing all these brand deals? Why weren’t brands noticing me? It had been my goal for awhile to eventually turn my blog into a business, but the reality of it is that I was pouring way more money into it than I was getting out of it. While I love blogging and would still do it as a hobby regardless if I could make an income from it or not, it started to get frustrating to feel like my hard work wasn’t paying off- and let’s be real blogging is HARD work. Does this sound like something you can relate to? I feel like we’ve all been there at one point.
That’s when I decided I needed to regroup and change how I was approaching blogging. I had a huge lightbulb moment when I realized that my whole strategy had been wrong. You see- my whole blogging career I was waiting for and relying on brands to approach ME. Now that I actually reflected on that, it felt silly. How could I expect brands to just know that I exist? How could I let the success of my business and dreams rely on just sitting there and waiting for opportunity to come knocking? Strategically, it made no sense. That’s when I realized I had been dealing with a bad case of imposter syndrome. I asked myself why I hadn’t been reaching out to brands and the answer was that I didn’t feel valuable enough and I was too fearful of rejection. I had been given myself excuse after excuse-
“I don’t have enough followers and they won’t want to work with me”
“I don’t even know how to pitch.”
“I’ll start reaching out when I have a bigger following or stronger engagement.”
“If a brand really wants to work with me, they’d approach me.”
“This brand is too big and important to want to work with me.”
Sound familiar??
Once I came to this realization I decided to take my business into my own hands and shift my mindset. After all, the worst that could happen is my message may go unanswered or I may get a no. If that was the worst outcome, and the best outcome was a “yes”, it sounded like a no-brainer to start putting myself out there and pitching.
Now here’s the tea on how I started to pitch:
- I made a list of brands I knew I wanted to work with and brands that I had seen do influencer partnerships before. The goal here is to be realistic- I started reaching out to local businesses and smaller brands who would benefit from a partnership and that would allow me to practice and hone my pitches with lower stakes. For example, you’re not going to start by pitching Gucci, but you might reach out to some boutiques or startup companies.
- I did my research to make sure these brands had partnered with influencers before or have some kind of existing program in place. You can do this by simply browsing their website and tagged photos on social. This is important because you don’t want to waste your time pitching brands who don’t have a budget or don’t work with influencers.
- I saw more success reaching out to brands via DM vs email and this is still my secret weapon. It’s easy for a brand to ignore an email, but with that handy “seen” button on Instagram someone will usually get back to you 😉
- I paid attention to what the preview message shows on those DM’s that I’m sending. I noticed that my open rate went up when I went from starting messages with, “Hi I’m Skye and I’m a Fashion Blogger…” to “Hi there! I have a question!” Why? Because the brand might not open a DM they know is going to be a pitch, but they will open a message if they think it’s a customer who might have a question! Sometimes they might redirect you to an email, but this is actually ideal since this is the BEST way to get an accurate contact to reach out to at the brand.
- I started following up when I hadn’t heard back from a brand 2-3 times. I’ll be the first to admit that I used to not do this because I assumed it was a no and didn’t want to be annoying, but brands can get really bogged down with messages or can forget to respond back. Follow ups have really helped me and I’ve even gotten important contact info and landed partnerships by doing so!
- I started to follow up after wrapping up a partnership. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s something I wasn’t doing. I’d send my analytics after a campaign and then essentially peace out on a brand and again assume they’d reach out if they wanted to partner again. Then I realized that this was not very business savvy. I mean think about it, repeat clients are a vital part of any business. I followed up with a few brands I’d partnered with the prior year and touched base and this action alone led to “1,000” of revenue for me in a month. Now do the math, if you’re able to work with those same brands multiple times a year, or even once a year that really adds up and becomes reliable income.
- I realized I was going to get wayyy more no’s than yes’es and I learned not to take rejection personally. Often times getting a “yes” is way more about getting lucky and connecting with a brand at the right time. You never know if a brand’s influencer roster is full, if they have budget, if they’re running any campaigns, or even if they’re dealing with a change in staff. So many factors can go into a “no” and it does not mean a brand doesn’t want to work with you. Take this from me- I used to run influencer partnerships for a brand and there were a ton of influencers I would have loved to have us partner with, but we just weren’t running campaigns at that given time or didn’t have the budget.
- Know that it’s okay to negotiate/ Say NO! Learning that I had as much negotiating power as the brand was a super important revelation. Just because a brand gives you certain deliverables or a certain rate/ offer does NOT mean you have to accept it. You should always feel valued and like you’re being treated fairly. If you are uncomfortable with anything, it’s okay to negotiate or even walk away. Saying “no” is also an important part of pitching. You don’t want to overextend yourself, undervalue yourself, or become resentful for saying ‘yes’ to a project that didn’t feel right.
- Get Paid!!! No matter what your following is, you deserve to get paid for your work. Get clear on your rates (there are tons of tools out there that can help you with this) but never send a rate sheet or be the first to give a brand a number (if you can avoid it). Instead you’ll want to ask a brand what the budget for their project is, what the deliverables are so you can appropriately quote them a rate if needed, and provide a price range instead of a set number so you’re not limiting your earning potential. Also, really be selective when it comes to gifted offers. I’m not saying to never take them- but really know your worth and how a gifted partnership would benefit you. Is the brand promising reposts to a large audience, are they going to include you in an email, is the gifted opportunity really worth getting a foot in the door with a brand to prove yourself? You should be getting something out of a gifted deal that’s mutually beneficial, and if you aren’t it’s best to pass in my opinion. If a brand sees enough value to work with you, but not enough value to pay you for that work- they’re not going to be worth it in the long run.
- Don’t give away image rights to brands- you deserve to get paid for this! You don’t want a brand to have free reign to be able to do whatever they want with your content for all eternity without being compensated for it. There’s a reason content creators exist, because you should get paid for what you create. I ALWAYS negotiate image rights to include just reposts with credit on their organic unpaid social channels OR I give the brand my rate for image including image rights.
— And drumroll please, here is the template I use to pitch brands via DM’s:
“Hi there! I have a question. I’m (name) and I’m (your niche and purpose/ a _ blogger who focuses on _).”I’m reaching out because I (have heard great things about the brand/ have been a big fan of the brand for _ amount of time) and absolutely love (this thing about the the brand). I’d be thrilled to help support you and connect you with a new audience. Can you tell me how you’re currently working with influencers or a good contact to reach out to? Thanks!”
That’s all folks! Still looking for more resources and info?
I HIGHLY recommend the following:
Lastly, feel free to DM me if you have any additional questions!!!
XO,
Skye
