Working with brands is a great way to boost your income as an influencer. Connecting with brands can be a challenge, though. To break through cluttered inboxes, you need a short yet direct pitch email to convince brands to work with you. While it sounds simple, writing cold pitch emails is tough. Where do you start? What do you say? What will the brand want to know? How short is short? To help clear up some questions, use these steps as a guide for how to pitch to brands.
How to pitch to brands as an influencer
Get started on brand collaborations with this guide:
Create a list of brands you want to work with
Before sending a pitch email, you need to identify a handful of brands that you’d like to work with. Look for brands within your niche that also align with your values. The list should include brands that vary in size, too, to improve your chances of connecting with an interested buyer.
Create a subject line
You need a snappy, engaging subject line. Average subject lines are no more than nine words and less than 60 characters, according to MailChimp. Explain what you’d like to do in a few short words and include your name in the subject line if you can. Later, the recipient can search for your name and locate your email with ease.
Write the pitch
The email should have four short paragraphs, which should include the following sections::
- An introduction.
- A suggested collaboration.
- Analytics on your audience and engagement.
- Examples of sponsored posts.
For the introduction, write one or two sentences that explain who you are and what your niche is.
The next section should discuss how and why you’d like to promote the brand’s product or service. Get specific. Explain what kind of collaboration you’d like to do, share a link to the social channel that you plan to use for the campaign, and be sure to explain why you’re a good fit to rep the product.
Brands will enquire about your analytics and audience makeup, so include those statistics right in the pitch email. If you have these stats outlined in a media kit, provide a link to it.
A brand will also request examples of previous content created for a brand. Again, you might have examples in your media kit, but it’s a good idea to mention a similar collaboration in your email.
End with a call to action
Wrap up the email with a call to action, or the next step that you want to happen. In this case, you’d probably request a meeting to discuss the collaboration further.
Sign your name and provide links to your site, blog, and social channels in your email signature, too.
Send the pitch to the right person
After spending time fine-tuning your subject line and email, you need to address the email to the person who handles influencer marketing within the company. What if you don’t know who that is? Consider sending a DM to ask for a specific name.
Manage responses and follow up
Keep an eye on your inbox for responses. If you do hear back, you want to respond quickly. From here, you’ll negotiate a contract and deliver sponsored content.
If you don’t hear back, you can send a follow-up email in two to three days. It should be a short, one-line message that asks if the recipient received your message and quickly describes the collaboration again.
If you don’t receive any responses, make another list of brands that you’d like to work with. Consider selecting smaller brands with a history of influencer marketing.
Have brands come to you
As you create and send pitch emails, you should also join an influencer platform like IZEA’s, you can share social channels, provide a bio and pictures, highlight previous campaigns, and offer pricing. Your profile will look something like this:
Brands use IZEA’s creator marketplace to find content creators and initiate projects with them. Brands can browse profiles and reach out to influencers through the platform’s chat feature.
You’ll also notice that your profile has a purchasable collaboration. In the example above, influencer Rachel Falkner offers a sponsored Instagram Story for $550. A brand can simply click “Buy Now” on your profile to start an instant collaboration, too.
To work with brands, join an influencer marketing platform to maximize your exposure. Joining is easy. Go to the website, click Join, and set up your profile today.
Influencers:
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Marketers:
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