5 Tips for Pitching to Brands as an Influencer

Taylor Talks Newsletter - 7/20/2020

Hello!! This newsletter is going out on a Tuesday due to technical difficulties last night. We are back now with some tips for pitching!  5 Tips for Pitching to Brands as an Influencer I talked about sending out email pitches, a media kit, and reporting tools last week. Thank you all for attending the webinar. I will put a copy of it in the portal when I get it!  This week, I want to talk to you about what you can do to make a better pitch. There is a lot of prep work that goes into a pitch email. I want to make sure you have the tools to craft an awesome pitch and make the money you deserve as a creator. Here are 5 tips that you need to read! I am telling you...these tips and pieces of advice made the difference for me when it came to landing sponsored campaigns or new opportunities. Successful creators, bloggers, influencers, etc. know how to pitch themselves to brands. Understanding the basics of pitching is crucial to obtaining collaborations with your dream brand!  1) Do Some Digging You need to do your own research on the brand you are pitching. Look at their website and social media channels and see what kind of influencers they are working with already. This will tell you what type of pitch to send. For example, if they are reposting blog posts written about them, then your pitch should be focused on written works. If they post on Instagram vs Tik Tok, send a pitch that centers around creating content for Instagram.  Additionally, be on the lookout for: Their target market Their goals and mission Email contacts listed on their website or social channels .Any marketing agencies they hired Products that you could promote Unique qualities you can bring to the table as an influencer 2) Know your goals as an influencer It is crucial to find out the goals of a brand and show how you align with them. If I find a vegan brand or a sustainable hotel, I would tell them that I am vegan and I help my audience eat more plants…or I can say that I practice sustainability and show my audience how they can travel too.  Being an ally to a brand’s mission goes a long way! 3) Pricing Know your pricing model. Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and Twitter are platforms that offer a different audience with specific content and online media options (e.g. live streaming, stories, static post, etc.). All of this can affect pricing. Most influencers price their services by social media platform. This is what I do! In your pitch, make sure you have all your services itemized in your rate sheet or email. If you are offering one Instagram post, 12 stories, and a blog post, be sure to say how much each service is worth. I typically write it out in bullet points: $600 for one Instagram post $125 per Instagram story $1,000 for one blog post 4) Show your worth  We talked about having a media kit already but I cannot stress the importance of it. You need to think of everything you could do to help promote a brand on your blog. Can you create sponsored posts? Swipe up? Stories? Yes? Great! Now, can you back up these ideas with stats? A media kit is your social proof and it helps the brand see what type of partnership they will have with you. So be sure to include one in your pitch! You can sign up for InfluencerKit here. I use this to report all my data when pitching.  5) Always negotiate After you send your pitch, be prepared to negotiate your rates. Brands will come back to you at a reduced price. You need to figure out how much time and effort you need to put into the campaign, what the brand is worth and how much you are willing to sacrifice.  Don’t be afraid to negotiate! Be ready to back up where the price you asked for came from. This is where your media kit comes in handy. I do not like to lower my prices by 35%. I will email the brand with a discounted rate by 35% and state that I will not go lower than that.  If you don’t know what to charge, ask the brand what their budget is for your collaboration. We will do a whole newsletter talking about negotiation soon.  Bonus  Here are some more pitch templates! I found them online. You can see what my email looks like in the newsletter I sent last week.  Pitching a brand as a new influencer Hi [THEIR NAME], I’ve used [BRAND] for over three years now and [REASON WHY YOU LIKE IT]. I particularly love [GET SPECIFIC]. My podcast [SOCIAL CHANNELS] audience is made up of 90% [DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS] of males [THEIR TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC] and would also love your products.  My podcast [link to social channels] gets 10000000 listeners per month [statistic]. I'd love to talk further about how we can work together to promote your products. Look forward to hearing back from you soon!  [YOUR NAME] Pitching a brand for a free stay  Hi [THEIR NAME], Thanks for taking the time to read my email. I'm a blogger and run the popular travel blog [LINK TO YOUR CONTENT]. I'm currently planning a trip to [LOCATION] on [DATE]. I'm looking to partner with a local hotel during my stay and thought yours would be great. I first found your hotel through [BACKGROUND] and know that my blog readers would love to see [ENTER SPECIFIC ABOUT WHY THIS HOTEL AND HOW IT MATCHES YOUR AUDIENCE'S TASTE.] My blog generates [STATS] readers per month and my Instagram has over [number] or followers and an engagement rate of X%.  If you'd like to collaborate together then in return for a complimentary stay, I'd be happy to have a solo review post on my blog as well as feature you in three Instagram photos and regular story updates during my stay.  I'd also like to offer you free access to use the content and images within your own marketing material, whether that be for press releases, or public relations content. Look forward to hearing back from you. [YOUR NAME] Pitching for product collaboration Hi [THEIR NAME], I’ve used [THEIR PRODUCT] religiously for over 3 years and it has helped me [Benefit].   I regularly post about your brand on my social channels [LINK] and people often ask questions about [SPECIFIC PRODUCT].  In the past, I've worked with a brand like X, Y and Z and due to my 100000 followers and 6% engagement rate, we were able to see a 65% increase in sales [ADD YOUR OWN DATA]. I would love to work with you on promoting [SPECIFIC PRODUCT] and would love to hear your collaboration ideas. Thanks [Your Name] Pitching a brand to start a relationship 'Hi [THEIR NAME], I'm just reaching out to say that I absolutely love [brand] and have been using them FOR [TIME FRAME]. Some of my favorite products are the[SPECIFIC PRODUCT] because [REASON].  I would love to meet up to hear more about what the brand has in store and potentially see if there are any ways to get involved by promoting your products on my social channels [LINK] Thanks  [YOUR NAME]

HOMEWORK: Create a pitch and send it out! Send me any comments or questions you have. You can send me your pitch too! Don't forget! We created an access portal...  for you so that you can view past Taylor Talks in case the newsletters get deleted or lost from your inbox. Visit this link to sign-in and view. Only subscribers to this newsletter can view this page!! Woohoo! If you have specific requests you would like us to talk about, send it our way. The terms and conditions of this newsletter are below.

NEED MORE HELP ASAP? Schedule a Zoom call with us if you need personalized help pitching to brands, finding brands, analytics, advice, resources, and more! We will tell you exactly what works for us. Seriously. No fluff or beating around the bush. What to know how to travel for your blog? We got you. Need help writing a pitch email? Let's edit it together. 

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