How To Pitch Magazines as a Fashion or Beauty Blogger
I got this question from Paris on Twitter the other day and thought it was brilliant because I’ve never seen a blog post about this before and I’m so excited to share what I know about ways to get featured in fashion and beauty publications as a blogger. I do cover this topic a lot in my e-book Right on Pitch but since it’s been a year since that came out I’m glad this gives me a chance to expand even more on what’s already in the book.
This post will be geared primarily towards digital publications but some of this advice might apply to print publications as well. First I’m going to share some tips about how to get featured in roundups and then I’ll get into how to get quoted in features or potentially pitch yourself for full feature pieces.
Let’s start out with roundups—you’ve probably seen these articles before like this one I wrote for Fashionista about influencers you should follow who don’t live in NYC or L.A. or shopping roundups of “the best white sneakers ever” with Instagram images embedded next to shoppable links. Roundups are the easiest type of article to get placement in because it’s a quick mention but it can be a major win if it links back to your Instagram page or better yet, your blog.
I can feel everyone reading this is about to do a big ‘ol eye roll when I say this, but I think that the number one easiest way to get considered for inclusion in a roundup is to have a relationship with the person writing it. It doesn’t have to be a deep, personal relationship, but as someone who has written these articles before I’ll tell you that the first people who come to mind when I’m looking for someone to feature are the ones that I know.
Maybe I just follow them on Instagram or maybe that person is the cousin of a good friend. Relationships matter. I’ve been featured in Self, Elite Daily, and Buzzfeed purely because of connections I had with writers at those publications. To start out, follow fashion and beauty editors you like and admire and leave thoughtful comments on their Instagram posts and re-tweet stories they’ve written and tag them. That way they’ll at least have name recognition if you decide to reach out and pitch yourself. For more of my best networking advice, check out this post.
My next tip would be to think about your content like an editor. Editors often have to produce seasonal content or content on a trending topic. As an example I was featured in Buzzfeed earlier this week because the author was posting ideas of pictures you could take at home and wanted to use one of my photos in her roundup. Outside of the world of the pandemic, I would think about summer dresses, citrus-y beauty products, or other timely things to feature on your feed that might get picked up by press looking for images to use in their stories.
On that note, make your content easily searchable. When I was an intern at Cosmopolitan waaaay back when, I wrote this article about girls with gray hair and found every single one of them by searching the hashtag #grayhair on Instagram. Take a look at some trending roundups on your favorite websites and get in the habit of tagging your content with hashtags that editors might actually be searching for.
If someone does reach out and ask to include your photo in a roundup or you pitch yourself for one and they accept, mention that you’re okay to grant the publication perpetual permission (as long as you are!), which would meant that they could include you at any time in future roundups without getting your permission a second time. If you like the publication and they credit you appropriately I think this makes their job easier because they can return to someone that they know produces great content and it’s beneficial for you to get more features.
My last tip for getting featured in roundups would be to go to events where you know there will be a photographer and a recap of the event written. New York Fashion Week is the event that I’ve had the most luck with this, as I’ve seen myself featured in Man Repeller, Popsugar, and Fashionista in their street style roundups. Guest of a Guest often does party recaps too so it’s worth looking at some of their old posts to see if you can get invited to a future annual event that they cover.
“Think like an editor covering seasonal and trending topics”
Getting placed in a feature is harder but definitely possible. I have been quoted in places like Forbes, Wired, and Adweek because of knowing the editors but also because I put out content that made me someone they wanted to quote in stories. Twitter is probably the most important place to tweet out content relevant to your industry because that’s where reporters hang out online. Definitely again follow editors and writers on social media so they can get familiar with your handle and your content and also sign up for services like HARO (Help a reporter out) where you can sign up as a source and if a reporter has a story that you would be a fit for they can reach out to you through that. You could sign up and say that you could be a source for “Southern California style” or “clean beauty trends.” The more specific you can get, the better.
Finally, getting a whole feature written about you (like a profile) will be very hard to come by unless you’re doing something extraordinary or you have a really unique approach to your content. My biggest tip for landing more of a full-fledged feature is to look for recurring series and pitch yourself to those. I saw Makeup.com did a series about bloggers they loved and I mentioned my interest to the editor I knew there and she ended up doing one featuring me. Here are a few more examples of series that you could consider pitching to:
How I’m Making It on Fashionista
Why Is Your Skin So Good on The Cut
You Look Moist on Man Repeller
Ask a Cool Person on The Strategist
My friend Chloe who is a writer for The Strategist says, “If someone pitches me to be included in Ask a Cool Person I will probably end up using them for something because sourcing takes a long time (I do scroll through hashtags and explore every morning and save people/posts I could see myself using). It saves me so much time if they put themselves in front of me. If they’re interested, responsive and gave me their email? Done. Also if someone is a serious blogger their email needs to be on their bio. The percentage of me reaching out goes down if I can’t find their email because it’s a huge hassle for me to DM. I write five stories a week so anyone who wants to make my life easier is a person worth chatting with!”
So, there you go! If you’ve ever wanted to pitch to New York Magazine, there’s your window.
Any more questions about getting featured? Leave them in the comments. For more in-depth pitching advice, don’t forget to check out my e-book Right on Pitch.
yours,
Austen