13 Bloggers share their tips for brands reaching out

If you haven’t already noticed, The Bloglancer has had a bit of a redesign! Because I spend a lot of time talking to small businesses as a writer, I thought I’d produce content that can benefit both sides of the blog-brand collaborations (for more of this, you can sign up to my newsletter: Join here for my blogger newsletter and here for my brands/small businesses one). So this week, I asked my favourite bloggers to share their advice on brands wanting to work with influencers. From emails to negotiations, here are their top tips…

1.Think Outside The Box! Laura from Mum on A Mission.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZwjpnllZXl/?taken-by=themumonamission

My tip would be to think outside the box when working with bloggers. Don’t discount a niche just because they might not necessarily be immediately obvious as your target market. For example, I blog about parenting a disabled child & my readers all have a disabled child. But they would use products which are mainstream products as well as disability/ specialist products. They may just use them in a different way to their intended use. E.g. A baby monitor might be used to monitor an older child who might not be safe overnight without video monitoring due to medical issues.

Also remember that although a niche blogger might be targeting a specific audience about one thing, they might also trust their opinion about other things – e.g. My readers all have a disabled child but if I wrote a post about a weekend away without my child they might be interested in that for when they get a much-needed child-free weekend!

2. Be Polite! Kate from The Less-Refined Mind.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZzRrUpjhAS/?taken-by=lessrefinedmind

Don’t go quiet if we don’t agree to your first proposal. Trust me when I say we understand the position of a small start-up: most of us are not raking it in ourselves and are trying to put food on the table too. I’ll be far more inclined to negotiate to find a mutually beneficial way to collaborate with somebody who is friendly and respectful; because usually there *is* something that will work. And – though I have my bottom line – as a nice person, I’ll *want* to help if somebody is personable. It also makes me very happy if my work is acknowledged after publication because essentially that’s a thank you and I’m a sucker for good manners!

3.  A personal touch goes a long way, Becky from BekyLou

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ0lLDUBGSa/?taken-by=bekylou

As much as brands don’t like blanket pitching emails, bloggers don’t like blanket, non-personalised emails either. Take the time to make sure you’re connecting with us; making sure you’re using our names and not just our blog names, mention something you’ve seen on our blog to start a genuine conversation – it all goes in your favour with wanting to work with us and getting a friendly response.

4.Don’t be afraid to talk money (or lack of it!) Emma from Emma Drew Info

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZZINRxhNdB/?taken-by=emmadrewinfo

I know it might be rude to talk about money, but I would like to know in advance if there is a budget available. Even if there isn’t, I might still be interested in collaborating. By being upfront about whether a budget is available or not it cuts down a lot of wasted time between the two.

5.Make sure it’s a good fit. Faith from Much More with Less 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZyJ9C1lf0Z/?taken-by=muchmore_less

Focus on blogs where your products might be relevant. I write a frugal, simple living kind of blog – I’m never going to recommend buying super expensive luxury make up, for example. 

6.  Check and double check! Sam from Dove Cottage

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZy9NV-DVkS/?taken-by=dove_cottage

I recently received an email from a brand asking if I’d like to collaborate with them on a product review. They’d clearly had a look at my social media as they congratulated me on recently having had a baby, which was a nice personal touch, however, got my daughter’s name wrong! I wouldn’t mind if it was clearly a typo but the name they put was miles off! It just made me wonder if it was meant for me? 

7. Don’t tell fibs! Jenny from Monkey and Mouse

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZg__O2Fc5h/?taken-by=jennyseaves

Bloggers talk to each other so please don’t lie and say that there is no budget available when you have offered another blogger payment. It’s preferable if a brand is honest and replied that they have run out of budget etc. 

8. Get my name right! Paula from Mummy Vs Work

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ03o97lZkE/?taken-by=mummyvswork

Please get my name right, if you address me as ‘dear blogger’, ‘dear Mummy Vs Work’ or ‘ dear mummy’ you will end up in my trash!

9. It’s not about Freebies! Leanne from A Slice of My Life in WalesDon’t just offer me a ‘free’ product, be appreciative of me and my time, products aren’t free, they are paying for my time.
Be personal and transparent. Tell me exactly what it is you want (backlink, social media promo, etc) and let me know you’re expected timescale.

10.Have a read before emailing, Emma from The Money Whisperer

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZtVlTChizs/?taken-by=moneywhisperer_

It always makes me smile when there is a reference to one of my posts – it shows you have read my blog. You’re always going to get a response when you’ve actually made an effort to go on to my blog before sending the email ?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ0-gBOg7-2/?taken-by=jennafarmeruk

As someone who works as a journalist and runs several blogs, long-term relationships are really important to me. As much as I’d love to, I don’t have time to accept and write a long blog review every single food item I am emailed about as I receive multiple emails a day. However, I am always open to the fact that what’s not a good fit now, might be a great fit in the future and I like to stay in touch! So it’s important to think long-term. Someone might send me a product and agree to me just featuring it on my social channels and I end up writing about it another capacity down the line.

A few small brands and PRs have asked me to meet for coffee or made a real effort to share my blog content and chat to me on twitter (I hang out there a lot @jennafarmeruk). This makes a massive difference to me and I’ll often go back to these PRs if I need something quickly for a deadline.

I hope these tips helped! You can read other content for brands, PRs and small businesses here or join my brand and small business newsletter!