Welcome back! I'm Sarah DeShaw, blogger and online educator for entrepreneurs
over at sarahdeshaw.com - If you're on Instagram
you've probably heard a little something about accounts getting paid
for their Instagram posts. Paid brand deals may seem like they're
way out of reach unless you're a top tier influencer, but I'm here to tell you
that there's a ton of opportunity out there for paid deals if you know
where to look and how to approach brands.
In today's video i'm going to take you step-by-step through the process of how
to get a paid brand deal - from brainstorming your list of
potential companies to work with to signing your
contract. As I go through these steps today try to imagine how you might
implement them. And, if you want all of these steps
written out for you with an area to take notes so you can start taking action
today - at the end of this video I'm going to tell you where you can get
your hands on a free pdf download that will help you do exactly
that. Alright, let's dig in!
The first step is to know your brand. Before you brainstorm any potential
brands to work with, the very first step is to know your own
brand. Not only is it super important to
recognize your own brand's values, mission, aesthetic, and goals, but when you
understand what your brand stands for you also
understand your potential audience so much better than you would
if you hadn't figured out that information.
So that information is going to help you find a brand to work with that
completely aligns with yours, which is exactly what those brands are
looking for anyways - aligned audiences. They want to make sure
you have the right audience, which is the same audience that they're
going for. So, that's really where you can connect with the
best brand partnerships.
Next, you'll create your media kit. A media kit is an
absolute must and I recommend you create it early on.
You're going to tweak it later for whatever specific brand you want to
contact and connect with and work with, but right now you can get a lot of the
work out of the way by creating media kit
outline and some basic copy. There's some great examples online but at
bare minimum you're going to want to include your contact info, any statistics
that you can give about your site or your social media,
and your previous connection to any other brands. Later on you're going to
add some relevant visual content to help to make
the media kit a bit more attractive to whichever brand you're sending it to -
the whole idea is that you want to fill in with visual content that is going to
align with that brand, but we're going to talk a little more about that later.
3 - Decide on your dream list. Don't worry about keeping your list
focused just list every single brand you can think of that aligns with your
brand's values or your mission and that you'd be so so flippin excited
to work with! It might be helpful to scroll through
the other brands you're following on Instagram since you're probably
already checking out the companies that really speak to you and align with your
values and goals. And, as you're making your list don't
discount the smaller brands. Even if you don't think there's an
opportunity for a big paid brand deal building working relationships with
other brands will definitely get you started
and make some of the larger and more well-known brands pay attention to you
in the future if they see you're already doing partnerships.
If you want to save yourself some time later you can even organize your list of
brands into categories like: travel, home, family, business, and so on.
This will make it easier to choose a specific brand later on.
And next: Choose your focus. Next you're going to want to choose
one specific thing about your brand to focus on. You can always go back and
change this the next time you're pursuing brand deals but for now just
choose one focus. This could either be something
that is happening for you or your brand, like if you have a
personal brand and you're about to renovate your home -
that could be your focus! You're probably about to post a bunch of content about
that. Or, it could be one of your brand's values, for example, if you have a health
brand and one thing your brand really loves to
focus on is hydration and you have some awesome hydration
content coming up soon that might be your focus. By choosing something
specific it gives you a way to focus your search towards specific
brands as well as give those brands something solid to see about your brand
to see how your audiences would align, which is really important to show brands
when you're trying to make a deal with them.
Again, your content aligning with their content and speaking to the same
audience - that is what they're looking for.
Next, choose brands to approach. From here you're going to want to take the list
you created in step 3 and find which one of those brands
align with your focus. Or, you may get some new ideas for other brands you'd
like to pursue, for example if you're adopting a new pet
you might want to reach out to a brand that creates
unique pet collars or cute artsy pet food bowls. Or maybe you're about to
head into a season of writing about time management
so a watch company may be a great fit for you.
And, don't just limit yourself to the really obvious brands. If you've got a
brand in mind that aligns with your values,
your typical content topics, or even your aesthetic, it might be worth reaching out.
Do you have a dream brand that you would absolutely love to work with?
Tell me all about it in the comments area below!
And next, adjust your materials. Now it's time to take a second look at your media
kit. The good news is that if you've
completed the previous steps in this video you've already done most of the
leg work to create the media kit that you'll send out to potential brands.
But, now that you've chosen a specific focus
and particular brands to target that work with that focus
you can better tailor your media kit for those brands in particular. The obvious
edit you'll want to make is that you're going to make sure
all your visual content aligns with your brand's aesthetic,
but then the next thing you're going to want to do is make sure it aligns with
the brand's aesthetic that you're targeting!
It should feel like it could be something they would like, follow,
or even post to their own page. A little research can pay off
in a big way here, so check out those brands social media
accounts or websites to get a feel for the type of content they like to produce.
And, if it's a lifestyle brand you'll want to think about including images of
you and your family or friends, or maybe even
you working - whatever your lifestyle is. Or, if it's a travel brand your content
should definitely have a theme of adventure or luxury
travel or whatever it is that aligns with that brand that you're trying to
partner with. It doesn't have to be perfect so don't
go crazy on this and you may have to improvise a bit depending on what
content you have, but do your best to make sure that your
visual content and even your copy are working for you. Obviously make sure
above all you stay true to you and your brand, but the point in
customizing your media kit is to show them
how they could fit in with your brand and vice versa.
Now for the exciting part, which is getting in contact with brands!
A great way to do this is through Instagram DMs. Companies usually respond
pretty quickly because they have someone assigned to this and you can pretty much
guarantee that the contact info is good. I mean,
it's their account - it's going to be connected right to someone that you can
talk to from that company. If you don't hear back, scour their
website and try to find an email address, if you can, then you can connect with
them that way. And regardless of how you contact them you're going to want to
keep it super clear and concise: tell the brand who you are, what you like
about their brand, and why you think the two of you should work together.
Also, if you have a specific audience that you think may appeal to them
you might want to include a line about that as well. If you have some killer
stats, like a high number of subscribers or followers, this is a great time to
just throw that in there as well. Finish the email by inviting them to
contact you through whichever means that you prefer.
The next step is: don't quit! This is the single hardest part of the whole
process. If it was super easy to get paid brand deals everybody would be doing it.
You're gonna need a lot of patience and some thick skin for this step.
You might get a lot of rejections, but don't give up.
It just means that the brand you contacted didn't quite align
or maybe they weren't looking for partnerships at this time and there's
probably a better fit out there for you. And, don't be afraid to get in contact
with more companies even if you haven't heard back from your first choices yet.
Just don't forget to adjust your media kit before you send it out again.
Next: follow up and follow through. Two things you absolutely must do are to
follow up with any brands that you've been in contact with
and then follow through when you get a potential deal
or actual deal in the works. This means that if the brand requested more info
or examples of your content you've got to get it to them and get it to them in
a timely manner. By communicating clearly and quickly you
can improve your own reputation as an influencer and begin to build trust,
which will definitely help you when you're looking for paid brand deals. If
you're great to work with, that brand may be willing to even give
you a great review or hire you again for future deals.
If the brand wants to work with you, don't create any content or create any
posts without signing a contract first. This will help protect both you and the
brand you're working with make sure that you guys are both on the same page
as you build a working relationship together. If this process piqued your
interest and you're like, "Oh my gosh! I want to get
started on the process of getting a paid brand deal!" I have a free
download that summarizes everything I went over today
and gives you space to write out some of your notes and thoughts and ideas. So, if
you'd like me to send you that PDF to your inbox,
click on the link below this video or head to:
sarahdeshaw.com/instagram-brand-deals to get it.
If you want to learn more about making the most of modern entrepreneurship,
hit the notification bell to be notified when my next video comes out.
Until then, check out one of these two videos over here that I've already
created. And, if you want to keep up with my
channel tap this button over here to subscribe. I create videos about on-brand
content creation, mindset, marketing, and more. I hope you
have a really great week and I hope to see you again
very, very soon. Alright, bye!