How To Pitch Influencers

We are getting close to end of our series on working with influencers. It seems this is a subject matter many of you want to read about so you can incorporate it into your business marketing plans. If you are just joining us in the series, make sure to read: Creating Loyal Brand Ambassadors, How To Collaborate with Influencers, and Cultivating Relationships With Influencers so you can have a complete grasp of this subject matter.

Solid Relationship

As mentioned before, we want this to be a solid relationship. Not some random person you saw had 150K followers on instagram or twitter. I constantly use Trina of Baby Shopaholic as a reference because our friendship started on twitter and has blossomed from business partnership to friendship. You do not have to become BFF’s with necklaces however when you are sending information for partnership or advertising — you don’t want them looking like – who is this?

If you go the route of not getting to know this person on a deeper level, I HIGHLY suggest you know their name. Do not address them as the name of their blog or whatever else is not their name. Honestly, I have seen both spectrum’s. Bloggers have pitched me and called me Imperfect Concepts or brands have reached out and called me other people’s names.

Contact Information

Find said influencers information on their site. Some make it extremely hard and others have emails solely for collaborations. The subject line of contact should let them know immediately this is not just a “hi, how are you doing email,” be informative in the subject line. “Blush Tees x Imperfect Concepts collaboration”, for example, or “seeking advertising rates for Imperfect Concepts.” In the email — state who you are, expound on what you are trying to do {partnership, gifting or advertising} and why you want to work with them. Ask them for their media kit with all their numbers and information you need to determine if this is the right partnership.

Know The Numbers

After the email has been sent and they follow up, it is time to review their numbers and past collaborations. In most media kits, influencers share people they have worked with in the past and how it worked. You can actually ask to be put into contact to see if it worked. You don’t have to but if you want to go that extra measure you can. If they say no, you can either take it as a bad or good thing. As you review their numbers, see if they reached their target demographic. If you are selling baby clothes you are not going to want a influencer who has no mommy readers, that would be a total bust. Also know they do not need a million followers to change your business life. Its about having loyal supporters.

Creative Collaboration

If you already have a plan of sorts you can share this with them in the initial email correspondence. This will make it easier on both of you for this partnership. So many brands just say I want to work with you but have no ideas. Be the company with ideas and outlines. If you’re wanting to partner with them on a spring line for example, explain this and your ideas. Make sure you are open to them changing things up a bit. Remember this is a collaboration not a dictatorship. Also, if you’re only wanting heavy push on their site and pinterest, then state that. This is about a win-win. Determine your overall objective for this collaborative partnership.

Legal Aspects

Being that you are a business owner I know you wouldn’t dare enter a partnership without a contract. Brandi has written about this topic matter before for us. I highly suggest you have a standard contract for these types of deals. You want to make sure you get your return on investment and both parties hold up their end of the bargain. You want everything in writing.

Also note if you live in the same city you can do the pitch in person, if not email is fine. Just make sure you are professional. No Hey girl, or Hi Love, or Hello Doll.

From reading all the articles we have shared over the last couple weeks you know the importance of influencers. We want you as business owners to be fully equipped with the right information before walking into any situation.

Photography image by Adam; image sourced by Flickr Creative Commons