How to Get Sponsored By Brands You WANT to Work With

It may seem like influencers are constantly being approached by brands for sponsorships, so why is your inbox still empty?

Are you not getting sponsored by brands yet? Let's talk about some of the reasons why this is happening.

What do you WANT from brands?

If you want to quit your 9-5 job and work full-time as an influencer, you need to work with brands. Brands reaching out to you and offering you either free product or paid partnerships will not only provide you with money, but can expand your reach and help your channel grow. 

You to work with brands who VALUE your brand, content and audience. You've worked hard to create your brands, so it's important to partner with other brands who hold themselves to the same standards.

You want to be able to go to sponsored events get AMAZING gift bags, or even go on sponsored trips. Doesn't getting paid to travel seem much more fun than sitting in an office every day?

There are three ways you can work with brands. 

Collabs 

Brand collaborations are usually unpaid, but product is typically provided. Sometimes they ask you to buy the product or give you a discount code, but this is generally something to avoid unless they give you product for free. Why should you pay THEM for your hard work?

Partnerships

Partnerships may be paid or unpaid; the term can be vague  and you may need to ask the brand for clarification on what they're offering.

Sponsorships 

This is our big goal as influencers - a paid deal where you are offered payment for promotion services on your channel. 

What are brands looking for?

So WHAT exactly are brands looking for when working with influencers?

A fit for a specific campaign

Brands are looking to work with influencers for a SPECIFIC campaign. You have to look at it from the perspective of someone on the marketing team.

Audience alignment

They are looking for influencers whose AUDIENCE aligns with the audience that they’re trying to reach and they’re looking at several things - the brand, the location, and most importantly if it’s a great fit

Something within budget

The next thing they are looking at is their BUDGET. A common misconception is that you have to have a certain number of followers, whether it's 10k, 100k, 500k - not always the case. Clients or brands may have the budget to partner with someone who has a bigger following, but many companies look for an influencer that's right for the campaign regardless of the following.

Audience Connection

Brands want to see that you are CONNECTED to your audience. Do you respond to comments? Does your audience engage with you in an authentic way? This is something that they look at when choosing an influencer to work with.

So why aren't brands working with you yet?

If brands are not reaching out to your right now, it’s probably because:

It’s not clear who your audience is.

Brands know who they're marketing to, so if your audience isn't defined, how can they be sure they're targeting the right people?

You’re not getting found easily.

Think of the keywords or hashtags that your dream brand would use to search for influencers.

Your content doesn't provide value.

If you’re not posting high-quality content or you’re not consistently providing value to your audience, brands could potentially be turned off.

 Now that you know what brands are looking for, go claim your dream partnership!