A lot of the influencers we work with hire us to help them with proactive pitching, meaning we reach out to new brands on their behalf to secure them new business with brands they love. When we are in initial conversations with the influencer about working together, we often hear that they aren’t currently doing any proactive pitching to brands and that most of the brand work they’ve secured are brands that come to them first. We get it: you’re stretched really thin! Between content creation, recipe testing, social media management, video editing and writing, proactive pitching often falls by the wayside. However, if you’re looking to grow your business and plan for consistent income from brand work, we highly recommend setting aside time for proactive pitching, or hiring someone to do this for you! Here are a few of our tips:
WHO TO CONTACT
A lot of people get stuck when it comes to where to even begin when proactively pitching brands. The first thing we do is try to track down the best media contact or brand contact to reach out to. There are two ways to do this: 1) Do a simple Google search, such as “{brand name} media contact” or “{brand name} press release.” Or 2) Send the brand a message on your social media platform of choice {we usually recommend a direct message on Instagram}, saying something like: “Hi there! I’m _____ from ______ blog. I’m a big fan of your products and was hoping to connect with the person in charge of blogger outreach. Would you mind passing along their email? Thanks!”
WHAT TO SAY AND HOW TO GET A RESPONSE
Once you have the correct email address, send a pitch email that gives a general overview of your business. We recommend including the following information:
- Clear and concise subject line (i.e. Blogger Opportunity with {blog name} and {brand name})
- Who you are
- What your blog focuses on
- A few numbers {pageviews, social following, etc}
- Why you love the brand and why it would be a great fit to work together. Include some links to specific content that includes the product, or shows how you integrate the product into your recipes and everyday life
- End the email with a specific call to action. We usually do not recommend attaching your media kit or rate sheet with this initial outreach. Instead, make your call to action something like: “Would you be interested in working together?” or “Can we set up a time to learn more about your marketing goals this year?” This encourages a response from the brand and allows you to get a feel for if they’re even working with influencers, as opposed to making an assumption and making it easier for them to disregard your email
WHEN TO FOLLOW-UP
After the initial outreach email is sent, if you don’t get a response within a week, we recommend following up one time. We know brand managers are juggling quite a few things, so their inboxes can get quite crowded. A simple and respectful follow-up reminding the contact of your initial email and letting them know you look forward to hearing back might just be the nudge they need to send you a note back. If you don’t hear back after this follow-up email, we recommend moving on and potentially keeping an eye out for a new contact for this brand. Keep the contact information on file in case specific collaboration opportunities present themselves in the future.
The main benefit of proactive pitching is that it allows you to have a bit more control over the work you’re doing, instead of waiting and relying on brands to reach out to you. If you work on an editorial calendar to plan your content, use this as a starting point to start brainstorming brands to reach out to. What kind of content are you already working on and how can you weave brands you love into this content? Brands love hearing ideas from influencers, so as conversations progress, we highly recommend vocalizing these ideas to give the brand an idea of how you think and how you could partner.
Want more information about our influencer representation services? Fill out our application here.
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