HOW TO PITCH YOURSELF

*Outfit Details with affiliate links: Jumpsuit (Dezzal) | Sunglasses (Urban Outfitters) | Mini Bag (Zac Posen) | Shoes (Alexandre Birman)

I majored in Public Relations when I was in college and can proudly say that I know how to pitch after learning and practicing in all my classes and working with real clients. With that being said, I have used my background and knowledge as a blogger to pitch myself to brands. I wanted to share some tips because I think it’s important to master the basics if you want to land a partnership and work on campaigns/ sponsored content.

The first key is to switch your mindset from being a blogger to being a brand/ company. You have to see the campaign from their perspective so take into consideration of sales goals, key messaging, targeted audiences, etc. Instead of thinking what you can gain from working with them, you have to think what they can gain from working with you. A lot of bloggers fail to do this simple switch and focus too much on themselves. Once you make it about the brand, the pitch becomes easier.

Before I share my tips, I just wanted to share my love for this jumpsuit from Dezzal. I have been on the hunt for a nice chic and comfortable jumpsuit that I can wear to meetings and events. I love the style and fit of this suit and the best part is that the top and bottoms are actually detachable. There’s a zipper that allows you to put both pieces on separately but once you zip it, it becomes a jumpsuit. I think this feature is perfect because I find that some jumpsuits fit me a little too tight and this one gives me just enough room to move around.

I have condensed my tips below and hope that they are helpful in landing you more campaigns.

• Have a mediakit: If you don’t already have a media kit, you better make one now! A media kit is essentially your resume for all of your social media platforms. There isn’t a right or wrong way to go about creating a media kit but I think it should include the important information including a bio of your blog and who you are, your social channels and following, your audience statistics and background, and maybe some past partners. I would stray away from writing your rates on the media kit but I know some bloggers have it, so do what feels right for you.
• Pitch an idea: The mistake that many bloggers do when it comes to pitching is writing a generic email introducing themselves, throwing numbers at the brand and expect these companies to email back with the hopes of a partnership or collaboration. As I said previously, it’s not about you and you need to think about what they want. A recommendation is to be up to date with their new launches or what’s happening with their company. Utilize that and pitch an idea because brands want to see your creativity.
• Give them all the details: Brands receive tons of emails daily. We, as bloggers need to make their lives easier. A tip is to have all of the details from your first exchange of emails so this will cut the back and forth about the campaign/ project. This also relates back to pitching an idea, but you don’t just want to say you want to create 5 beauty looks from their new palette. You want to go in depth, describing what type of looks, which eyeshadow you will use, how you will film, etc. That is just one basic example, but the important takeaway is to lay everything in front of them so all they have to do is say yes.
• Keep building on relationships: I have pitched countless times to brands and trust me, I don’t always get the response or the green light on a project that I have in mind. Some won’t respond, some aren’t interested or some don’t have the budget. You can’t take any of this personally and just keep in contact with the brands because the exchange of email is already a first step in building your relationship. And if you’re lucky to land a partnership through your pitch and you do a good job, chances are the brand will likely work with you again.

I hope you found these tips helpful. Ever since I quit my job to blog full time, I have put more effort and time to solidifying myself as a brand. You need to build your following and make sure you know exactly what your brand stands for so you can align with other brands that have the same values. Do you have any other tips on pitching yourself? Let me know!