Welcome back to Part II, y'all!
Excited to go over pitching, paid collabs, & more. Make sure to check out the I Got You, Girl! Podcast episode on Part I to go over Instagram tips for influencers, branding ideas, and more.
Once you have all of the previous steps in action, it's time to start PITCHING!
To get started, in addition to pitching, there are a few apps you can apply for to land paid and/or gifting collabs without having to construct your own pitch.
Here are a few apps that you can apply for! These platforms either send push notifications/email you as they become available!
Pitching templates will be available on my site.
You can pitch for gifting collabs, or for paid collabs. I would start with gifting collabs or return shoutout collabs (where the brand agrees to repost your photos/stories) to help you grow!
1- How to decide what brands to pitch to?
-Pitch to brands you love! Favorite coffee creamer brand? Pitch! Favorite tshirt brand? Pitch! I like to pitch to a wide range of brands from small companies to larger, well-known companies.
-Pitch to brands you already share! Like I shared above, you should pitch to brands you already love! If you reference Part I of this blog, you will see plenty of examples of brands to share about!
-Pitch to brands you think resonate with your audience! Do you share about lots of gluten-free options? Childrens' clothing? If that is what your audience views you as an expert as... pitch to brands that align!
2- How to find contacts to email?
-First step is to check their Instagram! Do they have an email button? If so, start there! If not... send a DM similar to this!
-In addition, you can also check their site under 'Press' or 'Contact Us' or even 'Influencers'.
-Ask previous bloggers! If you see under the tagged tab that other influencers have worked with said brand, try messaging them for the contact! You can also trade contacts in exchange.
3- What to say in the email?
-Remember to focus on how YOU can benefit them!
-Why do you love their products? Why do you love their brand? (Tip: Reference their website for the brand mission to mention in your email!)
-Here is my basic email layout-
Hi ____ Team,
My name is Alaina Hamade from Alaina Hamade Lifestyle & Wellness and I am reaching out because I am a loyal fan of your products! I have been purchasing, loving, & sharing your ____ (specifically love the ____, which are staples in our fridge) I love the mission of _________. INSERT REASON WHY YOU LOVE THE BRAND. As a content creator with a combined following of 10,000 followers and an email list of over 2,000 individuals, I would love to collaborate with ____. I believe the products, specifically the incredible ____, and mission would be a huge hit with my followers. I would love the opportunity to feature your products on my Instagram feed, Instagram stories, LTK, and blog. I know my followers would fall in love with the products and branding like I have! Do you currently have influencer guidelines or a budget that you follow for collaborations? If so, I would love to learn more about how I can support and spread the word about your products. I will attach my media kit below, and I would love to chat about ways to creatively work together!
Thank you and looking forward to hearing back soon,
**Note: If you do not have a media kit, canva.com is an excellent resource to make one! Here is an old media kit I used. You can adjust the rates to your follower counts. Use websites like this to calculate your rates.
4- When do you send the pitch?
-I choose to send pitches on Monday mornings or Wednesday mornings! This way, I either catch the brand in the heat of Mondays, or midweek!
-If I don't hear back, I send a follow up email on the same thread. Something along the lines of 'Just circling back on this' ... maybe 5-ish days later!
5- Incorporate your content calendar (that we talked about on the last blog) and plan a campaign!
-To make things easier for YOU, try pitching a campaign! For example, tell the brand you are running a week or month-long campaign on 'Healthy Snacks' or 'Coffee Add-ins', etc. This will help you be able to batch content and stick with a theme which is sometimes easier to market!
Besides this... you don't need much else to get started! Feel free to DM me with any questions about this topic… & any other questions you have about collaborations for the upcoming episode.
Reach out with any questions!
xo,
A