6 Tips on How to Connect with Brands

As some of you may know, I was kindly invited by FP Comms to come along to their online workshop. The ‘Blogger’s Event: The Ultimate Guide to Connecting Bloggers with Brands’ was hosted via Webinar. I understand that not everyone may have been able to attend the workshop so today I am going to share with you the top tips I learnt!

1. Understanding what businesses believe bloggers can achieve for their brand

Nicola Millington, founder of FP Comms, led the workshops. She spoke about what businesses believe bloggers can achieve for their brand. I feel this is something all bloggers should know as it helps you to improve your blog. Opening it up to a wider audience. With understanding exactly what a brand wants to see from your website to want to work with you.

It’s okay you wanting to work with brands but if they believe you can’t achieve anything good for them. Then they won’t pick you, you need to understand that you have the power to increase awareness about their brand. Have you successful done this before or does your blog reach out to so many people a day.

You can also help build a Brand reputation for a business, speaking not only about the product but your experience with them. Of course this might not be the same for everyone but it’s good to include the process. Speaking about how well they communicated with you and if they were friendly and helpful.

2. Understanding why Brands what to work with bloggers

It’s always nice when you get an email from a company saying, we would like to work with you. You need to understand why they have reached out to you. They have reached out to you for a particular reason. They would have done their research so they understand what you can achieve for them.

They understand that you have a direct connection with their target audience. Which is perfect as they understand that your audience will enjoy reading about their product or service. They understand that link, reaching out to you will then reach out to their audience. Brands look for consistency with your work, seeing if you post regularly to a schedule of some kind and understanding the value of this.

3. Identifying the correct Brands for your blog

Not only did Nicola cover what Brands consider and want from bloggers, Beth Mahoney spoke about how you can identify the correct brands for your blog. There is no point saying yes to every Brand that offers you a freebie because it might not even relate in the slightest to your blog. It needs to be something you are interested and know your audience will be aswell.

As well as Brands doing their research, you need to do yours, especially when it comes to understanding if this Brand is the one for you. This works aswell when you want to contact a company, you need to understand if a Brand’s values match yours. Researching as far as looking at press coverage they may have achieved, so you can understand what they look for when working with bloggers.

4. Follow the Brand on social media platforms

It’s also wise to follow the Brand on their social media platforms as they might investigate into this. Exploring whether or not you are interested in them enough as you say you are. Some Brands are pretty good on updating their platforms quite regularly. You can find out about their latest products. Something that is also a plus is if you share and like their posts.

This makes you known in their books so if you send a request they can recognise you and have an idea about who you are. Social Media platforms are becoming increasingly popular amongst companies to share their latest products. You need to be on top of their latest work just in case they question you about it. Especially if you are wishing to review one of their latest products!

5. How to contact the Brand.

It’s always best to try and email the Brand, it’s pretty easy now a days to find an email for someone within the company. What you need to do is understand who exactly you need to contact. FP Comms recommends contacting the founder of the business, to directly get in touch with them.

If you are unable to find their email, try contacting the PR team or you can try contacting the company through their social media platform that they regularly use. There’s no point contacting on a dead platform that they hardly seem to use. If you explain the situation and who you are, they just might point you in the right direction.

6. What happens if they say no?

Don’t worry about it! You have personally done nothing wrong. You are probably not at the correct stage with your blog that they would like you to be to promote their Brand. Respect this decision and maybe even understand why it’s currently not the right time to collaborate.

Don’t let this get you down though, continue writing for your blog. You never know one day in the future they may contact you as they’ve spotted something on your blog that grabs their attention.

That’s all guys! I hope you have enjoyed this post, if there’s any tips you have learnt from your experience, leave them down in the comments. I would like to say another massive thank-you to FP Comms for inviting me along. I learnt quite a lot from the evening and I’m hoping to put this into practice soon.

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