Landing your first brand deal can be a difficult process especially if you don’t know the proper steps to take. With this helpful guide, you will be on the right track to landing your dream brand deal.
There is often a stigma that you need to have 1,000 or more followers to land your first brand deal and a paid one at that. I can attest to that being completely false. While it can be easier to land your first brand deal with more than 1,000 followers, it is not impossible.
WHAT DOES YOUR BRAND HAVE TO OFFER?
Do you have a personal brand? Do you offer something unique that a brand would find interesting? These are the types of questions that you need to be asking yourself if you want to land your first brand deal. If you answered no to both of these questions, then you possibly need to consider rebranding yourself and your blog. You have to stand out in some way in order for you to catch a brand’s attention.
If you don’t know what your personal brand is or even where to begin, then consider investing in a few courses. Courses are a helpful guide to figuring out how to create a successful blog and brand. You could also try attending online seminars or joining Facebook groups with other bloggers. A huge part of being a successful blogger is investing in yourself and your personal brand. The blogging world is very saturated, so it’s easy to get lost in such a crowded community.
CREATING A MEDIA KIT
Creating a media kit is a very important part of landing your first brand deal. It serves as a snapshot of your entire blogging journey. It tells a brand who you are, what your blog offers, your social media stats, and what your levels of engagement is amongst various social media platforms. That one-page media kit can hold a lot of weight when a brand is deciding whether they want to work with you or not. I created a fake media kit as an example. This is basically a resume for bloggers.
If you don’t know how to create a media kit, there are various videos on YouTube showing you how to create one. I would recommend that beginning bloggers use a platform like Canva. It’s free and offers you everything you need to create a media kit.
WHAT BRANDS DO YOU WANT TO WORK WITH?
Look around your room or in your bathroom and jot down the brands that you use on a day to day basis. When you have comprised a list, break it down even more starting with the top brands you want to work with. Take that same list and start researching each brand listed. Look for their point of contacts and try to locate their PR or marketing team. Also look to see if they have any amazing campaigns coming up. This is a great way to determine whether your personal brand would match theirs.
I would then start contacting people who work for the brand. You can usually find these particular people through LinkedIn and through the “About” page of that website. On the “About” page, sometimes the employees for that brand are listed right there with their picture and job title. Their titles might include the following:
- Brand Strategist
- Influencer Marketing
- Public Relations Coordinator
- Marketing Director
Also consider looking into other brands that don’t have the biggest following. Sometimes those brands are targeting micro influencers with a good engagement rate. Don’t get discouraged by big influencers. There are brand deals for them and brand deals for you.
HOW TO PITCH TO A BRAND
Pitching to a brand can be quite tasking, but it must be done if you want to land your first brand deal as a micro influencer. In the email, you need to include your media kit and a link to your blog. You need to also explain what you plan to do with that product or how you want to advertise it to your target audience. If you are interested in one of their campaigns, I would also include that in your email.
A pitch email does not need to be a long essay. It just needs to be short and to the point. You have to keep in mind that many influencers are sending in pitch emails, so you want to make it stand out, but be brief so the brand contact knows what you are looking for in a partnership. You might not get a response back from every person you email, but don’t let that discourage you. You will eventually land the deal you want with some persistence. Please DO NOT send multiple emails as this can hinder you from getting any brand deals. If a few weeks or a month has gone by and you haven’t heard back, then you can send a follow up email.
MASTERING SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is a tough business. It can take months and even years to master it, but there are many helpful videos on YouTube that will break down every social media platform. You can learn about the algorithm or posts that are trending at the moment.
It is always best to focus on one platform at a time and then move onto others. This is a great way of making sure that you don’t become overwhelmed or completely burned out by having to handle too many platforms. Mastering any social media platform is a marathon and not a race, but it puts you on the fast track to landing your first brand deal.
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