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About a decade ago, earning money from being an influencer usually meant you were writing popular blog content, had a large following on prominent social media/entertainment platforms like Instagram and YouTube, or were a celebrity in your own right. However, this influencer “structure” is slowly becoming a thing of the past.
Nowadays, content creators with smaller followings (micro-influencers and nano-influencers) have many opportunities to land paid sponsorships and brand deals. Companies have noticed the massive potential of influencer marketing on all scales and it’s becoming a more widespread practice, with the global influencer marketing market size more than doubling from 2019 to 2021.
This is good news for both aspiring and experienced influencers, but you may have a few unanswered questions, such as: how does an influencer start making brand deals and partnerships, and what do they need to do to get noticed? Keep reading to learn more about some actions you can take to get brand deals as an influencer.
How To Start Working With Brands
Let’s say you have a couple thousand followers and you’re ready to take on the micro-influencer title. What’s the first thing you should do? How can you start increasing followers and getting brand sponsorships?
Well, we can’t promise you the journey will be easy, but there are definitely some steps you can take to increase your chances of growing your following and getting deals with brands. Oulined below are some helpful tips to set you on the right path!
Find Your Niche
Every marketer, start-up group, or entrepreneur can affirm the importance of finding your niche. Carving out a niche is vital for creating a personal brand that you can be identified with.
It’s not easy to create content that is adored by everyone. Going in a more “general” direction with content or frequently switching back and forth between several topics and styles means you’ll be competing with a lot of people for exposure.
At first, it is often best to focus on a specific niche that you have an interest in or that you’re an expert in. For example, if you love holisitc health and fitness, dedicate your Instagram account to that — you can still share bits and pieces about your life, and you should definitely let your personality shine through, but the main focus should be on the niche to reach your targeted audience.
With the vastness of the internet, there are almost unlimited niches to narrow in on. Photography, knitting, camping, woodwork, graphic design, books (think BookTok), car restoration, pop culture commentary, and almost anything else you can think of.
Post Consistently
As a content creator, making high-quality posts is key. But especially as you’re trying to grow, being consistent is arguably more important than being pitch-perfect all the time. For example, if a brand or a potential follower opens your account on Instagram and sees only 10-20 posts, that might be a turn-off, no matter the quality or the number of followers you have.
On the other hand, if you have a lot of high-quality content and post on Instagram consistently (they don’t all have to be perfect posts), the audience can see that you’re active, potentially increasing the likelihood of them following your account. Evidence of consistency is also a green flag for brands.
In a similar vein, it can be beneficial to follow the trends on the platforms you use. Not just in terms of what the content is about, but the kind of content. For example, Instagram is currently pushing Reels, so creating content in that format could give you more exposure.
Make Sure Brands Know About You
It can be helpful to make posts that revolve around some of your favorite brands before ever being sponsored by them. This lets campaign managers see that you’re interested and get better insight into the type of content you’re able to create, helping them determine whether you’re the right fit for their brand.
A tip here is to have a media kit that you can send to companies as a way to quickly and succinctly introduce yourself. It’s also a good idea to have more than one social media channel on which you’re active, as this increases your credibility and gives you more opportunities for brand deals and sponsorships.
Another approach is to tag the brands you already use in your posts. For example, many of Gymshark’s brand ambassadors are fans and customers who have consistently used their products and have an inspiring story to tell.
Ask Previous Partners to Refer You
If you had a good experience working with a brand in the past, consider asking them to refer you to other brands in the industry or industry-adjacent businesses. As long as they won’t be hurting themselves in the process, people are usually ready to help out and throw in a good word for you, especially if they genuinely enjoyed collaborating with you.
Referrals are a terrific way to demonstrate expertise and knowledge, and they boost the trust between you and the brand you will potentially be working with. It also allows them to see your skills in action and visualize the type of content you could create for them.
Sign Up for Influencer Marketing Platforms
As an influencer, one of your main jobs is to make yourself more visible to potential brand partners. One common and effective way of going about this is by getting on to influencer marketing platforms such as Markerly.
This way, your account will have a better chance of getting noticed by companies who want to work with you, as these platforms allow businesses to scout, track and choose influencers for their marketing campaigns.
Markerly is the perfect choice for all influencers who do what they do out of passion and want to work with brands they believe in.
Get Creative and Stay Persistent
Once you have a solid following, there are plenty of ways to get the attention of brands. For example, make videos where you test their products and rate them, reach out to them on social media, or approach them with examples of some of your previous work.
You can also start using brand-related hashtags and tagging the brand’s account under your posts and videos. Over time, they may begin to notice you and your content!
The above are some simple ways to do personal brand pitching. If you want to be more straightforward, you can choose a particular brand, look at their current marketing strategy, and create content that they might find valuable before coming to them with a pricing structure.
Final Thoughts
At the start, finding brands to work with may seem complicated, but once you have the proper support (like Markerly!) and the necessary knowledge about how to grow your following, things will start falling into place!
Following the tips above won’t ensure increased visibility or brand partnerships, but they can help you on your journey to becoming a paid influencer. Just keep working hard, follow your passion, and reach out to Markerly to learn more about joining the platform as an influencer.
