Plenty of influencers are missing out on brand collabs simply because they are not reaching out to brands themselves! Don’t miss out on that chance. Amazing sponsorships don’t just fall in your lap - you have to work your way to earn them.
So… how should you DM or pitch a brand successfully?
By working with influencers and brands on a daily basis, we at Vimma have recognized and summarized a list of must-haves if you’re planning to send a pitch that converts. Read on to learn more about how to DM or pitch a brand in 4 steps!
How to DM or pitch a brand in 4 steps
Step I - Research the brand
Let’s get this straight right from the start - don’t email or DM the same copy to every brand you want to work with. One can tell when messages are copy-pasted, which makes it unprofessional and shows a lack of effort on your part.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on.
What exactly do you need to research about the brand before sending a pitch? Check out the list below:
What is the brand about?
What are their key messages?
Mission, vision?
What have they been posting about lately?
Are they featuring influencers on their pages?
What type of influencers are they most commonly working with (nano, micro, macro)?
Are they featuring influencers such as yourself?
These are some personal details you would want to include in your pitch that will show you did your homework. On the other hand, learning who your dream brand commonly works with will tell what your chances are at landing a potential collaboration.
If you want to learn more about getting a collaboration as a small influencer, make sure to read this blog post here.
However, we know how time-consuming and overwhelming it can be to do understand why you aren’t getting collaborations on your own. Our team specialists can help you pinpoint exact obstacles to landing your dream collaborations. Sign up for the Vimma app to schedule a meeting with us!
Step II - Prepare your media kit
If you aren’t familiar with media kits, we suggest you read our in-depth blog post about them here.
In short, media kits are, essentially, an influencer resume that you would show to brands. The information included should be in regards to your post performances of all your social networks, content style, expertise, previous experience, etc. All the information should be formatted in a way that is appealing and relevant to the brand you’re pitching.
We can help you craft up a perfect, collab-landing media kit. Sign up for the Vimma app and schedule a meeting with a specialist.
Step III - Crafting your pitch
To be honest, we would mostly advise you to send an email vs sending a DM, unless the brand you’re trying to pitch is a smaller one.
Why so?
Firstly, just because a brand has an Instagram page, it doesn’t mean that the person running the page (aka the community or social media manager), is also an influencer manager. The difference between the two roles is that the influencer manager is the person that decides who gets collaborations. The social media manager is just a content creator, like you.
Also, brands, especially large ones, receive an enormous amount of messages on a daily basis. It would be more beneficial for you to send an email, where collaboration pitches are expected.
Now that that’s covered, let’s focus on how to craft your pitch. This is what you should do:
Write a catchy subject (e.g. Winter jacket collaboration with a Chicago-based fashion influencer);
A summary of your professional background (in one or two sentences);
Be specific about your collaboration suggestion, aka what collab idea did you have in mind;
Explain why should they work with you specifically;
Social proof where you would show how your audience reacts with the content you create (e.g. a screenshot of your follower saying they bought something you recommended in the past);
Insert a call to action (e.g. ask for an opinion or relevant person to speak to);
Include your media kit as an attachment.
It might seem like a lot of steps, but this will become second nature to you once you start doing it over and over again. You'll become faster at getting your message across, and learning where to look for information.
If you're having a hard time with this, know that you don't have to do it alone. Schedule a meeting with us, and we can go over your message together.
Step IV - Find the right contact
As previously mentioned, we advise you to send an email vs. a DM. However, that email should be addressed to the right person in charge of influencer campaigns.
How to find such a person?
For example, you can hop onto Linkedin and look for an influencer manager for your specific brand, and see if you can find their email address. If you do that, make sure your LinkedIn profile looks representable as well.
Another way is to look on your dream brand’s website and see if they have a designated email address for collaboration requests.
Lastly, you can always go old school and try contacting via cell phone.
The process of finding the right contact to send collaboration proposals to can be daunting. That is why we created a feature in our app called Brand Outreach. In this feature, we contact your dream brands on your behalf! That way you can focus on content creation, where we look up contacts, send emails, and share your pitch progress. Sign up for the Vimma app to use this time-saving feature!
In conclusion
Securing brand collaborations isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean you should quit. To make sure your pitch is perfect, you truly need to follow through with every one of the previously mentioned steps. There are plenty of influencers out there pitching brands for collaborations, but very few of them do it in a compelling way that honestly shows brands why said influencer would be perfect for them. That is your chance to shine, and the Vimma app is your perfect companion to help you do that.
In the Vimma app, you can have us contact your dream brands, apply for collaborations we find on a daily basis, and get daily engagement tasks to grow your audience. It’s everything you need as an influencer. Sign up here!