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Blog Talk: How To Score Brand Collaborations

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March 18, 2021

 

As someone relatively new to blogging, I still have a lot to learn, especially when it comes to financially benefitting from my blog. But one area I can talk about is brand collaborations. I work full time as the Online Marketing Coordinator for a new online fashion brand. I get several emails every single day from bloggers looking for complimentary items to style on their blog. I have to turn a lot of ladies down and I am here to share with you the most popular reasons why.

1. They don’t know what they want.

I can’t even tell you how many emails I get from bloggers saying they want to work with us, yet name no specific collaboration ideas. Do you want to style our jewelry? Do you want to write a guest post for our blog? It turns into a guessing game for me, and I use the term ‘game’ lightly. It’s not fun. Think of a specific way that both you as a blogger and the brand can mutually benefit before reaching out and make a case for yourself. Always be sure to present your idea in a detailed, professional way. Which brings me to my next point….

2. They have bad grammar.

Ok, it’s one thing if English isn’t your first language–I get that–but if you’re going to be writing about a brand, they want you to be able to spell and use punctuation correctly. Not all bloggers write because they have a love of the written word, but let’s be honest, writing (and proofreading) is a major part of blogging and if you can’t tackle that, then I can’t take you seriously.

3. They lie about stats.

Let me let you in on a little secret: I can pull the stats of any website you give me. In fact, anyone can. So why send me a media kit with not only inflated stats, but just plain made up numbers? It happens much more than you’d think and is a major no-no. It makes me want to email every brand marketing rep I know and warn them! Oh and media kits are da bomb. If you don’t have one, make one now!

4. They clearly don’t invest in their blog.

For the vast majority, blogging is a hobby. I understand that many people don’t have the time or money to hire a web designer and a professional photographer and that’s fine. But if I’m sending you free accessories, I want the photos to be pretty and I want to be proud to share your link on our brand page. If it’s between a pretty blog with high quality photos and 1000 followers and a standard WordPress themed blog where you take photos of yourself in the mirror with your iPhone, I’m picking the pretty blog–even if the boring-looking blog has more followers. Of course, stats and number of followers is always important, but when you care about your blog, it shows, and brands can see that.

When I first started blogging, I was lucky to have several brands reach out to me for collaborations, but I didn’t realize until I started working this job that brands love to hear from bloggers. I don’t have time to scour the web day and night to find bloggers. Sure, I come across some good ones and email them, but a lot of our collaborations come from bloggers reaching out to us. So don’t be afraid to reach out to brands! What do you have to lose?

Do you have any tips I didn’t mention? Share in the comments!

 

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