One of the first things you see when you start blogging is established bloggers working with brands. And the next question newbie bloggers often ask is “How do I do that?”. Well, here are some tips!
How To Get Started On Working With Brands
Research The Brand
Firstly, you want to know if the brand you like as a consumer is really a brand that you want to work with as a blogger. Being a consumer and being a business are two different things and while they often cross paths, it’s not 100% of the time.
- Follow them on social media: this is the primary way you will learn about them and how they run. It’s also a great place to start engaging with them when it’s on topic.
- Become a fan: does their brand really fit in with you, your blog and your blogging goals?
- Benefits: do you know why they would benefit from working with you? Do you have a pitch that suits the brand and what they have done before?
Practical Contacting Tips
So you like the brand and you want to work with them. Great! How do you do this?
- About Us/Contact Us pages: often have the editor’s name and contact details
- Public documents: if the company is publicly listed then there are types of documents that they must release to the public/shareholders each year. Annual reports can be dry as hell but actually can give you some fantastic insight as to the corporate structure, which may help you with who to contact. It’s also often a place where you’ll find the email address format used by the company. It may be the media contact and not the PR
- Attachments: I always avoid sending attachments as you can’t tell what the security settings are on a business email address. You may run the risk of going to spam and never being seen.
- Emailing: from personal experience (though not blogging/brand related) I’ve noticed that some very big companies will automatically bounce back emails coming from a Gmail, Hotmail or similar type of email address. I would always recommend that you have a domain based email account and that you send any pitches from that account.
Related: Media Kit Basics
Talking Money
- “What’s your budget”: this is a good way to get the conversation about money started if hasn’t been raised yet.
- How you will get paid: PayPal, invoicing the brand…
- If you will get paid before or after the post goes live.
What questions do you have about working with brands?
