Working with brands can be a minefield. What is the correct way to approach a brand you would like to work with? What do you need to provide them with? How can I stand out?
I work for a French fashion e-commerce site (a quick Google will tell you who) and we do work with bloggers from time to time. Being on both sides, I’m able to see both perspectives. I’m here to share with you a few handy tips which will not only help brands remember you but also want to work with you again. I’ll also go into what I look for when I’m searching for bloggers to work with.
- Introduce yourself – make sure you tell the brand a little bit about you. Your background and what interests you, keep it short and sweet.
- Flattery gets you everywhere – I’m not saying you have to gush about the brand here but if you impress them with your knowledge they are more likely to approach you for future projects.
- Share your space – sounds really simple but make sure you give them all your relevant links. I’ve had emails before with no link to the bloggers blog, meaning I have to go search for it. Not everyone is going to be as patient as me!
- It’s all in the figures – you don’t have to have a massive number of followers to work with a brand but if you let them know some interesting stats it could catch their eye. For example maybe you wrote about their brand in the past and it is one of your most viewed posts?
- Look at me – If you end up working with the brand send them your finished post. They maybe working with a massive amount of bloggers and will appreciate you sending through your link. Also it may push them to share your links on their social channels.
When I’m looking for bloggers to contact I have a few requirements. I look at their page rank and domain authority, if you’re unsure of how to find this out you can download the SEO Moz toolbar. This is basically a score the Google gives you out of 100 – the higher the better. However don’t let it put you off if you have a lower number, a good SEO strategy means that brands will be looking for blogs with a range of different page rank and domain authority scores.
I also look for clear pictures – if I’m going to send a product to a blogger I want it to look its best. Personally I think there is nothing worse than seeing squashed pictures which don’t show the product in all its glory.
Spelling and grammar is really important – obviously we all make mistakes, maybe you could get a friend or partner to look over your post before it goes live.
Lastly I look at how relevant they are to my brand. If you mostly write about baking chances are I won’t want to send you a product to review. I hope this little guide helps you – remember don’t be afraid to approach brands!
Thanks Laura! Do you have any tips about approaching brands? Share them in the comments!
I really enjoyed this article – I’ve had a few deals with brands in the past few months, and it’s reassuring to know I haven’t done anything desperately ‘wrong’ as well as being encouraging to know extra little bits to do in the future.
My one gripe is this – there is a PR agency (I won’t name) who contacts me maybe twice a month about different opportunities, yet doesn’t get back to me when I respond saying I’m interested. It’s a shame not all are as helpful as you seem to be!
This is useful, was a little disheartened by my SEO Moz score though, it’s not even that I really want to work with lots of brands but I would hope mine’s not so bad that it puts them completely off.
It might be a good idea to show us an example of a good letter to a brand company. That way we also have a good example and not just instruction.
I also posted something on this subject – http://beingzhenya.com/working-with-brands/ – I hope you find it helpful, and remember, it’s okay to NOT want to work with brands.