Sales & Partnerships Manual Part 2: Start Selling

Finding the Right Brands To Reach Out To

Now that you understand your audience, the next step is to identify and approach brands that align with their interests. This stage requires a balance between targeting well-known brands and discovering emerging ones.

• Creating a Brand List: Make a diverse list of brands. Include industry giants and smaller, niche-specific companies. This variety ensures a wider range of opportunities, as different brands have different marketing goals and budgets.
• The Art of Exploration: Approach this with an open mind. Some brands may not respond, while others might be keen on collaborating. Keep experimenting and be open to unexpected opportunities.

Discovering brands that align with your audience is an exploratory and creative process. Here are some strategies to uncover these potential partners:

• Analyze Previous Partnerships: Look at brands you’ve successfully partnered with. What made these collaborations work? Seek out similar brands in the same or related industries.
• Check Your Audience’s Preferences: Investigate the brands your followers interact with. What are they liking, sharing, or commenting on? This can be a goldmine for identifying brands that resonate with your audience.
• Observe Peer Collaborations: Look at content creators with a similar audience size or demographic. What brands are they partnering with? This can provide a roadmap to brands that are open to working with creators of your scale and niche.
• Explore Niche Platforms and Forums: Participate in online communities related to your content area. Brands often scout these platforms for potential partners.

Choosing the Right Outreach Channel

Different brands and situations call for different approaches. Whether it’s direct messaging on Instagram, email outreach, attending events, or leveraging referrals, each channel has its unique advantages.

• Instagram Outreach: Great for connecting with smaller, more agile brands. A well-crafted DM can open doors to collaborations.
• Email Outreach: More formal and suited for established brands. Finding the right contact is crucial. Follow these steps:
  • Find the brand on Linkedin
  • Look through who works at the company
  • Find the title of a person in the marketing department that could be relevant (e.g. “influencer marketing,” “social media manager,” or “content marketing” titles)
  • Use a service like Hunter.io to find and verify their email address
• Networking at Events: Events provide opportunities for face-to-face interactions with brand representatives. While it’s less scalable, the personal connection made at events can be invaluable.
• Referrals: A recommendation from a fellow creator or acquaintance can significantly boost your credibility and chances of securing a partnership.

Crafting Effective Outreach Messages

Your message is your first impression. It needs to be concise, clear, and compelling.

• Tailor Your Message: Consider who you are addressing and craft each message to resonate with its recipient. For example, the tone and wording will be different in reaching out to brands versus fellow creators.
• Conciseness and Clarity: Get to the point quickly. Highlight what makes your content unique and how it aligns with the brand’s values or campaign goals.
• Include a Clear Call to Action: What do you want the recipient to do next? Ask for a meeting, express interest in their upcoming campaign, or offer to send your portfolio. This clarity helps move the conversation forward.
• The Importance of Follow-Ups: Don’t be discouraged if you don’t receive an immediate response. A gentle follow-up can significantly increase your chances of getting noticed.

A well-crafted message can make a significant difference. Here are a few templates to get you started:

Subject: Collaboration Opportunity with [Your Name/Brand]

Hi [Brand Representative’s Name],

I’ve been a long-time admirer of [Brand] and particularly loved your recent [specific campaign or product]. I believe there’s a great synergy between [Brand] and my audience who are passionate about [relevant interest].

I’ve successfully collaborated with [mention any past collaboration if applicable], seeing [mention a key result, like engagement rate or audience growth]. I’d love to explore how we can work together to create engaging content that resonates with our shared audience.

Would you be open to a discussion about potential collaboration opportunities?

Follow Up Message Example:

Hi [Brand Representative’s Name],

I wanted to follow up on my previous email regarding a potential collaboration between [Brand] and my platform. I’m excited about the possibility of working together and would love to discuss how we can create mutually beneficial content.

Please let me know if you’re available for a brief chat this week.

Looking forward to the possibility of collaborating!

Measuring Success and Refining Your Approach

Like any good strategy, assessing the effectiveness of your efforts is key to improvement.

• Tracking Your Outreach: Keep a record of your outreach attempts - who you contacted, the channel used, and the response received. This data is invaluable for understanding what works.
• Analyzing Responses: Look for trends. Are certain types of brands more responsive? Does one channel yield better results than others? Use this information to refine your approach.

Understanding industry-standard metrics is crucial to measure the success of your outreach efforts and refine your approach. Here are some benchmarks to consider:

• Response Rate: On average, a 20-30% response rate to cold outreach is considered good in the content creation industry. However, this can vary based on your niche and the personalization of your outreach.
• Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of positive responses that turn into actual collaborations. A 5-10% conversion rate is a strong indicator of effective outreach.
• Refining Your Approach: The digital landscape is constantly changing, and so should your strategies. Stay adaptable and ready to pivot your approach based on your experiences and industry trends. If local brands respond more, focus your efforts there. If a certain combination of Instagram and email outreach works best, make that your primary strategy.

Getting Your First 5 Customers

Securing your first few brand collaborations can set the tone for your future growth as a content creator. Your approach may vary based on your prior experience and existing relationships with brands.

If You Have Previous Brand Collaborations

• Leverage Past Successes: Highlight your successful partnerships in outreach to new brands. Mention specific achievements, like high engagement rates or sales conversions, to demonstrate your value.

When you have a history of successful brand collaborations, use these experiences as leverage in your pitches to new brands. For instance, if you worked with a skincare brand and helped them achieve a 30% increase in engagement on your shared content, mention this achievement in your outreach to similar brands. You could say something like:

“In my recent collaboration with [Previous Brand], we saw a 30% increase in audience engagement and a significant uptick in traffic to their website, directly attributable to our campaign together. I am excited about the possibility of achieving similar results with [New Brand].”

• Climbing the Brand Ladder: Starting with niche brands can be a strategic move to gradually approach more well-known brands. For example, if you’ve successfully partnered with a local eco-friendly cosmetic brand, you can use this experience to approach a slightly larger brand within the same niche. Mention your past work and how it aligns with their ethos. This approach showcases your relevant experience and ability to engage with similar target audiences.

If You Are Starting from Scratch

• Gifting Opportunities: For those just starting out, consider reaching out to brands for gifting opportunities. This is a low-risk way for brands to engage with you and provides material for you to create content and build your portfolio.

To reach out for these opportunities, begin by identifying brands whose products you genuinely use and appreciate. Reach out with a message that conveys your genuine interest and suggests a partnership. For example:

“Hi [Brand Name], I’ve been a long-time consumer and fan of [Brand’s Product]. I frequently share my experiences with [Product] with my followers, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I’d love to explore any gifting opportunities you might have, as I believe a more formal collaboration could be mutually beneficial and further amplify your brand among my audience! Would you be open to discussing further?”

• Tap Into Referrals: Use your network for introductions. A referral can provide the necessary credibility to secure your first few collaborations. Utilizing your network for introductions involves reaching out to fellow content creators, friends, or industry contacts who might have connections with brands you’re interested in. The approach can be as simple as:

“Hi [Contact Name], I’m looking to expand my brand collaborations, particularly in [specific niche]. I noticed you’ve worked with [Brand Name], a company I’m super excited about! If you’re comfortable, would you be open to making an intro?”

If You Want to Transition from Gifted to Paid Collaborations

• Showcase Your Value: If you’ve been working on a gifted basis, prepare “case studies” showing how your content has performed with these products (more on case studies below!). Demonstrate clear benefit that you provided to past partners with metrics like engagement rates, reach, and any direct sales if trackable.
• Direct Approach: Re-engage with brands you’ve had gifted collaborations with. Show them your performance data and propose a paid partnership highlighting how it can be mutually beneficial.

Read on in Part 3: Pricing and Contracts

About Bento

Bento is a platform that helps ambitious content creators with 10-100K followers grow their business through brand partnerships. Bento offers many features to help you start selling:

• Bento ingests your social profile and brand you have requested, and tailors personal recommendations on brands to reach out to
• Bento uses sophisticated search capabilities to find you the right person to reach out to for the brand you are targeting. Instead of generic info@ email addresses, reach out to the head of influencer marketing or content marketing strategist!
• Easily create a multi-channel outreach strategy with Bento using our Gmail and Instagram integrations!
• Bento provides intelligent templates tailored to your use case and the brand you are reaching out to! You can also put follow-ups and check-ins on autopilot with Bento. Create automatic email schedules with intelligent follow-ups so you can increase your response rates.
• Use Bento to remind yourself to re-engage previous brands you’ve worked with or identify new campaigns you can partner with them on.

Join the waitlist: www.onbento.com