Do This Before You Pitch Your Business to Brands
You’ve been doing this business thing for a little while now, and you feel like you’ve finally found your footing. Everything seems to be going great, except for one thing.
You don’t have any features, collabs, partnerships, or PR opportunities in general!
Opportunities for exposure could be so many different things, but they all circulate back to working with another brand. This could be writing a guest blog post or being featured in a blog post, collaborating with another brand on an upcoming launch, being a guest on a podcast episode, having your story told in a popular magazine, landing an interview on a daytime talk-show program, etc.
Some of those examples seem far more reachable than others, but in order to land any of them, it all starts with the steps you take before and leading up to pressing send on that pitch (and don’t worry, we’ll be going over that, too!)
A few of these steps you might not even think twice about, especially if you’re DIYing this whole pitch-your-biz-to-other-brands thing, which is why we’ve made sure to give you a solid plan to put yourself out there confidently.
Craft Your Elevator Pitch
They call it an elevator pitch because it should be brief enough to present during an elevator ride. In other words, make it count! It should explain the concept of your business well enough while being kept short. Think of it as a summary of what you do. To start, you need to know the who, how, and what:
Who you’re helping, i.e. your target audience, ideal client, etc.
How you help them.
What your help does for them (the results they get from working with you).
It should all come together like this:
“I help [WHO] by [HOW] so they [WHAT].”
“I help mom bloggers by creating an editorial calendar so they can stay on top of their posting schedule.”
“I help overwhelmed business owners by taking over mundane tasks so they can focus their energy elsewhere.”
“I help stay-at-home moms by creating a meal plan for the month so they are able to cook healthy, hearty, easy meals for their family.”
You see how short, accurate, and to-the-point these examples are? That’s what you want to aim for with yours. Elevator pitches are probably the most important thing you can have ready for not only brand opportunities but also for introducing your business to anyone.
Build Online Relationships
Out of the 73 Facebook groups you’re in, how many of them are you actually networking in? You may have over a thousand followers on Instagram, but how many of them are you actually engaging with? Building those online relationships is a crucial part of business. This isn’t just limited to networking with potential brands to collaborate with. You also need to build a relationship with your followers.
Reply to every comment on your posts, pick a few Facebook groups to hang out in and stay consistent with providing value. Brands love seeing the relationship you’ve built with your audience, not just the follower count because having over 100k followers doesn’t mean squat if your engagement is as dry as the Sahara.
GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
What’s something you haven’t been doing on social media because you’ve been too scared you won’t get the results you’re hoping for or you aren’t comfortable with it? Do exactly that. One of the biggest actions many people are terrified of is going live on Facebook or Instagram, or even just simply chatting about something on your Stories. Think of what ways you could be showing up differently on social media but you’ve been holding yourself back, and then try it out. Oftentimes, showing up in a new way will boost engagement and get the results you’re looking for, but if not, there’s a “delete” button for a reason. But you’ll never know until you try it, right?
Get Your Platforms in Check
It may be time to clean house. Start by making sure all of your platforms are current and up-to-date, like your email address, phone number, social media bio, website, pictures, etc. While we’re on the topic of pictures, it’s also a good idea to make sure your profile picture is the same for all of your social media channels. How can you build a brand identity if your photo is different for every platform?
Clean up any posts that aren’t characteristic of your brand. Not only do you want this to stay consistent, but also your posting times. If you haven’t been posting consistently already, it’s time to make sure you are before thinking about sending that pitch. It may seem daunting, but it really doesn’t have to be. Facebook has a built in scheduling option for you to schedule posts in bulk on your business page, and we use Later for scheduling Instagram posts and Tailwind for Pinterest scheduling.
While you’re on a roll here, be sure you have buttons or links on your social media channels as well. Show that you have your profiles set to convert. On Instagram, for example, you can only have one link, so make sure that link is updated regularly based on your current offer, or if there isn’t one, the URL to your website. For example, our usual link in our Instagram bio is to our Creative Template Shop, but it changes depending on what new offer we have available. You can also have buttons on both Instagram and Facebook for booking, scheduling a call, signing up for something, emailing you, etc.
Talk About How Great You Are
If you haven’t asked for any testimonials from your clients, a past employer, a family friend, other brands you’ve worked with, or customers, now’s the time to do so. Then, share it! Don’t be afraid to show how great you are and how what you do works. Have a Highlight on your Instagram profile dedicated to showcasing reviews and testimonials. Post a testimonial every second Thursday of the week or whenever feels comfortable to you. And most importantly, include a couple of testimonials in your media kit. You can talk about how awesome you are all day long, but you have to be ready to back up those claims with proof.
Get Your Media Kit in Check
This is the thing you’re going to send over to other brands when you pitch. Make sure it contains all pertinent information, like a brief bio about your business, your analytics, past partnerships, your pricing, contact info, testimonials, and who your audience is. Display it in a beautiful, readable PDF that’s ready to send.
If you need more help, check out this blog post on how to start landing partnership opportunities with the perfect media kit, and then grab our media kit templates in The Shop.
Ready, Set, P.I.T.C.H.
We didn’t just add those periods to get your attention. P.I.T.C.H. is actually our tried-and-true method that we use when trying to land that sale or opportunity. This is the method that has literally gotten checks signed right in front of our faces without having to send an invoice or three awkward follow-ups during the weeks after.
P- Prove that what you have is what they need.
I- Iterate their words back to them (this can also be their brand’s message)
T- Talk them through the process, and then
C- Clarify the next steps.
H- Have them envision what it’s like working with you
This all seems pretty self-explanatory, and while all of these steps are crucial, you don’t want to leave out the last part if you want to make the sale (because that’s what you’re ultimately doing– selling). Once you’ve proven that they need you, that you understand what they want by iterating it back to them, talked them through the process, and clarified the next steps, have them envision what it will be like with you by using language that speaks as though they’ve already signed the check.
“When we have our follow-up call next week…”
“When you see the increase in web traffic…”
“When your customers start giving you such great feedback…”
As long as you have done your research on the brand, gotten familiar with what they’re about, and know that they’re the right fit, this method will work for you as it continues to work for us and so many others.
These steps may seem daunting at first, but as long as you follow them, you’ll find more success with pitching. Above all, the most important thing to remember is that you will get “no”s far more than you’ll get a “yes”. That’s just a part of how it goes. We understand how discouraging it can be, but trust us when we say that every “yes” will give you the confidence to continue doing what you do. Just don’t give up!
