If you’re a blogger or social influencer, chances are you’ve planned to work with brands at some point in your career—working with brands you love isn’t just a way to earn a living. It can also help you build your audience, share useful products and content with your followers, and it creates ongoing professional relationships that enhance your presence online.
So how do you connect with brands and persuade them to work with you? Here are four helpful tips to set you on the path to success.
Focus on building your platform
The first step toward working with brands is to build a blog, website or YouTube channel that attracts an audience. If you are serious about earning a real income, you’ll spend time researching profitable niches, reading other blogs and putting together a content plan.
Your platform needs to look professional and attractive, but your content also needs to be consistent, precise and in keeping with your audience. You’ll probably need to see at least 5,000-10,000 page views per month to collaborate with brands, so this is where you’ll want to focus your energy for the first 6-12 months.
Engage your audience
The size of your audience matters most to brands looking to work with you, but it’s not the only factor. Marketers also want to see that your following is engaged with your content—otherwise they’re unlikely to be influenced by it. Before you set about working with brands, make sure you have an ongoing rapport with your audience by responding to all your comments, commenting on other blogs in a similar niche, reaching out to followers on social media and taking the time to get to know your readers or viewers.
Become an affiliate
Becoming an affiliate is an effective way to start earning money from your blog or website. Affiliate advertising means you receive a commission from products or services you link to on your site, as and when your readers use your link to make a purchase.
It can be tricky to make an income as an affiliate at first, but once you’ve built your subscriber base and you understand the kind of content your audience loves, you can make a sizeable income through ads and links. If you don’t feel you’re ready to reach out to brands directly, you can find top paying affiliate partnerships on the Affiliate Programs website.
Make sure the brand fits
Before you start reaching out to brands, you need to know that the collaboration will be mutually beneficial. That means the brand you want to partner with should fit seamlessly into your blog, and you should be confident that it would appeal to your readers.
Try not to be discouraged if it takes months or years to find a brand that wants to collaborate with you. The most successful blogs and websites didn’t start earning money overnight—and neither will yours. However, with ongoing effort, dedication and a love for what you do, you could soon be collaborating with the brands you admire most, and who knows where it could take you?
