There is a common notion among bloggers that they need to have thousands of visitors before they can work with brands. This is a result of traditional advertising and marketing where the more viewers you have the better. Thanks to the rise in influencer marketing, bloggers can work with brands regardless of how small their blog is. The key is to show brands that y0u have an influence over the limited audience that you have access to. There are 4 effective strategies you can use to connect with brands:
- Focus on influence
Brands partner up with influencers to elicit actions from their audience. These actions could be something simple like comments, likes and shares. Some also want new users to enroll their services or buy products. It might even be to change users’ opinions. As a small blogger, you have to emphasize how your blogs and social media can push users towards achieving the brand’s goals. Since your viewership might be small, you have to focus on the impact that it had. If you have worked on smaller campaigns before, emphasize the number of people your post inspired to take action and the benefits for the brand.
- Show, don’t tell
Influencer marketing showcases your opinions about products to your audience. Pick brands that you actually love and don’t try to trick your audience. Picking a random brand out of nowhere will not fool your audience and they’ll see right through it. As a result, you will lose their trust and they will take future recommendations with a grain of salt. Even from the brand’s perspective, bloggers that write about the same niche are better suited to promote their products. To show a brand that you’re a good fit, you can start by posting about them regularly, even if no deal is in place. Share the brand’s content and interact with them on social media. Show them screenshots of your engagement, traffic and overall influence rates. This will emphasize your skills and let’s the brand know that you’re taken seriously.
- Focus on being relevant
Brands want influencers that have an impact on their target audience. By looking at demographics and seeing how many of your readers are likely to buy a brand’s products or services. To help with this, also take into consideration what your audience is talking about and what their problems are. Also, take into consideration the amount of influence you can have on a brand’s target audience. If the brand is a local gardening tools provider, a local female blogger will have more influence than more famous bloggers from other niches.
- Don’t be greedy
When you first make contact with a brand or their representative, avoid mentioning money and other benefits. Remember that you’re asking to work for them so focus on introducing yourself and asking for opportunities. The first few times, you might even have to work for free. Once the introduction is done, you will have to send them a proposition for opportunities. In this proposition, you have to offer good value for their investment. If you cannot offer sales as a result, you can always offer to create something for the brand to share. When a brand shares your work, you get more recognition and become more likely to get more opportunities.
Marketing is a complex industry, you cannot expect brands to hire you at one go. You have to be willing to prove your worth to a brand. More importantly, be ready to get rejected and then get back on the horse. Entitlement is your biggest weakness as it ruins your perspective and keeps you solely focused on yourself.