How to Work with Brands During a Pandemic

Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, I’ll be talking about “How to Work with Brands During a Pandemic.” I’ll be talking about the state of influencer marketing right now and which brands are still working with influencers, what you should be doing as an influencer right now and what to focus on, and if you’re just starting out - what could you be doing right now to build your brand and grow your following. 

How Influencer Marketing is Doing Right Now

First I wanna start with talking about how influencer marketing is doing now. I’m gonna be honest with you and tell you that there are some brands that are affected that will not be doing any marketing right now - that’s travel brands for one - it doesn’t make sense. Also anything that has to do with events or in-person because that goes against social distancing guidelines.

 I’ve had some campaigns in progress that have been postponed because of this. One of them required that I go shoot at different locations so that was rescheduled. They’re not cancelled, they’re just moving the timeline. And another campaign was also postponed, but may pick back up because it’s with a food brand. 

 If you think about it - there are still brands that we are using now and that more people are buying. For one toilet paper and cleaning products, those brands are definitely spending money on advertising. And influencer marketing is a form of advertising. 

 Think about what you’re buying now that you’re at home more - food, kitchen appliances, a lot of us are making our own coffee at home and meal prepping. Now that we can’t go to the gym, people are buying home workout solutions (Peloton currently has a waiting list). 

 I just talked to my friend in the advertising industry and entertainment is up - not theatrical but home entertainment. These studios and streaming services are going to be pushing out new shows to keep us entertained while we’re all staying home. 

 So there are definitely still brands out there that are marketing and advertising, who are still partnering with influencers. So you can be pitching to these brands right now and still look at some influencer marketing platforms to see who’s still running campaigns. 

What You Should Be Doing as an Influencer Right Now

 Now let’s talk about what you should be doing as an influencer right now...

Since it looks like this is going to last for another month at least, this is a great time to start connecting with brands online and on social media. This is where you can start featuring brands on your channel that you’re using at home. By promoting them organically, you are already building that relationship now - so that even if they’re not spending money on influencer marketing, you’ll be top of mind when they do. 

This is also a great time to start repurposing your content. Since most of us aren’t shooting right now, it’s a good time to go back through your camera roll. If you’re like me and have over 40,000 photos on your phone, you can start choosing and editing ones to use in the next coming weeks. 

 It’s also the best time to be showing up for your audience which will help you grow fast. A lot of people are going LIVE and being more personal - I think this is the perfect time for you to build your brand and grow your community by supporting them during this difficult time. 

 If you’re not knowing what to say or post, you can ask your audience what they wanna see more of from you or hold a weekly time for conversation or just to create a safe space. Everyone is feeling a lot of emotions right now and if you can be there for your audience, you will see that strengthens your community and relationship with them. 

What to Do if You're Just Starting Out

 If you’re just starting out, this is definitely the perfect time to post content because everyone is at home and a lot of people are bored. They wanna learn and want to be entertained. That’s why you’ll see a lot of fitness influencers doing daily workouts or musicians doing in-home concerts - this is how we serve our audience - by providing value to them. 

Some brands may still be planning out what their marketing strategy is at this time because things are uncertain, we don’t know when things are going to go back to “normal.” So right now we have to make the best of this situation and focus on the things that we do have control over. 

We have control over ourselves, what we do, what we create and how we show up. That’s why I continue to show up every single day on my channels and I think you should too!

Listen to the full episode here:  

Watch the Masterclass

Gwenlane.com/masterclass

Listen to Previous Episodes: 

The State of Influencer Marketing featuring Tinger Hseih

How to Create Content During a Crisis

How to Pitch Yourself to Podcasts featuring Mai-Kee Tsang

5 Influencer Mistakes to Avoid

How to Work with Brands You Love

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