Aff links // Pitching to brands is a fantastic way to land incredible collaborations on your blog. I’m a firm believer in putting yourself out there and not waiting for things to land in your lap. And whilst it’s great when a brand comes to you, there’s no harm in seeking out those collaborations for yourself.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
I’ve been pitching to brands for a few years now and I tend to switch it up each time. However, the way I’ve been pitching in 2020 has hands down been the most successful for me and I landed some amazing collaborations that year, including this one with Nordgreen.
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My history with pitching until last year has certainly been a bit hit and miss. I’ve also been TERRIBLE with consistency, in that I would pitch to loads of brands for a month and then nothing for the next 7 months. Which is definitely something I’ve learned NOT to do.
But last year, I got into a good groove with pitching and the success followed. And I think a main part of that was the type of brands I was pitching to. I put much more thought into which brands I should contact and which projects and ideas I should pitch to them.
There is a LOT of advice out there about pitching to brands and whilst there’s some fundamentals we should definitely be following, ultimately it’s trial and error and finding what works for you. Pitching to brands can be very daunting and scary at first so if you need some additional help, I’d highly recommend checking out the Blog To Business: Your Pitching Toolkit from Jenna Farmer.
Jenna has an amazing track record with pitching to brands so she is definitely the person to go for for advice if you need it. Her eBook helped me establish a better template for pitching to brands and consider the type of collaborations I wanted and was willing to accept.
She also helps you how to come up with packages to offer brands for the optimum success and payment and provides additional tracking sheets and cheat sheets to help you. You can grab your copy of Blog To Business: Your Pitching Toolkit here and use code JENNY at the checkout for 10% off!
Now I want to get into some different ways to think of brands to work with on your blog! Here are 6 different ways:
Think of the brands you already use
This is an incredibly obvious one but should be your bread and butter because pitching to brands that you ALREADY use already gives you the leg up because it allows you to tell them what you love about their brands and products already. They already know they’re talking to a fan and you’ll be able to get much more personal with them in that way.
Backtrack and pitch to brands you’ve worked with in the past
This is a handy tip and one I’ve used regularly. If you’ve worked with brands occasionally for a few years, it’s always worth going back through your content to see which collaborations did well and pitching to those again. It’s likely that your blog following, readership and views have grown since then so you probably have more to offer than you did 3 years ago.
Related Resource: A Beginners Guide To Growing Your Blog Following
Brainstorm brands that would be a great fit for your niche
Although the brands under this category might not be brands you’ve used before, they will be brands that fit well within your niche. For example you probably wouldn’t pitch to a car manufacturer if you’re a beauty blogger. This point also gives you a great chance to brainstorm content ideas that will both fit in with your niche and the brand/s you’re planning to pitch to.
One basic example would be a self-care / wellness blogger pitching an idea to Yankee Candle for a post about How To Have The Perfect Self Care Night In. It ticks all the boxes.
Research which brands your competitors are working with
This is a really effective way to figure out which brands to pitch to because you already know that these brands are open and willing to work with influencers. For this one, I’d suggest identifying a few bloggers who are a similar size to you and in similar niches and checking out their Instagram and blog content to see which brands they’ve worked with in the last few months. As long as you’re not stealing their ideas, then there’s no harm in doing this.
See what content you have already lined up
Seeing what content you already have planned or scheduled can be a helpful way to garner which types of brands to work with. Going back to the above example, if you ALREADY have a blog post scheduled titled “How To Have The Perfect Self Care Night In”, you can think what sort of brands might be interested in being featured in such a post and go from there.
Re-pitch to brands you’ve already pitched to
And finally I’d recommend keeping track of all the brands you pitch to and chase them up if you haven’t heard from them. Preferably within 2 weeks of the original pitch. I’ve gained some collaborations this way just because the brand is particularly busy and your email just needs a little boost.
Similarly, if you’ve pitched to a brand a couple of months ago and not heard anything back, consider re-pitching to them with a new pitch and a new idea. Maybe they weren’t in a position to work with you back then or your first idea just wasn’t quite right for them.
Do you have any additional tips for thinking of brands to pitch to?
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Wonderful tips! I’m going to use them in the future!
Glad you found them helpful!
Ah these are such good tips – I’m crap with pitching, I just don’t do it! xx
Thanks for sharing these tips, I will think about this when I pitch again 🙂
This is such an incredibly helpful post. Pitching to brands is something I definitely want to work more on this year.
You totally should! Glad you found it helpful!
Very good tips!
Thank you 🙂
I love to look at who bloggers or Instagram accounts with similar followings have worked with and start there!
Katie | katieemmabeauty.com
It’s such an effective way to find brands to work with!
These are such great ways to start pitching! It’s also a good reminder for me to start doing this soon. Thanks for sharing your ideas! x
You totally should! You’re welcome 🙂 x
These are great tips Jenny! I used to pitch to brands a while ago and although it was scary, I got some good opportunities from it. However it’s been a while since I last did any kind of pitching, but I definitely agree that it’s good to go for brands you really love as it does make it easier to talk about the products! x
The more you do it the easier it gets, I promise! Any brand would be lucky to work with you 🙂 x
These are some really good tips, I need to start pitching to brands. This has spurred me to look in to it further so thank you xxx
Thank you 🙂 x
Its something I haven’t done yet but thanks for the great tips 😀 will be sure to use them in time.
Do you get the opportunity to work with a lot of brands? Is it hard to get people to work with you ?
Yes, I regularly work with brands as blogging is my job now. I get opportunities through a mixture of pitching and applying via facebook groups, twitter etc. It’s not hard if you’re working with the right people!
Thanks i will have to start plugging myself a bit more. Thanks for commenting 🙂
These are such great tips! I need to start pitching to brands more often. Thanks for the advice
Thank you. You definitely should – anyone would be lucky to work with you!
Oooh love these tips on pitching to brands for collabs. You can never go wrong with having repeated collabs with brands. Having a template that automates your effort helps big time as well!
Nancy ✨ mdrnminimalists.com
It really does, saves a lot of time too!
I would love to start collaborating with writing-related brands so I am loving these encouraging and on-point tips for pitching to brands! No one was ever hurt by inquiries. 🙂
Great post, thanks for sharing! One of my goals this year was to be more consistent with pitching so these tips are really useful xx
Thank you – good luck with the pitching!
Such good tips, thanks for sharing. I’ve not pitched before, but this year I definitely want to expand my blog and try to monetize it. This will definitely help 💜
You totally should! The worst they can say is no!
I definitely appreciate this refresher on pitching. I’ve been at it for quite some time, but with my rebrand, I’m finding it a little more tricky to think of companies I’d like to work with (aside from major book pubs). I’m glad you shared this. It’ll help me consider other options!
Ah of course – think outside the box! Anyone would be lucky to work with you x
These are great tips! I’ve never reached out to a brand before, it’s a little intimidating.
It is at first but when you realise the worst they can say is no and move on, it makes it much easier!
These are super helpful tips! I haven’t done any brand pitches yet but I will soon. I love the point you made about seeing what posts you have scheduled for the year and going from there! That makes it super easy to integrate a brand in the blog post without having to worry about writer’s block! Thanks for sharing x
http://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
It really does! Saves a lot of time and you already know the brand will fit 🙂
Such a helpful tips. Reaching out to brand is something that I always struggled to. The only brand collaboration I did were the ones where the brand contacted me first. I really need to apply some of your tips. Thank you for sharing.
Antonia || Sweet Passions
You should, go for it!
This is really helpful! I’m thinking to start pitching to brands this year and I didn’t really know where to start so I’ll definitely be coming back to this post! X
Oh my god girl, you should get pitching! Your blog is amazing!
Excellent advice! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you 🙂
This is great advice Jenny. I read your pitching freebie and it helped me to land an ad this week!! Will be following your advice as I pitch more often now 🙂
Lauren / https://www.wooloftheking.com/
Oh my god YES! Congrats! <3
I have gone through your post thoroughly. Noted the tips. All links explored. MOZ subscribed. Got help. Powered by your blog. Simple thanks will not be sufficient. Yet my Namaskar, Regards will be my best honour.
Wow, thank you!
These are some really helpful to don I have had my most success pitches towards the end of last year and this month and I am really grateful. The more you pitch the more confidence you build. Thank you for sharing Jenny.
Lauren http://www.bournemouthgirl.com
That’s amazing 🙂 I agree – the more you do it, the easier it gets!
I love all these ideas for pitching to brands, I’ve not really pitched to many brands yet but I think it’s something to consider in the next couple of months 🙂 thank you for sharing Jenny x
It absolutely should be! Good luck! 🙂
Some really great tips Jenny, thanks for sharing them.
Particularly re-pitching.
Definitely! 🙂
This is very helpful! I have never worked with brands or other bloggers before but I would love to in the near future and this could help me a lot. Thank you so much 🙂
Best of luck for the future!
As someone who hopes to start working with brands in the near future, this information is really helpful. I will have reference this post again once I am ready to work on pitching to brands. I will also have to check out that pitching toolkit, as I could use all the help I can get with this.
Glad you found this helpful!
Good post and tips. I believe these tips are useful for me. Collaborating with brands is one of my goals this year. Btw, I have one question to ask you. How do approach a brand? Do you write a letter to them?
You pitch to them via email!
This is a very informative post. I occasionally read your blog & it is always of very high quality which I admire.
thank for all the tips I will have to use them.
Feelfree to browse my blog: https://wbooksnthoughts.com
Awh thank you very much!
I REALLY need to up my non-existent pitching game in 2021. I think the last time I pitched was back in 2019 and it wasn’t even for me, it was for Flora! Love this tip about seeing what future content I have lined up (note to self: future planning needs work too), that could work really well 🙂 xx
Oh my gosh, haha! You should get pitching – brands would be lucky to work with you! xxx
This is awesome
Reptiching to brands is something I need to do more of, I’m somebody who doesn’t repitch if they’ve said no once, but it’s always worth trying again! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
It absolutely is worth it!
Really great post Jenny – I purchased the Pitching Toolkit now! In 2020 I really want to get my site up to scratch so I can feel confident pitching to brands – I already have a list I’d love to work with that fit my niche as well! Great tips for me to bear in mind when I feel the time is right!
Yesss! Hope you find it helpful. Having a list of brands is really helpful too. Best of luck with your pitching xxx
Thank you so much for this Jenny! As a new blogger I found it hard to put myself out there, but these tips will help for sure! I will share this with my sisters and work on it! x
Awh thank you! Good luck!
This is all amazing advice! I’ve not pitched to a brand in so long, I seem to get in touch with loads at once then leave it for ages but this has given me the confidence to get back out there with it! I always try to go for it when I have specific posts in mind that I know brands would fit well into and that seems to work out quite well xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
Keep it consistent! That was my biggest downfall! xxx
Not sure if my first comment went through! I really enjoyed this post and you’ve included some helpful tips – I especially love the one about repitching as that’s something I worry about doing xx
Thank you 🙂 xxx
I have actually never put myself out there before! Yes I have applied for opportunities that already exist but never have I gone out on my own so to speak.
This is really great advice, I can already think of a few that could work for some content that is written, ready to go! Thank you Jenny x
You should GO FOR IT! Brands would be lucky to work with you! xxx
January for me is always a big pitching month. I’ve not needed to as much this year but I still try to sharpen my skills and increase my contacts. Some great tips in this post!
Rosie
Yeah I’m trying to up my game this January too! x
It’s been ages since I’ve pitched an idea, mainly because of time issues but you’ve definitely given some food for thought x
I’m glad 🙂
Repitching to brands is one that I try to do regularly! These are some fab tips Jenny and I know alot of bloggers will really appreciate this post x
Thank you 🙂 x