Influencer marketing is an opportunity for bloggers to make a full time income from the audience that they have established. Are you wondering if you’re large enough to make a full time income?
Today we’re going to talk about what exactly an influencer is and what are some of the ways that you can monetize it.
IE 34: What you NEED to know about Influencer Marketing
I also want to talk about the whole idea of brands reaching out and asking you to use your influence to promote their products and whether they are asking for a compensated post or if they’re asking for content in exchange for product or even sometimes they asking you to work for free.
We’re going to really talk about and dive into the details that surround this.
As a special thank you I have put together a renegotiation package for you that includes the swipe copy of the email that I use when a brand reaches out to me and it sounds like they are asking me to work in exchange for product or to work for free and that’s not something I do at this point in my career.
So because I no longer work for free, I have an email that I write back to them and I’m going to give you the swipe copy to that email as well as an example email where the brand was reaching out to me for a free campaign and I was able to turn it around and turn it into a long term contract that has lasted and ended up being a value of about $2,500 at this point.
We are going to make sure that you are getting paid for the content that you are creating for these brands.
Be sure to download the renegotiation package right HERE.
What is an influencer
Let’s really talk about what an influencer is.
I think there is a lot of discrepancy out there about that term.
I’ve spoken about my dislike of the term blogger because it in my eyes has a negative connotation. It goes back to the time when blogs were first established. Blogs were just people telling their life stories. They said what they ate for dinner, the activities that they did with their kids.
This is how a lot of people started off ten years ago was with a blog of that nature. It was more of a lifestyle blog that told their daily activities.
Since then it has obviously changed and these blogs have turned into websites or businesses.
A lot of them fall into multiple niches. It can be anything from a food blog that is very specific to just creating recipes. Or it can be a parenting blog that is doing different tactics and tips.
There are tons and tons of niches and people are making these into businesses.
Now, with your website comes influence because you have an audience.
We always talk about the importance of your audience and your readers and understanding why it is that they are coming to you because if you don’t understand that then you’re just going back to being a blogger. You’re just putting out content that you feel is important.
When you take the time to figure out that your readers are coming to you for xyz and you’re going to create content that is geared towards that because you know they want that from you then you are starting to look at it like it is a business.
And because of that you can then use the influence that you have.
You have an audience that can be very specific. You probably know the age range, gender, where they primarily live…with that information you have an influence over those readers with what it is that you talk about.
How to leverage your influence for influencer marketing
That is why brands will come to bloggers that have influence to try to get them to talk about their products, use their products, create recipes with their products, whatever it might be.
Now, many of you know that working with brands is something that I am very comfortable with it. I would probably say that it is my jam.
I have a course that just closed last week, Pitch Perfect Pro, which we will be opening back up before the new year so be sure to join the wait list!
In that course we talk about how to pitch these brands and how to leverage your influence.
This is when you are reaching out to the brands yourself and pitching the brands that you know, use and love on a daily basis. Plus, you know that your audience would also love to use their products.
What sometimes often happens because we have blogs with influence, Facebook pages, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram and all these different things which are obviously important this day and age.
Those brands will sometimes to reach out to us.
A lot of times what happens is that it is a pr agency and they have a list of bloggers that they have passed around or bought a list. They’re leads, cold leads just like anything in sales.
So they’ll reach out to bloggers and they’ll send out a blast email that talks about “Oh, we have this great product and we’d love to send you hi res picture and we’d love it if you could put it in a back to school round up or is there any content that you have that is up and coming that this would fit. We’d love to send you a package to try out to create a recipe and create a post.”
Now this is where a lot of bloggers that will come to me and say “Well, that hurts my bottom line when another blogger agrees to do it for the product or for free.”
Here’s the thing about that.
No one effects your bottom line, but you.
You do not have the right to judge other men or women that are running their business the way that they feel it is necessary to do it.
There is nothing wrong with another blogger doing something in exchange for product, even it is worth $5.
If they feel that they want to get their feet wet by working with that product by creating content for the product, in hopes that someday they will be able to work with that brand. Or they want to be able to show that this is what they can do when they work on something for a brand.
That is their prerogative and no one has the right to judge other people for that.
I just want to make sure to get that out of that way because all too often I hear us looking at others and judging them. I know that everything is out on social media and we have a bad habit of comparing ourselves to everyone else out there, but they do not effect your bottom line.
The only one that effects it is you.
If KitchenAid comes to you and they want to send you a mixer in exchange for a recipe and you wanted a KitchenAid, don’t feel guilty about doing it in exchange for product.
There is nothing wrong with that. That’s money that you would have spent that you’re now saving your family $300.
Always remember to take into consideration your business and what is right for your family.
How brands decide which influencers to reach out to for influencer marketing
Let’s go back to that pr company that is sending out that blast email. It is a cold lead. They’re looking for people to jump on it and work for free.
It is their job to find promotions from bloggers and influencers for as little to no money as possible.
The worst possible thing you can do, and I cannot stress this enough, is to respond to them rudely or disrespectfully. Behavior like that is going to get around to other pr agents.
So if you turn around and it is a granola company and they say “We’d love to send you a box of granola in exchange for a recipe post and a share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.”
And you think in your head “I can’t work for granola because I can’t pay my mortgage in granola.”
You can think that, but you absolutely should not write that.
You don’t want to come off rude or disrespectful because they are going to tell another pr agent via email that so-and-so said they don’t want to pay their mortgage in granola.
I understand that you can’t pay your mortgage in granola and so they do, but the person that is sending that email is a person.
They have feelings.
When you are disrespectful and unprofessional, it represents you.
You need to turn it around.
They don’t know if you have 2 followers on Pinterest or 2 million followers on Facebook.
They are just sending a blast email in hopes that they will get someone to work for free.
How to get your Influence paid for with influencer marketing
Now, obviously if you’re at a point in your career where you don’t work for free anymore then you don’t take the campaign.
A lot of people have said to me, “I just delete those emails.”
If it’s not a good fit for your site, yes don’t take the time to reply to them, especially if they’re talking about content in exchange for product and it’s just not a good fit.
What you can do is if it is a good fit or a brand that you could see yourself working with in the future then turn it around.
Let them know that you are not a Joe Schmoe with 500 followers and that you are someone that has influence.
They don’t know you and they don’t realize that it’s not your first rodeo.
Make sure that when you reply that you are respectful first of all.
Explain who you are and why their product is important for your audience.
It always has to go back to your audience because that is where your influence lies. That is what makes you an influencer.
If you can’t state to them that your audience would love their product and this is why then it’s not a product you should work with, but if you can then you want to make sure that you are respectful in the way that you reply back.
Explain why your audience would appreciate the product and find value in the content that you provide.
This is also where I make sure to let them know that this is not my first campaign.
I state, “In order to keep the integrity of my site to my readers and any other previous brands I have worked with, I only work on compensated content.”
I make sure that I include my readers first because they are most important. I include any other brands I previously worked with because it’s letting them know that this is what I do as a business. I’m not doing this as a hobby. I’m not looking to write a post for granola. I am doing this as a business and I expect to be compensated for my time, my influence and the energy that I’m going to put into creating the content.
With that being said, when you send this renegotiation email you need to remember to always have a call to action.
You’ve told them that you’re not going to work for free and you’ve told them that you’ve worked with other brands.
You have to put the ball in their court and tell them, “I’d love to send you my media kit and proposal specific to this purpose.”
They could:
1. totally ignore it, which is a possibility.
2. They could say that they don’t have money in their budget right now for this campaign, but they understand that you don’t work for free and they’ll keep your media kit on file.
3. They are going to say put together a proposal. Let’s see what you could do with this campaign.
That is where you get the opportunity to show them what your strength is so that when you put together your proposal you can be very specific in showing what sets you apart.
What is about your audience that is going to make your influence important to the product?
All too often we forget that it’s not just about us. It has to be about the product and how it ties to your audience because that is what the brand is after.
They’re not after you as a person. Let’s be honest, if they were they would go after someone like Gwenneth Paltrow so they could pay them all the big bucks to have their name and the prestige behind it.
They are looking for you because you are relatable with an audience that listens to you and that respects what you are saying.
If you’re writing a post and creating a recipe and you mention the cute apron that you are wearing and then they purchase it. That’s your influence because you’re talking about something that you use.
That’s what they’re looking to buy into.
They’re not looking to buy into you going to a spokesperson for them on national television. They’re looking for the influence that you have. Not with an audience that doesn’t know you from a hole in the wall.
Always keep that in mind when you are renegotiating with them and that’s the package that I put together for you.
You are renegotiating for product or for free. You are looking to get it paid and compensated because that is when you start to see an income from your business.
Passive income myths about Influencer Marketing
One thing that came up during the Pitch Perfect Pro launch was that some bloggers thought there were other ways to make passive income.
I can understand that others can see affiliate marketing and ads as ways to make money passively.
When you create a sponsored post it can become passive because it happens over time that you create long term contracts.
With affiliate marketing you can make money over time, but you have to get the eyeballs onto the content. You have to be running marketing campaigns to that content.
The same with ads. You have to be getting the traffic to your site. You don’t have to know the people coming to your site.
That’s where being an influencer sets you apart because you understand the audience that you have .
You do not have to have astronomical numbers in order to make an income. You don’t have to consistently to get a ton of pageviews.
You need to have that core audience.
I’ve said this so many times when someone asks me “What size audience do you need to have in order to start pitching?”
It’s not about the size. It’s about the quality. It’s about the people.
Are they coming to you for specific content? And can you state to a brand if they were to ask what they are coming to you for?
It is a way to make an income that you can make a decent amount and not have to try to get pageviews.
You can just talk about a product and have it be part of your content and then continue the relationship.
That is ultimately what you are trying to do.
You are trying to create a relationship with a brand so they routinely come to you any time they have work or a campaign.
You want it to become something where instead of thinking “This is a one and done. I get my $500.”
Which is often the case when you work in a network which is part of the reason people think it’s not passive.
I giggle when people talk about passive income because I don’t believe that anything that we do is passive.
There is nothing that we do is passive.
Even when you create a product. It’s not passive. You’ve done the work beforehand and you still have to continue to market it. It’s still not passive.
Even when you have a membership site it’s not passive. You still have to maintain the membership site.
I know that the big pie in the sky dream is that we have these businesses that we don’t have to do any work for.
In my eyes that is not the reality.
There are not many people that can get a million to 2 million pageivews per month so that they’re just making money off of ads.
That’s just not attainable for many people.
When you are an influencer and you have an audience. You can work with brands. You can do something one time for $500. It doesn’t necessarily become passive, but it can become consistent.
That is honestly what it should be about.
It shouldn’t be about passive, I get to sit on my butt and make money.
It should be about consistency.
I consistently know that this amount comes in just about every month on sponsored posts.
I cannot stress this enough. Nothing is passive. It is all WORK!
That’s where a lot of people get lost because they see other people making money from ads or affiliate marketing and it’s passive.
It’s not!
They’re marketing their sites. They’re marketing their content.
You know what it’s like to schedule your Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It’s not passive. It’s WORK!
You have to keep that in mind.
Sponsored posts can give you the opportunity for consistency because you can create that long term contract with that brand.
You can turn around and put together a proposal for a long term contract. In the next six months I want to put together this many posts for you for this price. You create consistency in your income
It’s good to diversify.
Have these eggs as part of your basket in the way that you monetize.
I’m telling you that working with brands and pitching the brands yourself can make a huge difference in the consistency that it provides for you, which is then relief of stress and more time with your family.
Isn’t that ultimately why so many of us do this.
It’s to be able to stay home with our kids and be the room mom and see our kids head off to school on the first day.
That is what this is truly about. We love being able to work from home and see our families.
When we create sponsored content it creates consistency to that you can see and forecast the income that will be coming in.
Mastering Your Influence membership site
With that being said, we are in the process of finishing up the details on the membership site that is meant for influencers.
It is about giving you the ability to look at yourself as an influencer. To grow your traffic and know your audience. To grow an email list so that you have people waiting for your content to arrive in their inbox.
It will be launching in the next coming weeks.
It was originally established in January. We have a ton of content that is already created and available.
You have immediate access to over 20 different trainings that covers anything from email marketing and growing your list to Pinterest strategies and as simple as how to network at conferences with brands or even other bloggers.
There’s a ton of content that is already there. Plus, we continue to do trainings weekly.
The trainings are done via Facebook live so you’re able to ask any questions that you have while the training is going on so that you can make it specific to you.
You also get a monthly group call done via zoom with me. We all get on at the same time and we do a group question and answer. So if someone has a question specific to their business they can ask and I can answer it for them and the others on the call can learn from the question asked.
We also have a monthly training from an expert in our industry which can be anything from SEO to create contract by a lawyer. We’ve also done how to set up a flatlay for Instagram
All the things you need in order to move your business forward, to increase you traffic, to increase your influence.
That’s exactly what we are. We are a membership site full of influencers looking to monetize and grow their businesses.
Details will be coming out soon!
It is a great community of men and women.
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