Mistakes To Avoid When Pitching Brands as a Blogger

I’d say that pitching brands is definitely the number one thing that I get asked about whether it’s via Instagram DM, in person, or in casual conversation with other influencer friends. I even wrote an e-book about it! Knowing how to pitch yourself is so important to having a brand perceive you as someone who they should hire to promote their products or services. However, in my mind there are definitely a few things that bloggers do in their pitches that they should correct ASAP. Here are four pitching mistakes to avoid when reaching out to brands you want to partner with.

you’re making it all about you

Instead - Focus on how you can help communicate their brand story to your audience. Why are you the right fit for this brand to hire? Does your audience ask you about their products? Do they live in the right areas that the brand is focused on targeting? Think about what you can offer them and state your case in an email rather than asking for free product without making it clear why you should be receiving it.

You’re reaching out to brands that you don’t already use and love

Instead - Make it easy for them to say yes to you by showing examples of organic content you’ve already created that features their brand or product. Better yet if you have DM’s from your audience asking questions about the brand or any other qualitative examples of why you’d be a good fit for the brand, include those too. That can be just as important as numbers when it comes to showing a brand you’re the right person to hire. If you’re not on Fohr already you can sign up for their content tool and get a custom link for a brand you share about on your social media channels.

You’re sending your rates right away

Instead - Send a few ideas over to them and then get a sense of their budget and their priority platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.) so you know if you’re in the same ballpark. If they won’t tell you their budget, you can share rates based on the deliverables they’re most interested in and see what they say. If they can’t meet your rate for one deliverable, think about if there’s something else they can offer. For example maybe they can’t do your rate for an IGTV video but they can do your rate for 3-5 Instagram stories.

you’re pitching directly via Instagram DM

Instead - Use Instagram as a way to start a conversation with a brand by tagging them organically once or twice to see if they reply to your message. Even if they reply with a heart, this opens up your DM thread with them so your message won't just get filtered out. Then you can share that you’re a digital content creator and that you’d love to talk to someone in their PR/marketing department.

What other pitching blog posts would you like to see? Let me know in the comments!

yours,

Austen