Bloggers – Thinking of working with brands?

One thing I’ve learned over the last few years of having a blog, meeting bloggers, and connecting bloggers with brands is that we really pour a lot of ourselves into our blogs.  We watch traffic go up (I call both my sisters every time I get a huge spike) and then try to figure out why it sometimes goes down, we think hard about our post content, and are always looking for new plugins, features, and tricks to make our audience’s experience better.

At some point, you might have decided that it would be nice to have a little bit more benefit from your blog than just the glory of having readers.  Maybe you’ve heard from a few companies that have addressed you as “dear blogger” and professed their undying love of your content.  Maybe you’ve even  laughed because you are wondering when this company has time to peruse their favorite food blogs during their workday. I have often wanted to write back a snarky email asking them which of my posts was their favorite.

The truth is, wanting some benefit from your blog is a great idea and you don’t have to necessarily sell your soul to the devil to incorporate some brands into your blog.  We’ve all seen the good and the bad when it comes to partnering with a brand so I’ve written some tips for those of you considering making your blog more like a business:

Don’t Count On The Brand To Know How To Work With You. When a brand contacts you wanting to work together they are probably going to want to pay you for an ad on your blog or send you a script of points to talk about when reviewing their product.  They do this because in the traditional advertising world (print, radio,TV) this is how it works.  They send copy or give money to place an image somewhere. They’re not trying to kill your blog, they just don’t have any other ideas yet. The good news is that as unlikely as it is that they are going to call you up with a great idea, some of them might be open to a great idea of yours. Think about what you would like a sponsor to do on your blog.  If there’s video you’re dying to make but don’t have a great camera yet maybe you are looking for a sponsor to pay for or give you a camera.  Maybe you want to do a post about the top 5 kitchen products and need some products to review.  You should always have a list going and when someone contacts me I try to get things crossed off that list.

It’s Not Just About Your Traffic. If you are just starting out or don’t have a huge following yet you might think that you have to stick to ads on the sidebar to work with brands.  While most brands will want to know your traffic you should definitely let them in on the other great things about your blog.  Maybe you have a really engaged group of readers or maybe you do a really cool Thursday post series that’s really picking up.  What about things you might be doing offline as well?  If you’re involved with a radio show or teaching a class, these can be valuable to bring up but no one will know about these great things unless you speak up.

You Know Your Audience Better Than They Do. It doesn’t help you or a brand if you just give in and write about whatever someone wants you to write about.  Your audience knows you, they know what kind of photos you take and how your voice sounds and they can also tell when a brand is talking instead of you.  What will happen is that you’ll lose your credibility and the brand isn’t going to get their message out there. In order to win with a brand on your blog you have to tell them what your audience is or isn’t going to respond to.  Just remember, they came to you because you have a connection with a certain group and that you are the expert on that particular connection.

Be Proactive. If you want to get sponsors on your blog and you aren’t getting the right offers (or any offers) then you can go out and get them yourself.  I recently helped a blogger friend approach a diet food delivery brand about sponsorship.  It took  several emails and calls to explain what she wanted to do with them but they eventually understood the idea of brand ambassadorship.  You can also subscribe to sites like PRnewswire to learn about which brands have new products and these brands are also actively looking for press so it’s a good place to start.

Make sure that you find the right contact when you do talk to a brand.  A salesperson is not the right person to pitch your idea to but are often the first point of contact for a brand.  When you reach out, ask to speak to someone in charge of marketing and/or partnerships.  The key words here are “in charge”.  You don’t want to ask someone to say yes if they don’t have the power to say yes.

Don’t Sell Yourself Too Cheap! Charging too low is probably the number one problem that I see when it comes to bloggers and communities working with brands.   If you don’t get paid appropriately for your time and efforts you’re not going to be happy with the partnership.  If someone pays you to do something then they potentially could become a nightmare partner calling 3 times a day and making lots of demands.  This is certainly a lot easier to deal with if you are being paid well.   Determine what you’re worth by breaking it down into hours.  How long could it take to write a post, create a video, think up ideas?  Don’t forget to include driving time, brainstorming time, and anything else that will tack on hours to your finished product.

It’s Not Always Going To Be About Money. There are a lot of ways a brand can help you and your audience without having to write glowing reviews about them or even exchange money.  Some people just cringe at writing about a brand and that’s fine.  What if you wrote a series of 5 posts about a certain topic and allowed a brand to sponsor that series by giving away some prizes?  Or maybe they have an expert on their team that you could interview and make a great post out of it?  Or maybe they can put your post on their site or newsletter and help boost your traffic instead of giving you ad dollars.  Maybe they have access to products you need like hotel rooms or iPhones.  Think outside the box when it comes to sponsors.