Best Ways to Approach Brands As An Influencer

Today, creative professionals have many opportunities to monetize their passion. Whether you are a writer, a photographer, or a designer, you can build your website or create an online portfolio on any other platform and monetize it through influencer marketing. Simply put, you need to reach out to brands and offer to promote their services or products on your website and social media channels.

Influencer marketing is a growing niche that has already reached an estimated worth of $16.4 billion in 2022. And even though not all brands are ready to invest in influencer marketing, about 40% of them already do — especially brands whose chief target audience is millennials and GenZ, a consumer group exceptionally responsive to influencer marketing.

If you can create quality content, whether text or visual and know how to promote yourself online, you can join the highly lucrative influencer marketing niche. When done right, this could even turn into a full-time occupation. Isn't that a dream come true — doing what you love while cashing in from chosen brands who want to reach larger audiences via your social channels? And here are the essential tips on how you can eventually get there.

The Basics: Build a Good Portfolio

This may seem like a no-brainer, but there are a few tricks most people ignore at the start of their creative journeys. When you are passionate about something — writing, photography, art — the temptation to publish everything you like without considering what others want to see is too big. Sadly, this is no way to build a large audience of followers — the primary thing a brand is looking for in influencer collaboration.

Another thing to keep in mind is consistency. No matter if you are running a blog or posting pictures on Instagram, you have to do it regularly. Brands potentially interested in collaboration will check how often you update your channel, and showing consistent engagement with your followers will prove that you are serious about your business. Besides, social media users also love regular updates from the people they follow. And Google loves it, too! So, if you are running a website, regular updates are an absolute must.

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One more critical tip when organizing your site and your social media portfolio is to keep your contact info easily accessible. You may be prepared to spend some time looking for the brand's contact info (more on that later) but do not expect the same courtesy from busy PR managers in major enterprises.

How Do You Search for Brands to Work With

The brands you represent should align with your covered topics as closely as possible. Sure, there is always some room for creative expression. For example, if you have a blog/vlog about cycling, your choice of brands is not limited to bikes alone. It can be anything related to cycling — sports clothes, footwear, backpacks, camping kits, etc. Still, quality influencer marketing is about telling your audience about quality products they may find helpful.

That limits your search for potential partners to companies that share your mindset and values. Also, while it's totally fine to aim for the most reputable brands, it makes sense to start with smaller businesses — until you build a large audience, at least.

You can, of course, google prospective partners. Still, it is easier to find your brand via dedicated business directories that can be searched by industry, location, and other customizable search parameters you have in mind. You can conduct a more detailed Google and social media search later when you have already compiled an initial list of potential companies to represent. After that, you should be able to narrow that list down a bit, ensuring the brands you are contacting share a similar set of values.

If, for example, your cycling platform emphasizes making sustainable life choices, it makes no sense to advertise a company known for its unsustainable practices — that will only discredit your reputation, alienate some of your readers/viewers, and will certainly not help this brand sell more of its products. So, you risk getting into a typical lose-lose situation unless you research well. Besides, good research will prove very useful during the next phase.

Engaging Suitable Brands: Getting Started

Once you have found the brands you want to represent, you can contact them immediately. For that, you can check their contact info on official websites and social media or use an email-finding tool to message PRs directly. The second one is clearly better. First, technology is not always perfect, and emails sent over website contact forms often end up in the spam folder. Second, contacting relevant decision-makers directly shows that you are serious about collaboration — and that always scores some extra points.

If you are contacting a large and established brand, you may need to invest even more effort to catch their attention. Before you introduce yourself to any managers (who are probably busy and may have never heard of you before), it makes sense to engage with the company on social media. Follow the brand for a while, research their products, analyze what they post and how often they post it — and comment!

Even if your comments do not get much attention at first, PRs who will research you after receiving your pitch will once again see that you have been following the brand for some time. And that scores you even more points than a direct email to the PR manager’s inbox. After that, the only thing left is to write a good pitch — so let’s see how you can do that!

Writing a Pitch: What Do You Say

Any pitches you send out should be short but informative. It is important to mention:

1. Who you are.
2. What your niche and follower count is.
3. Quickly mention some past achievements.
4. Say why you would like to collaborate.
5. Say how exactly you plan to collaborate.
6. End with a question or a call to action to facilitate a reply.

That may sound like a lot for a short pitch, but let's return to our cycling blog example. A pitch may look like this:

Hi!

I am Tim, a content creator based in Houston. I write about all things cycling, camping, and sportswear to an audience of 6,000 followers.

I also have experience in graphic design, so I usually post my own visuals. I have noticed that [brand] has lately launched a sustainability initiative, which is another topic I cover a lot.

I would like to host a few sponsored posts about your new sustainable sportswear— my audience has found such content useful before.

Would you be interested in working together on this one? Email me back — I’d be happy to discuss more!

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Don’t treat this pitch as a generic sample, though. The goal is to research each brand separately and mention specific details about its past campaigns or relevant products. Generic messages will never get you far.

The final tip for aspiring influencers is never to lose hope, even if the first attempts aren't 100% successful. Very few influencers enjoy a smooth start, and it always takes time to build an online reputation in today's digital crowd. But if you keep working on your portfolio and your brand partnerships, eventually, you may reach a point when the brands start reaching out to you, not the other way around.

Showcase Your Metrics and Analytics

Sharing data on your engagement rates, audience demographics, and past accomplishments is essential for establishing your value as an influencer. Brands look for influencers who can do more than just increase visibility; they want partnerships that boost engagement, build brand grasp, and drive conversions.

This is where you should bring up your average engagement rate, click-through rates, and conversion rates from previous campaigns to show that. Furthermore, giving your audience demographics (age, gender, location, and interests) helps brands see how well your followers are created as their perfect purchasers.

You can also provide qualitative responses, such as testimonials from previous brand partnerships, case studies, or examples of the impact your content has had on consumer behavior. All of these specifics not only illustrate your reach but also underscore that you get the ins and outs of strategic marketing, making yourself an ideal pairing for any brands trying to improve their trade efforts. In other words, providing complex analytics shows that you care and are committed to delivering tangible effects.

Building and Maintaining Relationships

Forming an agreement is the non-conclusive aspect of collaboration with a brand; keeping your partnership alive is its most indispensable element. Start with the basics, open communication channels between you and the brand team by discussing how many updates it would like to receive on what aspects.

Share your performance insights—employment metrics, audience feedback, and key campaign milestones accomplished on an ongoing basis. This transparency not only keeps the brand(s) on a ride but also makes them see your eagerness on their project.

Receptivity and Feedback Recognition

Feedback—while possibly positive or negative in nature but always valuable for fine-tuning your content and ensuring it aligns with the brand goals. Demonstrating that you are open to change and innovation—whether that means trying different content formats, honing your messaging with tests, or dabbling in new media. Because this adaptability makes you a good partner who gets the brand and knows it will change but is willing to evolve with it.

You can also suggest new ideas for upcoming projects, like seasonal campaigns product launches, or collaborative content. Sharing your vision for how the partnership can play out long-term will help you partner up with people more often if it’s meaningful. Establishing yourself as a reliable, innovative (results-oriented) go-to also opens the door for moving into other areas of an influencer's career path—brand ambassadorships and product development.