Out of all the questions I get asked, the majority of them have to do with brand sponsorships. So, I decided to do something a little bit different with this episode.
Today we are going to deep dive into your all your brand sponsorship questions. What I want to do is troubleshoot these problems so that if you encounter something like this six months from now, you will know where to find an answer.
IE 152: Brand Sponsorship Questions Answered
I encourage you to listen in as I go very quickly through the most common questions I get on this topic. Also make sure to grab your pdf with all the answers. Ready? Let’s do it!
Brand Sponsorship Question #1 – When Am I Big Enough?
If you have an audience that is engaged with you, you are ready to pitch brands. If your audience is just your mom, sister, and best friend, you’re not ready yet.
You need to be able to articulate what your audience can offer a brand and how they are the perfect fit.
When you are doing brand sponsorship, it’s not about you. It’s about your audience. If you can share exactly who your audience is and what they come to you for, then you’re ready to pitch a brand.
Brand Sponsorship Question #2 – How Do I Create A Pitch Letter?
A lot of you already have my pitch checklist, and if you don’t have it yet, make sure you grab it.
In the checklist, it walks you through a copy of my initial pitch. In that pitch, your call to action is to tell them that you’d love to send them your media kit and a proposal for their review.
If they come back and ask for your media kit, always send them your proposal, too.
Brand Sponsorship Question #3 – What About Pricing On My Proposal?
Should you be telling them a specific number for your social media shares and one for your blog posts?
No. Your proposal should be a package price. This package price will give them everything they want for one price.
If it is your first time working with this brand, pitch for one blog post with regular social shares, and something out of the box.
If you’re not familiar with what’s “out of the box” you’re going to want to sign up for Pitch Perfect Pro. In my signature course, I tell you exactly what these “out of the box” ideas are and how to use them.
You are not pitching for multiple social shares and multiple blog posts if you have never worked with this brand before. You have to prove your worth to them. They need to know that their return on investment will be good.
Brand Sponsorship Question #4 – Should You Sign Over the Rights to Your Content or Images?
Your price should not be the same if the brand is asking for rights. You want to double the rate if the brand is asking for full rights to your content/images. If it’s just one image, you can always use Getty Images Calculator.
Make sure you are reading your contracts to be fully informed about rights. You need to be getting paid fairly if the brand wants rights to any of your work.
Brand Sponsorship Question #5 – Who Provides the Contract?
You absolutely need to have a contract in place. Period.
Sometimes the brands will give you a contract. If they don’t offer one, your emails back and forth with the brand will not stand up in court. You have to have a contract.
This is a contract template that I actually use from Danielle Liss. If you don’t have a contract or template, you can get this one for 20% off right now.
Brand Sponsorship Question #6 – What If A Brand Wants You to Work In Exchange for Product?
I’m not going to tell you that you should never do this.
When it comes to working in exchange for a product, you have to decide if the product is worth it to you and for your business.
Is the product valuable to you? If so, do it.
Don’t do it for a $5 bag of granola. If they offer you that, give them my renegotiation script. This will let them know you are treating this as a business and you will only work on compensated content.
If you’re at a stage where you are not that big or you just want to get your foot in the door of brand sponsorship, take the bag of granola for one social media share. Make sure you tag the brand and talk to your audience about it and get them interested.
Brand Sponsorship Question #7 – How Do I Get The Contact Email for the Brand?
You can’t simply walk into Whole Foods, take a cute picture of a product, tag the brand, and expect that to lead directly to a partnership with that brand. Even if they do respond with a heart emoji.
You have to continue developing a relationship with this brand. If you are looking to work with a national company that’s large, this is especially true.
I just had a conversation about this recently with Ty Kilgore. Working with a brand is like dating. You didn’t marry your spouse after the first date.
These types of partnerships take time and work to develop that relationship.
Brands want to work with influencers that are showing they actually value the brand. You have to show your loyalty.
Jenna Kutcher talks about the relationship she built with Aerie. In one of her podcast episodes, she talks about how her partnership with Aerie took 3 years to build.
So, what are the brands you have in your own home? Find the brands that fit your niche. Those are the brands you want to work with.
Brand Sponsorship Question #8 – Who Am I Pitching?
One of the questions I get asked most often is: when I’m pitching a brand, who am I talking to?
Typically, you’re talking to a PR company that is taking care of the marketing for the brand. If that PR company represents brands that would be a good fit for you in other ways, they will come to you over other influencers if you deliver.
You have to be thinking about yourself as a business and be professional. People will begin to know who you are, especially if you are over-delivering and are always on time.
Brand Sponsorship Question #9 – Why I Haven’t Gotten A Response?
I get so many people that tell me they never got a response after they sent in their pitch to a brand.
I always ask them how many pitches they sent in, and the response is usually the same: they sent one email to 5 different brands.
I’m going to tell you right now: you want to continue to follow-up until your head is ready to explode.
Think about how busy your inbox is. Their inbox is 10 times busier! You have to make sure that you are at the forefront of their minds.
This is also true for your proposal.
If they ask for your media kit and proposal and then you hear nothing back, it’s not because your prices are too high. Your email most likely got lost in the shuffle. Follow up professionally.
Brand Sponsorship Question #10 – How Do I Know If They Read My Emails?
You want to have a tracker on your Gmail. You want to be emailing brands from your branded email. If I sent an email to a brand, it would be from jenny@jennymelrose.com.
So, to find out if your emails are being opened, download the Chrome extension called Streak.
This allows you to see how many times someone has opened, forward, or replied to your email. This is important so that you know if your emails are being opened at all.
Brand Sponsorship Question #11 – What Should My Subject Line Be?
Your subject line needs to show that you are unique. You want to stand out.
Are you a homeschooling mom of 9 kids? A registered dietician that specializes in eating disorders in athletes? Make it part of your subject line and then have “partnership” or “collaboration” along with it.
If you have a strong Instagram story presence, with 22% engagement, put that in your subject line. Just put in whatever makes you different. You want to make them want to open your email.
I know we covered a ton of different questions today. Download the PDF so that you can save it to your files or print it off and look back at it.
All of these questions won’t come up on the same day. Make sure you are holding onto these answers for when the time comes.
If you found this episode helpful, I would love to know!
Tag me on Instagram or send me a DM letting me know that this was what you needed. I’d love to answer any more questions that you have. Follow my Instagram stories and give me your feedback on what you need the most help with.
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