Are you a content creator looking to break into the world of paid partnerships with brands? Have you done a ton of gifted partnerships and you’re feeling ready to start bringing in some revenue? I got you! Let’s turned those gifted collabs into PAID PARTNERSHIPS!
Often times, brands will reach out, putting out feelers to see if you are interested in partnering. Now, nothing against the brands or people reaching out, but they are likely trying to get you to agree to partner with them on a gifted basis. Most brands will try to get creators to work in exchange for products before offering payment for the campaign.
In my opinion, it never hurts to ask brands to PAY YOU for what YOU are WORTH! When brands reach out to me initially without any mention of rates or budget, I always counter and ask them what kind of a budget they are working with. This starts the conversation of budget and allows me to provide my quote for the statement of work required.
Email Template #1: Inquiring About Paid Partnerships Budget
Not sure about the language or starting this conversation? Talking about money can sometimes feel a bit awkward. I’m here to help you out! Here’s what I say when a brand reaches out without mentioning budget:
Hi NAME,
Thank you so much for reaching out. Working with BRAND would be a great fit for my brand that would undoubtedly resonate with my audience. SPECIFIC FACT OR SENTENCE ABOUT WHY I ENJOY THE BRAND OR PRODUCT. Given the time, effort, and expenses that go into shooting a campaign, I’m prioritizing paid collaborations. Is the brand working with a marketing budget for this campaign?
Best,
Emily Croslin
This template is a polite way to open up the conversation and transform those gifted collaborations into paid ones! After receiving this message, brands will often open the floor by asking me to provide my rates or quote for the requested statement of work. You can also use this as an opportunity to share your media kit and any statistics on past branded partnerships’ performance.
P.S. Huge shoutout to Danielle Gervino and the Blogging Unscripted Podcast for inspiring my response here! Highly recommend checking out Danielle’s podcast as another great resource for bloggers and content creators.
Email Template #2: Turning Past Gifted Partnerships Into Paid Partnerships
Okay, but what if you’ve partnered with the brand on a gifted basis in the past but want to turn the collab into a paid partnership next time they reach out? No problem, here’s what I’ve said in the past:
Hi NAME,
Thanks so much for reaching out! I’d love to partner up again! I’ve really enjoyed working with BRAND in the past and know the product resonates with my audience. Moving forward, I will be prioritizing paid collaborations given the time, effort, and expenses that goes into shooting a campaign. Does BRAND have a marketing budget for influencer activations?
Best,
Emily Croslin
In my experience, brands have been receptive to this response, especially when I have worked with them over time and they’ve seen my follower count and engagement rate increase. However, in some cases, brands truly do not have a budget for paid partnerships. At that point, it will be up to you to make the decision to move forward or pass on the collaboration. I politely pass on about 80 percent of the collaborations coming through my inbox as I want to prioritize paid campaigns that are beneficial to both myself and the brand.
If the Brand Needs a Little Convincing
Sometimes, brands will ask for a little more proof in the pudding before they agree to hire you on a paid basis. When this happens, I like to provide brands with some stats from past branded campaigns to really seal the deal.
I was recently listening to a Clubhouse chat with two of my favorite creators, @EmmasEdition and @MadCrayy, hosts of the Content Creatives Podcast. Something they suggested that I have implemented since then is creating a shareable Google Drive folder with stats from each brand collaboration. You can also add some of your insights from Instagram analytics – I’ve been adding my stats from the past 30 days on IG. I like to provide a few samples in each folder.
If I’m pitching a wine brand, whether it’s for the first time or I’m pushing back and asking for budget, I like to gather all of my stats from collabs with other wine or beverage brands. These real samples provide them with an idea of the type of performance a branded campaign with them might have on my page. I do the same for lifestyle brands, fashion brands, food brands, and any other category you can think of! I share this in addition to my media kit to provide more information and real-time statistics on recent campaigns.
Diving Into Analytics
Something else I like to do when pulling analytics is to search Fohr. In Fohr, you can see some in-depth stats on your brand. I highly suggest taking a look at Fohr and incorporating some of these stats into your media kit and Google Drive folders.
In Fohr, if you head over to the content tab, you can view your past posts for each brand. I type in the brand name and click “search my content.” Below is an example of what pops up when I search a brand I partnered with recently, T-Mobile:
When you click on the individual posts for each brand, you can view how the post performed. I find this information to be especially relevant when I am touching base with brands I have already partnered with in the past. From here, I can share KPIs with the brand and show them how the post was received with my audience. The most important stat I typically pull from is the engagement rate. Below is a screenshot of one of the individual posts and the stats you will see:
Let’s Get Paid!
Will you use these templates and advice to turn gifted collabs into paid partnerships? I highly encourage you to give it a try! If you are feeling nervous about asking a brand to pay you, think about how much value you are providing to them! I am passionate about the topic of knowing your worth as a content creator and sharing that information with brands. You can check out my journey as a content creator in this post, where I dive in to how I transformed my gifted partnerships into paid ones and shared some of my “big breaks!”
Are you a new blogger or content creator looking for more resources? Check out these recent posts:
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- Pitching to Brands as an Influencer (+ real email templates that I actually sent!)
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