We made it! Week two of the new year and feeling good! Today we are diving into our pitching series to finish out January! Exciting news: Pitches to Riches launches on 1/19/22 and it's going to be so good! Get ready to learn my four-part pitching strategy and start landing paid brand deals!
I get a ton of questions about pitching and brand partnership strategy, and I'm excited to be able to share some amazing information with you that will increase your business! One of the top questions I get is about how much to charge and how to price your deliverables. Included in Pitches to Riches is a rate calculator that will help you create a base rate to negotiate from, which I'm thrilled about!
In our next couple podcast episodes, we'll talk about how to turn gifted collaboration offers into paid partnerships and how to convert a DM offer into a paid partnership.
Today, we are talking about one thing you have to do before all of that.
So what’s the ONE thing you must have before you even think about working with a brand?
VALUE.
Let it sink in. Value! Are you offering something valuable to your followers? Can you offer something valuable to a brand?
Listen to the episode for the full breakdown and a personal story, but how do you show value?
There are so many ways. Today, I’m going to share two of them. I talk a little more about this in Pitches to Riches.
The first way to easily show your value to a brand is through quality content on your page.
I don't mean that you need to have a photographer shoot every single piece of your content. This could be as simple as a cohesive editing style, good lighting, interesting subject matter.
Are you posting just to post or have you thought out this piece of content and you think it will serve your audience?
Brands are definitely searching for content creators with quality content so it can be re-shared or promoted by the brand's channels. Is your content good enough to be promoted by the brand?
How else do you show value to a brand?
Secondly, you can show value to a brand by acting professional. I don't mean you need to film IG Stories as if you're in an interview, so let me explain. Professional headshots are for linkedin, and you can absolutely share your vacation and a night out with the girls.
I'm saying that a brand can easily see how you run your business by how professional your page looks.
Does your page or channel have a clear brand presence? Things like brand colors, fonts, cohesive style...do you have an actual brand or vibe? If you are running your blog like a business, those things should be in place and a potential brand partner will be able to see that you're professional quickly.
Brands work with influencers all the time.
Think about how many influencers don’t respond to emails, don’t submit content on time, argue about posting requirements, etc. If you can run your blog like a business and act professionally by answering emails, submitting content on time, etc., you will be way ahead of the curve and brands will take note!
I have had brands tell me that I’m pleasant to work with and thank me for submitting content on time because it's so rare. I have worked with many repeat brand clients because they know I'm easy to do business with.
Something else i’ll mention that is a huge red flag for professionalism:
Bashing brands!
There might be a brand that is wanting to work with you, but they see you bash another brand; they might be too scared to work with you now! I'm sharing a funny personal story in this episode, but keep this in mind when you're thinking about sharing negative experiences. It's never a good look to bash a brand!
If you are serious about taking your blog or channel to the next level and working with brands on paid partnerships, think about the VALUE that you offer. What is your sweet spot that you can share with brands and offer them? Be ready to tell them about your value before your pitch.
Do a personal brand audit or work with a friend to review each other's pages and share what value you see. Get ready to for more brand partnerships this year than ever before!
Just tuning in? Grab my free Monthly Content Planner to help you map our a winning content strategy this year!
Need individual support? Book a one-on-one call with me to get clear on your brand vision and pitching plan for 2022.
