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Oftentimes, influencers have to work around the clock to even have a chance in making a sustainable income. Similar to how businesses rely on influencers for campaigns, influencers thrive off partnerships for financial stability and engagement. In this NeoReach article, we’ll discuss the ins and outs of how to get brand partnerships and how influencers can utilize tools to help guarantee growth and success.
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How to Get Brand Partnerships
Before you start thinking about businesses to partner with, you’ll need to start with the influencer basics. If you already have a solid foundation, you’re on your way to getting partnerships – if not, here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you prepare to reach out to companies and brands:
- Be active and post consistently: Companies love when influencers are both active and posting high-quality content. While posting consistently is crucial for your partnership journey, quality over quantity will help pave your way to success. Brands also love partnering with influencers that have opportune growth and a willingness to be engaged with their community.
- Find your niche: Focus on a niche you love because chances are, brands in that niche will be the ones you’ll want to partner with. If your audience is more generalized, it’ll be harder for brands to know who your audience is. This could jeopardize a brand’s campaign if they’re unable to reach the desired audience. Accommodating a general audience also means you’ll have to compete for exposure with other influencers that specialize in a niche that’s not your own.
- Make yourself known to brands: Once you find your niche, familiarize yourself with brands that fit it and your audience. Try out some new products and post about them on your platform (be sure to tag the brand in your posts too)! If you love makeup, talk about different brands you love and make it known. This lets potential partners know that you’re interested in their product and that you’re a regular customer, so your audience will have already heard of them.
- Get referred by past partners: If you’ve partnered in the past, consider asking them to refer you! If your partnership was an overall good one and both parties were satisfied, brands will trust your knowledge of products in your niche and how partnering with you was beneficial for others. If you’ve never obtained a partnership, but you have influencer/collab friends, have them refer you. Budding a good reputation with other influencers will prove to brands that you’re a trustworthy partner. Also, enhance your collaborative efforts by utilizing a Calendar App for Microsoft Teams to streamline communication and coordination,
If you’re a small influencer, check out this excellent podcast from Boss Babe, a community of female entrepreneurs, on how to pitch, negotiate, and get paid. Boss Babe discusses crafting a perfect press kit, boosting engagement, creating brand flow, and more!
Are you a brand wanting to reach out to influencers? Check out this NeoReach blog to learn how to write a killer influencer contract.
How Many Followers Do I Need?
One question you might have about how to get brand partnerships is how many followers you need. Truth be told, there’s no prerequisite or required amount of followers. Depending on what brand you’re seeking a partnership with and their campaign budget, even nano influencers can get partnerships.
Codou Way, a recent nano-influencer, has a great video on how she made money with 6k followers. Way states to not be an influencer just for the money because “it will show and your followers will know,” so remember to be authentic and passionate.
Oftentimes, brands tend to prefer micro-influencers for their high engagement, consistent reach, and lower rates, but don’t let that scare you away – any influencer, no matter how small or big, can get brand partnerships. As long as you create a strong foundation for yourself and follow these next steps, your chance of success will increase. Growth doesn’t happen overnight, but with time, you’ll enhance your influencer status.
Influencers are trendsetters and brand founders. Check out these top 10 brands founded by influencers here.
Creating Your Media Kit
Once you’ve got a strong foundation, it’s time to show that off to brands. A media kit is a package of information that helps companies know who you are, what you do as an influencer, who you’ve partnered with, who your audience is, etc. Think of it as a resume that helps companies get to know you better without having to ask questions over and over again. Your how to get brand partnerships journey wouldn’t be complete without it.
Here are some things to mention in your media kit:
- Personal bio: If brands don’t already know about you, tell them about yourself. Include some information about your role as an influencer, your strengths, your authentic traits, and why you’d be a good person with whom to partner. If you’ve partnered with other brands in the past, feel free to mention that here.
- Your goals: Identify your goals as an influencer and with your potential brand partnership. If your goals align with other brands, a partnership is extremely likely. Remember, transparency with your brand leads to a successful partnership.
- Followers, demographics, website traffic, etc: This is the meat of the media kit sandwich. If you want to know how to get partnerships, you’ll need to know these statistics. You can find demographics, website traffic, and your follower count on Google Analytics or on your social media platforms.
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- Your rates/cost for partnership: Be explicit with your rates before you get into a partnership. Address if you’re flexible with your partnership rates or if other deals could be made. If you don’t know how much you should charge, check out this guide on influencer rates from the Influencer Marketing Hub.
- Contact information: If brands take a liking to you, they’ll need your contact information. Include your phone number, email address, social media platforms, and website(s) here.
Your media kit acts like a template for when you reach out to brands, so make sure everything is up-to-date and accurate. Be open to discussing matters between you and the brand, and kindle a great relationship, especially if you intend on partnering with them or other companies in the future. If a partnership doesn’t feel right to you, don’t be afraid to politely opt out and keep searching. Sometimes an influencer and brand might not mesh well, but there should never be bad blood between the two.
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The Takeaway
Being an influencer is no easy task, and getting partnerships can be a great feat to overcome. If a partnership falls through or you aren’t receiving the results you want, don’t give up. If you’re not reaching your goals, that might mean you either need to wait for a better opportunity. Other times, that might mean you need to go back to the basics and rebuild a more stable foundation for your platform. Never give up, and stay determined.
If you’re struggling to get partnerships, you might benefit from a brand ambassador program. Not only is becoming an ambassador low-risk for the brand, but you can also dip your toes into working with brands without going straight into a partnership. Even if you aren’t affiliated with a brand, you can keep promoting their products if you love using them, and with time, those brands will recognize you as a reputable influencer. Now that you know how to get brand partnerships and grow as an influencer, it’s your time to influence and inspire others.
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