Thread by @LeboLion_SA

How to approach brands that you want to work with as an influencer.

A thread about media kits and rate cards.

Don’t.

Most brands already know who they want to work with for the campaigns they have designed. Also brands tend to place a higher value on people they approach more than on people who approach them (for a myriad of reasons).

If brands don’t know you, you will need to do more convincing & settle for lower amounts of money, initially, in order to build a relationship.

If you use the “let brands come to me” approach then you need to: Invest in building a brand & an online community. The stronger your brand, the more valuable you become to brands, the more engaged your community is, the more valuable you become to brands.

However, if you’d like to approach brands, this is what you need to do.

Create a media kid & a rate card. A media kit is a business card, CV, & portfolio of work all in one document. You use a media kit to show brands who you are, what you have done, who your audience is, and what value you can add to a brand.

These are the items you need to take careful consideration of when you create a media kit:
•A Bio that adequately represents your brand & your work. Keep it short & catchy.

•Social media stats that paint an honest picture of your impact. A great way to do this is to highlight the analytics of your best performing platform.
•Your demographics. This is arguably the most NB section of your media kit becoz it shows brands who your target audience is.

Demographics are information about your audience, things like geographic distribution (where your followers are located), age breakdown (how old they are), gender, language, approximate income, and more.

When sharing audience demographics on your media kit, highlight the demographics that align most with the kind of brands that you’re trying to approach. If you want to approach brands that speak to women, highlight your female audience.

•Showcase your previous brand partnerships & client testimonials. Show brands how you have worked with other brands in the past, & the positive feedback and results that you got from working with previous brands.

The key with your media kit is to showcase your brand and your work in a way that will make a brand want to work with you. Dont lie about who you are, rather place a greater emphasis on your strengths. Make your strengths the star of the show.

A rate card is a short document that highlights how much you charge for your work. Make sure that your rate card contains:
1. Your payment terms (.i.e. 50% deposit)
2. Your contact details
3. Different prices for different social media platforms

It’s NB to understand that your media kit & rate card are typically presented at different times. A media kit is something you would send to a brand 1st when introducing yourself & pitching the partnership.

The rate card is something you would send after the brand partner has shown interest in working with you

Remember; No matter how many followers you have as an influencer, YOU HAVE VALUE. Don’t undermine what you have to offer just because a brand is well known & powerful. Work with brands that value you & show you respect.

Also if a brand is interested in building a relationship with you as an influencer, take that seriously. When they give you feedback & notes take it seriously & work on those things. Show brands respect by showing up & doing what you do as well as you can do it. Be teachable.

For more on all things influencer marketing check out this video on my YouTube channel