Disclosure: This post contains one (clearly marked!) affiliate link at the very end of the post.
Is your blog ready for brand partnerships?
Okay. You’re interested in working with brands? For a whole host of reasons? Let’s find out what those reasons are. Here’s some I prepared earlier:
+ Want to earn money from blogging
+ Other people seem to like doing it
+ Want to turn my blog into something less personal and more business like
+ Want to earn money from blogging
+ It seems to be the best way to monetise?
+ Want to earn money from blogging
Okay. MOST people want to work with brands to earn money. It’s that simple. A lot of bloggers who’ve gone before you have fund that sponsored post for brands or brand ambassadorships can be great earners. Or in fact, just earners because when you are at home with the kids and have a blog, it seems like a blessing to be paid to write something on your blog. THAT said… it’s really not the only way.
I don’t want to turn you away from the idea of blogging for/with brands on your blog. Not at all. But I do want you to stop and think about whether it’s right for you, because even though it’s the established method of earning for many local (and international) bloggers, it’s not for everyone.
Consider whether brand storytelling has a place on your blog… like REALLY has a place, or if the chance to earn money is steering you in that direction. If it’s the latter, you may want to DOUBLE CHECK with yourself before you go down that route.
I guess it depends on what your version of being a blogger is all about – maybe it IS about sharing brand experiences? Good for you. Or maybe it’s about other things entirely. Excellent, too.
Consider also whether being associated with a particular brand is of value to you. Will you feel more legitimate if you are blogging for a particular brand, do you think? That’s totally understandable, but you might want to DOUBLE CHECK with yourself about whether there are other ways to gain the kind of legitimacy you think you lack, perhaps by doing great work for your readers or creating a great value product that they can buy?
Okay. I’m going to stop asking you if this is right for you and get on with it now…
Are you writing the right types of posts?
If you think that working with brands is right for you, GOOD OH! Let’s talk about what you can do to appear even more fabulous to the brands in question. Firstly, you need to consider the types of posts that brands want you to write. This really varies from client to client. I’ve written a lot of sponsored content for Kidspot over the years. For me, this is a great compromise. The content is written by me, in my usual style, but sits on Kidspot’s site rather than mine. This means that my own blog readers can choose to see the content if I promote it via my social media or blog – and Kidspot gets an established, experienced voice weighing in on their campaign.
I asked Margaret Rafferty, Kidspot’s Commercial Editor and acting Editor-In-Chief what she looks for when she commissions a blogger to work on a sponsored post campaign:
1. A clear willingness to write for cash – don’t make me hunt for your contact info! Be sure to include easy-to-find information about how to contact you for commercial work and if you can, tell me what you will (and won’t) be willing to do.
2. A proactive approach – if you are willing to take commissions and are interested in writing for the publications or sites that I edit please contact me and tell me so. I obviously get a lot of approaches but am always more likely to contact someone who has expressed a desire to work with me.
3. An understanding of the realities of working with a client – by which I mean, you be prepared for the fact that sometimes clients change their mind, or start with a very vague brief then come back with loads of changes and suggestions which would have been more helpful at the start of the process. I need to know the blogger I commission will be amenable to making changes if necessary and understand that this is just part and parcel of working with clients: sometimes it’s difficult and there is simply no escaping the unpleasant realities. (If you want some examples of what these realities might be, check this out)
Bron, of Maxabella Loves, has also worked for Kidspot commissioning bloggers to write sponsored posts for clients. Here’s her advice to bloggers who want to do this kind of work.
1. First, I have to know the blogger in order for them to be top of mind for me when something comes up. So, I like it when a blogger introduces themselves to me by email, letting them know that they are interested if any work comes up. I always give their blog a good once over and if I like it, I add them to my ‘look up’ file. The “if I like it” is covered below.
Other ways to show me what you’ve got is to tag me in a post you are especially proud of on Facebook / Twitter so I can go and see your best work. To really grab my attention, make sure you have worked on your style and put your own unique spin on everything you do. When I’m commissioning a blogger, I’m commissioning a personality as much as anything. Otherwise we’d just get a writer… does that make sense?
2. I can’t edit to make a poor writer a good writer, so if the writing isn’t up to scratch it’s a big no from me. Good, strong command of the English language and a unique, engaging way of stringing it together is critical. However, I can probably edit to make a ‘reasonable’ writer a great one, so don’t be put off if you don’t consider your writing to be exceptional. If your voice is strong enough and your point of view / ideas / skills / images are wonderful, I will be happy to edit your writing. That said, always, always keep working to make your writing the best it can be.
3. If I’m looking for a content writer, this is probably not important, but if I’m looking for a blogger, it really is.I will generally only commission a blogger who can bring their own images to complete their story. Stock photos take away from the tone and uniqueness of a blogging post. Your own images are always going to tell your story in a warmer way.
Another blogger commissioner (ex-iVillage and now with Kidspot) Alana House says:
Remember: Don’t be a pain in the butt to work with! Make it easy for sponsors and agencies to partner with you. Be a total gem!
Local traffic
Another important factor in your attractiveness to brands is your local traffic. If an Australian brand is going to pay you to write and publish a sponsored post on your blog, they want to know what your ‘domestic traffic’ figures are like. That’s the portion of your traffic that is from Australia. (If you don’t live in Australia – the concept is the same – local brands seek same!)
Google Analytics can tell you where your traffic is coming from (head into AUDIENCE OVERVIEW > DEMOGRAPHICS > COUNTRY)
Are you already talking about brands?
Any future paid posts on your blog are going to need to make sense and feel ‘natural’ on your blog. Now is the time to start writing post that might have a similar tone and theme, to provide some context, if you are going to start writing sponsored posts. This means you should be talking a bit (in your own voice, in a natural way) about products and experiences already (even if you’re not getting paid to promote that product/experience).
I’m not talking about particularly sales-y posts, but rather about getting readers used to the fact that you’ll be writing about things other than your self. Not only is it good practice for future posts, these posts can act as a kind of ‘folio’ for future partners to look at.
Do you have a great About Me page?
Can potential sponsors find out good/important stuff about you from your About Me page? Here’s some things to consider adding to it:
1. A great photo/headshot of you
2. A brief bio (that agencies or media can cut and paste directly into their proposal/piece)
3. Your contact email address
4. Your rough geographical location
I also have links to high resolution images that people can download and use on my About Me page. It makes it so much easier for everyone.
Get other ideas from my super-helpful About Me page here.
Do you have a Media Kit?
You need a media kit if you want to work with brands. They want to know what they are spending their money on, if they choose to work with you and you need to be professional and transparent – and offer this information up.
The Brand Magnet has a snazzy package where you can create/customise a super professional media kit with Photoshop – it costs around $59US
Recipe Tin Eats has a free Photoshop PSD file here – you can customise that to create your own version.
Etsy has some templates too : like this one and this one
OR you can just DIY your own version. Remember to keep it to 3 pages or less (One page is ideal! Less is more!) and keep things succinct and factual.
Here’s what to include:
Blog name
Your name
A great photo of you
Your bio
A brief description of your blog’s history, purpose and highlights
Monthly stats (via Google Analytics only – it’s the industry standard) – Overall via Overview
Users
Page Views
(Optional: Time On Site, Pages/Session)
(Optional: Bloglovin and Feedly/RSS subscribers)
Social Influence
List your social media follower count on each platform
Demographic
Any information you can glean about your readers via Google Analytics or a reader survey will be super compelling for potential sponsors
Media Coverage
Outline any mentions you’ve had via media outlets
Partnerships
Outline any brands you’ve worked with previously
Contact
Your email address
* No need to include your fees – you can negotiate this according to client expectation, budget and the job in question.
Do you have an editorial calendar that sponsors may slot into easily?
Another thing to consider, is whether you can make space for a regular feature that could lend itself to sponsorship. Perhaps you could create a category called ‘STUFF I LOVE’ and this could be the part of your blog where you talk about products and experiences (and where you can make room for sponsored posts too)?
If a potential sponsor can see just where they’d fit in and what the posts you might write for them would look like (by seeing other work in a similar vein) then they are more likely to get excited about working with you.
Consider: What value and expertise can you provide to sponsors without compromising yourself?
Do you have a great disclosure strategy?
I am not a lawyer, so I am not going to advise you on this, but I am going to say that you should follow my lead:
Alway disclose UP FRONT in any post from which you stand to gain financially. This includes sponsored posts, posts where the item was gifted, any post you were compensated for in any way. This also applies to social media posts. You need to tell the reader FIRST that the post has a commercial tone – This post contains an item gifted to me by Freedom Furniture – or – This post contains affiliate links – or – This post was sponsored by Heinz – or – Luna Park gave me free tickets to their venue and i wrote about my experience there – or – I was paid by Museum Victoria to write about this exhibition.
Of course you can add the ‘all views are my own’ to your disclosure. I don’t do that. I think that people make up their own mind about this stuff and they will decide how they feel about your post’s perspective based on their experience with/trust of you.
I just write THE TRUTH about the post at the top of the post in my own words, keeping the facts simple and honest. Using abbreviated or jargon-y terms : #sp, #gift, #gifted, #spon, #aff etc is not good enough. You need to say what you mean. Spell it out.
This stuff is SO simple, but I see bloggers getting tied up in knots over it. Mostly the knots come from the fact that they haven’t quite reconciled the commercial arrangement they are writing about OR they don’t want to turn readers off by revealing the post is a commercially driven one. That’s not okay though. You must maintain reader trust by being honest and up front. If you are unable to do that, you should not be writing commercially driven posts. Simple.
Disclose. In your own words, up-front, at the start, from the get-go – even in Tweets and Facebook posts.
Agencies? Are they a good idea?
Agencies can be a great asset to bloggers who not only may not be directly connected to brands, they may not know how campaigns work. The Remarkables, Nuffnang, Brand Meets Blog and Agents Of Influence are just a few of the Australian agencies who are working with Australian bloggers – if you live elsewhere there will be similar in your locale. (If you have trouble finding those, let me know!)
I work with Laney at Agents Of Influence. She’s offered me a few different opportunities, but the Annie Sloan partnership is the one that suited me best and I’ve not only loved using the product and creating projects to share with my readers, I’ve loved the way those projects didn’t seem out of place on my blog. That’s the kind of fit you are going for.
Here’s Laney’s thoughts on what she’s looking for
1. audience match is really important, demographics and psychographics and the reader’s intent when they visit the blog.
2. alignment of blogger and brand values
3. strength of blogger’s influence and engagement on the platform(s) that are most important to brand.
Most agencies have a submission button on their site – so once you get your blog in tip top shape, you could consider making an approach.
I asked Louisa Clare of Brand Meets Blog what she looks for in a blogger:
1. I am looking firstly at whether I think they could tell a story about the brand that their readers would care about – woudl it make sense for them to write about this brand/topic on their blog and not because of what they normally blog about but because of who I think their readers are based on what they normally write about.
2. I am looking for signs of community – this could be comments on their blog or activity on their Facebook/Insta pages. I am excited when I see that their readers really love their stuff and want to share their own opinions and reflections.
3. I am looking for signs that they are PR friendly (Actually I probably do this first and I only do the other two things once I know that they are open to brand collabs). Even for the blogger who have signed up with this I know that things change so I always check this first and as part of this I look at what they have done previously and how they have approached it and whether their style would suit the brief I have for them. How will monetizing affect your content/voice? Have you thought about ‘the price of monetisation?’
Do you want to sell advertising spots on your blog? How can you determine rates?
The Passionfruit Ads platform is a great way to sell ad blocks on your blog. The beauty of this service is that you can load ‘blank’ blocks onto your blog and sponsors can click those to enquire, buy and load their own ad. You can also see the kind of rates and ad formats other bloggers are selling.
If you want more control over your ads and are nifty in the design department, you could work with sponsors to create ads that suit your blog’s aesthetic. Determining rates can be a little harder, but visiting other blogs who offer advertising in their sidebar and comparing rates can be a helpful way to start assessing this. Once you’ve worked out your ad block sizes and rates – create an ADVERTISING RATES landing page where you detail those specs – as well as information about your blog’s traffic, your social media following, demographic and some general stuff about why you’re a great place to advertise.
Monetising your blog and the pressure to perform
It’s good to consider how having sponsors might make you feel about blogging. Is it going to add pressure to post when you might normally have gone for a walk or done something else? Is it going to have you anxiously examining your stats each day? Is it going to make you compromise your voice as you try to fulfil sponsor expectations? Just know that these issues can rear their ugly heads. Forewarned is forearmed.
Phew. That was epic. I hope it was helpful!
Bonus Offer : For those who want to dig deeper and get a head start on the blog/brand relationship
Louisa Claire of Brand Meets Blog is offering a special deal for BWP 2.0 students: A discount on her next Brandilicous eCourse for bloggers who want to ready themselves to work with brands. Head here to receive a Blog With Pip $50 discount on Brandilicious.*
*Louisa pays me an affiliate fee when a Blog With Pip student signs up