Does it feel like every other influencer gets great brand opportunities while there are crickets roaming about in your inbox?
We know how you feel.
It’s tricky finding and securing brand deals, especially good ones.
The good news is that there’s a lot you can do about it.
In this article, I’ll show you exactly how to find and maximize the value of great brand deals.
Effective Strategies for Identifying and Capitalizing on Brand Influencer Opportunities
Let’s take a quick look at the potential of influencer marketing before we get into specific tactics you can use.
The global influencer marketing market stands at $21.1 billion (tripling since 2019), with 334 million active businesses worldwide (and growing) and 89% of marketers looking to maintain or increase their influencer marketing spend this year.
Plus, when you compare influencer marketing vs. traditional marketing, influencer marketing offers more return on investment for businesses because it gives them access to niche audiences and targeted marketing.
Why am I telling you this?
To show you that there are plenty of fish in the sea and the opportunities for influencers are endless.
Strategies To Find And Capitalize on Brand Influencer Opportunities
Let’s categorize the two issues we’re discussing today.
1. Finding good brand deals
2. Getting the most out of every deal
Let’s break them down one by one.
5 Ways to Find Brand Deals
Brands can’t magically find you. Identifying good brand deals means you first need to know where to look.
Here are five proactive steps you can take to secure brand deals:
1. Join a creator marketplace
A creator’s marketplace is the best place to find brand influencer opportunities. It’s a platform that connects influencers with brands interested in promotional partnerships.
Choose one that offers other assistive services and social media tools to make your life easier.
Then, create a profile that showcases your niche, audience demographics, past collaborations, and content style.
Use listings to display your services and make it easy for brands to find and assess if you’re a good match. Brands can contact you directly through these listings to discuss and negotiate deals. Create multiple listings across different platforms and offer bundled package deals to maximize your chances of securing a deal.
Brands also post casting calls outlining specific needs and requirements. Respond to these calls by submitting well-researched, detailed, and targeted pitches, including text or video responses to the brand’s questions, showing why you’re the best fit for the campaign.
2. Optimize your profile
Make sure your profile is search engine optimized with relevant keywords and hashtags to show up on the search for those keywords.
For reference, look at the profile of a known influencer, and you’ll see their profile shouts about what they do for a living.
When brands look for influencers, many a time, they start with a basic social media search using relevant keywords. If your profile has those keywords, you’ll appear on their radar; otherwise, they’ll never know you exist.
Let me explain with an example. If you’re a travel influencer, include specific keywords like “travel influencer,” “adventure travel,” or “luxury travel blogger” directly in your profile. This way, you show up on search when a brand searches for these terms. Plus, one look at your profile will tell them they’re in the right place.
Also Read: How Influencer Marketing Can Improve Your SEO?
How to do it? It’s simple.
Take a look at your competitors’ pages or do a keyword research. Identify key terms specific to your niche. Add them to your profile and conduct an independent search to ensure you appear when someone searches for those terms or hashtags.
3. Be active in your niche
Follow the content style and trends in your niche. Does your content speak for you? If you’re a lifestyle influencer, can brands search for you in that niche? Is the content you’re creating in line with that? Are you active and participating in relevant trends?
To get noticed by brands in your niche, be more than just active; be strategic.
For example, if you’re a lifestyle influencer, ensure your content screams ‘lifestyle influencer.’ Use the right hashtags to make relevant content and participate in all relevant trends. Make sure your content shouts lifestyle themes.
4. Reach out directly to brands
Who says you need to wait for brands to contact you? Be bold and reach out to the ones you like.
On an episode of “Have You Herd?”, Lucy Birchall, Influencer Marketing Director from the Social Shepherd, talks about how she values those who are proactive about collaborations. She recommends that influencers take an active approach by directly reaching out to brands they’re interested in working with or that align well with their brand.
“Slide in their DMs. Reach out to them”, she says.
Research the brand and make your case using relevant content examples or previous collaborations.
Lucy also suggests you present your performance metrics to brands to make your case. Don’t just highlight the engagement rate of your best post. Provide them with detailed analytics for the average engagement across all your posts over the past 3 to 6 months. Brands appreciate influencers who do their homework and are committed to producing content that delivers.
Also Read: How to Make Money on Social Media as an Influencer
5. Tag brands in your content
Tag brands in relevant content when you’re interested in working with them. Brands often look for influencers who use or mention their products in posts. This signals your interest in collaboration and shows you’re already a user and fan of their products.
5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Brand Deals
Getting brand deals is just the first step; truly maximizing their potential is an art influencers perfect over time.
Here, we have five expert tips to get the best out of every brand deal.
1. Remember to negotiate
If a brand’s initial offer feels low, challenge it and support your claim with solid stats. Show them engagement rates, audience demographics, and examples of successful campaigns to prove your worth.
Propose a higher fee based on this data. Even if they don’t match your figure, it often leads them to bump up their initial offer.
Here’s a video to help you negotiate better:
2. Get smart with content rights
Brands often reuse influencer content for different purposes on different platforms. If they want to repurpose your work, make sure you get paid for it. After all, if they’re getting extra mileage out of your content, why shouldn’t you?
Say you create a photo for a brand’s social media, and they want to use it in their online ads; that’s more exposure for them, so it should mean fair pay for you. Always negotiate to get compensated for every platform they use your work on.
Discuss and specify in your contract how they can use your content, including any limitations. Set a monthly rate for different uses.
Note: Never sign away your rights forever. You might want to break off the partnership or find better-paying deals in the future. Keep your options open and your rights secure.
3. Charge them for exclusivity
Exclusivity has its price and is based on what you stand to lose. If a brand wants you all to themselves for a specific time, they must compensate you accordingly because you’re passing up on potential work for them.
Kaya, from Creatingwithkaya, suggests you calculate the potential income you’d forgo during the exclusivity period and use this data to justify your higher rate. Be direct about this from the beginning.
If brands are only concerned about direct competitors, charge them a reasonable fee. But the prices go up accordingly if they want you off limits to an entire category—like all dairy products when working with a yogurt brand.
Also Read: How to Become a Full-Time Content Creator
4. Leverage multiple channels
Kaya also recommends leveraging multiple platforms for the best results. For example, if you have a website, a blog, or another social media account, use this as leverage if you plan on using it to get more deliverables.
5. Be professional
Remember, both you and the brand are businesses, so it pays to be professional (literally!). Put the necessary effort into your work. Most brands prefer working with ethical, punctual, and consistent influencers rather than those who may have a more significant following but lack professionalism and ethical standards.
Start Maximising Your Potential
Unlock your full potential and get the most out of your influence with these proven techniques.
Remember, as influencers, your only limit is your imagination. Be active and make sure your profile exudes your worth.
Get a head start with Glewee, the all-in-one creator’s marketplace. Find quality influencer brand opportunities that suit you best and capitalize each partnership.
So what are you waiting for?
Sign up today and unleash your growth.
