The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
Hey, dolls! Today, I wanted to give you some of my best advice on brand partnerships. I know it can be hard as your own boss to try and figure out how to make money through your blogs. As a Fashion, Beauty, and Lifestyle Influencer, it can be even harder finding the right brand partnerships for you to make! Below, I've got my foolproof guide to pitching yourself the right way!
Stay True to You
This is the best first step, dolls! Find your "Why" and stick to it! When you are true to yourself, you have no competition. Define who you are and what your brand is all about, and stay in your lane! (Not sure how to find it? Check out my Unicorn Guide!) Whatever makes you unique is what will bring your viewers to you! Building your brand on what you're passionate about (and not what other people want to see) will guarantee that you always have something to talk about!
Find Products That Align With Your Brand
You don't want to review products or try things out on your blog that don't make sense for your brand or your readers. I've always that I don't want anything that goes against God, and goes against who I am when selecting partnerships. For my blog, I'll talk about things that align with my love of fashion, beauty, travel, and anything in my blonde life!
A Human Connection
Once you've found the best product, you'll need to find the best person to ask about it! You'll want to find a human, dolls, not a generic email! If you're looking around a brand's website and you find "hello@brand.com," you may get lost in the influx of emails landing in that inbox. Instead, find a person you can reach out to and make it personal. Look for "kelly@brand.com" and tell them "Hi!"
The End Result
My end result is always one of three things, dolls:
1) Monetizing - A brand paying us to promote them. This would be the most ideal for us Influencers, as we need money to keep us going!
2) Saving - Someone giving us a discount or free product. We love a free bottle of our favorite products arriving on our doorstep, but when that isn't a possibility, a discount on the items we already love and purchase is great, too!
3) PR - Product for promotion. Our goal here is to get on the brand's accounts or website! We want them to promote us in return for promoting them!
No matter which result you aim for, having a goal in mind before you start reaching out is the best way to connect and grow your business!
Follow Through
This is maybe the most important piece to a successful brand partnership, dolls. Do what you're say you're going to do. The follow-up is your life. You need to hold up your end of the bargain and ensure that the brand never has to check in with you! Send an email to your contact and let them know your grateful for the product, and when you'll be posting your blog or social media photos about it! Send them any content you take, as well! We always send handwritten thank you cards, professional content, and photos to our connections with our partnerships. Remember that the pitch doesn't end with the end of your blog or social media post. You want this brand to use you again! Make sure to go above and beyond!
Obviously when I started out, it was just me. Six years ago, I was working day in and day out to get the best partnerships for my little brand. Now, I have a full time Pitch Doll, Copywriter Doll, and Social Media Doll to help me out! We all work together to make this little brand of mine do business the best way! Sometimes, the best thing you can do to help your business is entrust smarter people to help your business grow!
Want to partner with us and see yourself in our Posh Pink Book™? Click here!
