Often time brands will find and reach out to you if they are interested. However, this is not always the case. Some influencers are luckier than others. While others, in order to be successful, must do a little groundwork, which is not easy either. There are a lot of tedious steps involved to be successful. Before you find a brand to work with you must ensure you have a decent following of engaged users, the right image, and the power to influence. Above all, if you market yourself right, you can be the next big thing and earn a good sum of money.
First Thing First
You must find a brand that is within your niche. This is most important. A brand will not give you the time of day if your aesthetic does not resonate with theirs. Brands are looking for this because you will be responsible for promoting their product and encouraging sales. Your audience should be engaged and inspired by whatever it is you are advertising. You should be a perfect fit. Think of it as you are a physical representation of the brand. Once you have determined that you are a good fit you can move on to step two.
Reach Out
The next step is to reach out to that brand. There are many ways you can do this. I recommend trying all of them. This will help you form long-lasting relationships. Start small, like their post if that brand is on social media, more than likely they are. Then when appropriate, comment on their posts. You can say things like “OMG, I love that bag!” or “Super cute, you guys are killing it!” You want to show personality and enthusiasm. Spend some time doing this, then when you’re ready, it’s time to move on to step three.
Partnership
It’s time to express your interest in partnering with the brand. Send them a direct message or email. Make sure you are being authentic and genuine, and avoid sending a generic message. A good idea would be to include your media kit. If you don’t have it, I strongly suggest you make one. A media kit is a digital portfolio that tells your partners or clients everything there is to know about you. There should be a description of you, your contact information, some social media statistics, former partnerships and collaboration, and lastly some reviews or feedback of your work.
Be Consistent and Create High-Quality Content
Once you have landed the partnership and you are officially on the team, you need to focus on maintaining a good relationship with the brand. Do this by doing a great job, staying on track, and creating good high-quality content. Your partnering brand will be looking at if you have the reach, relevance, and resonance. This is how they often time judge whether they want to continue working with you or not. Although you have the target audience they were looking for, are you able to appeal to the industry? You can achieve this by being fun, spontaneous, and original. You don’t need a large following base to reach audiences, all you need is to just master the fundamentals of engaging and influencing and your set in addition to having the resonance or power to influence and encourage sales.
Being consistent is extremely important. Your partnering brand will remember how loyal and serious you are towards achieving their goals. This is extremely good for you because they will remember this and consider you for future activities. Before you know it, you’ll have a great relationship with many brands because of your consistency, loyalty, and transparency.
Be Open and Honest
No good relationship is built upon lies and deceitfulness. Don’t be something you are not. Let brands know how you honestly feel as well as your audience. They both will respect you more and you’ll feel better about yourself. Some influencers withhold the truth because they fear termination, or they don’t want to jeopardize their profit. However, that shouldn’t be the case. You should tell brands how they can improve their products or services moving forward. A good way to do this is to clearly define yourself. Make brands aware that you are your own personal brand, and that you have morals and values. For instance, state you are known for your creditability and that you hold yourself to certain standards. This will help them solve the problem and will guarantee new customers and derive sales. Brands will appreciate you more and in turn, you’ll have a stronger bond with them.
Stay In Contact
After your sponsorship or contract is up, don’t disconnect! Stay in touch. Most influencers are in it for the money. This shows that you never really cared about the brand and its goals. You want to avoid this. Begin or continue to buy their products with your own money, continue to make content and even engage in their profiles from time to time. They will notice this and always think of you when an opportunity presents itself. You always have a friend on the other side.
Feature Image by J. Kelly Brito from UNSPLASH.COM
