Episode 108 - How To Work with Influencers To Get Your Brand in Front of More People This Holiday Season with Creator Coach Gwen Lane
Should your Holiday PR Strategy Include Influencer Marketing?
PR doesn’t stop at press articles and podcast interviews. Another branch of PR can be collaborating with influencers and content creators. (Strategic and Intentional collaborations). What we don’t want to see happen is you pay thousands of dollars to random creators and see no ROI, because they weren’t really a good fit for your brand.
So let’s discuss what goes into these aligned collaborations so both you and the creator come out winning.
1. **Identify Your Target Audience:** Before reaching out to content creators, understand your target audience. This is the number one step followed by clearly analyzing the creators audience.
Who are their ENGAGED followers and does it align with your audience.
2. **Build Authentic Relationships:** Authenticity is key in influencer marketing. Instead of merely seeking endorsements, focus on building genuine relationships with content creators. Follow them, engage with their content, understand their style, and tailor your pitch accordingly.
3. **Craft a Compelling Pitch:** When reaching out to content creators, clearly articulate the value proposition of your product or service. Highlight the uniqueness of your offerings and how it can benefit their audience during the holiday season. We know that budget alone isn’t enough to get an aligned creator to work with you.
4. **Offer Creative Freedom:** Content creators excel when given creative freedom. Allow them to showcase your product in a way that resonates with their audience. Authentic content that seamlessly integrates your product will feel more genuine to viewers. But also don’t be afraid to give them basic guidelines if you already have an idea for the campaign.
5. **Negotiate Fairly:** Recognize the value content creators bring to your marketing strategy. Fair compensation, whether monetary or through product exchange, is essential for fostering long-term relationships. Make sure to have all details in a clear contract that both parties have reviewed.
6. **Track and Analyze Results:** Implement tracking mechanisms to measure the success of your collaboration. Analyze metrics such as engagement, conversions, and overall brand visibility to assess the impact of your partnership.
Another thing you’ll have to keep in mind is timing. Last minute campaigns are difficult for everyone. Give yourself and the creator enough time to do the above steps-research, genuinely connect, pitch, negotiate, create. This takes time!! Starting your holiday collab pitching NOW can give you the advantage and get ahead of even big brands who wait til the last minute.
This upcoming holiday season presents a golden opportunity for small business owners to boost their sales and brand visibility through strategic content partnerships. By embracing PR, influencer marketing, and collaborative brand partnerships, entrepreneurs can position their businesses for sustained growth in the competitive market. As you plan your holiday marketing strategy, remember that the right content creators can be valuable allies in achieving your business goals.
And for the BEST results, make sure you’re not forgetting your other PR routes like holiday gift guides and TV segments!
The CPR Pitching Method™ helped small business-owning entrepreneurs from PR Starter Pack members see themselves as a go-to expert with a point of view, instead of JUST a founder, seller, or consultant – a standout mindset that takes you far in the world of PR.
I hope you take notes throughout this episode and maybe even listen to it again so you can really nail down the three parts of the CPR Pitching Method™ and use it to your advantage!
So get ready to press send and get your message. And I can’t wait to see you featured in the headlines.
P.S. If you want your small business to go from invisible to visible, seen, and valued, register for my FREE PR Secrets Masterclass. Soon enough, your credibility and visibility will skyrocket. Register now at www.gloriachou.com/masterclass.
Resources Mentioned:
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Here’s a glance at this episode…
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[00:00:00] Hey friends, I'm Gloria Chow, small business PR expert, award winning pitch writer, and your unofficial hype woman. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people get the recognition they deserve. And that starts with feeling more confident to go bigger with your message. So on this podcast, I will share with you the untraditional yet proven strategies for PR, marketing, and creating more opportunity in your business.
If you are ready to take control of your narrative and be your most unapologetic and confident self. You're in the right place. This is the small business PR podcast.
I am so excited for today's episode because today's guest is someone we have been eagerly awaiting to have on the show Now so many of our PR members our small business owners always ask me gloria. How do I work with influencers? How do I get them to promote my product or services or better yet? How do I get paid?
Even as someone with a small following how do I get paid to do a partnership or a sponsorship with someone? So today's guest gwen lane is a creator coach and through her creatorized program. [00:01:00] She has helped over 8, 000 people monetize through paid partnerships. So if you've ever thought about influencer partnerships, getting paid for your own audience or working with influencers, this episode is for you.
So Gwen, welcome to the show. Hey, Gloria. Happy to be here. Thank you for asking me. Yay. So I have to tell you, if I had a dollar for every time, Somebody asked me this question, which is your zone of genius. I would have a whole jar full of money. So I'm so excited for this talk, especially as we get closer to Q4, the holiday season, people trying to get their products in front of more people.
Before we dive into it, I want you to give a quick intro about what you do and how you help influencers and brands. Sure. So I have been in the digital marketing space for 18 years now. And so I started in advertising in the entertainment industry. And so I know the brand side of this business where first they were doing traditional media, TV, billboards, radio, print advertising.
And then they [00:02:00] started moving into digital advertising on websites. place. And then came the influencer market where it was mommy bloggers were like the first ones, and then it became YouTubers. And now there's tick talkers, podcasters, Instagrammers, and the word creator has now become this new economy.
Where everyone can literally be come a channel and have their own station or channel, as we call it, or show. And you can have advertisers, partners, affiliates, and all of those things. And so I have been there since the beginning before Instagram, TikTok even existed on the brand side. So I've seen that evolution.
And then I actually launched my own media brand, the LA girl, while I was. still working in corporate. And I was able to grow that blog and grow my Instagram following. And I started to get reached out to by brands, brands like Disney, brands like Meta, Google, [00:03:00] Target, Starbucks. And they basically wanted me to create content for them on Instagram and my blog to promote their products and services to my audience of millennial women in LA.
And so I was able to quit my full time job and place my salary with just the income from brand partnerships. And then people kept asking me, how did you do that? Because all I do is I get free stuff or they want to send me free makeup, but they don't actually want to pay me. And so I created my seal the brand deal method, which is how to get paid partnerships, even if you don't have a huge following because it's like the biggest.
Thing that people say, Oh, I don't have a million followers. Well, you don't need a million followers to do that. And so I started teaching and I'm really passionate about helping creators, especially creators of color. Most of my students, I think 80 to 90 percent are creators of color. I help them get paid for their work.
Because I believe everyone deserves to get paid for their work. And so I launched [00:04:00] my membership, my programs, my coaching programs. And we just launched an AI tool called Creatorize to help people with content creation and pitches using the power of AI. So it's been a busy. Decade. That's incredible. And you know, there's like you said, there's been so many changes, like, you know, we have social media, we have tick tock, and now there's AI.
So everything is changing so quickly. I'm so happy that you're on the show to help us give us a pulse of what's going on now. And I love what you said about your community being so diverse. That's one of our core values. Same thing with you. We have mostly creators of color, brand owners. We have small business, brick and mortar, uh, wellness, you know, coaches.
So that's really something that we're so aligned on. And that's why I'm so happy that you're on the show. So let's just break it down for a second, all of the different terminologies, right? So for someone who has never really stepped into this world of thinking it was possible to be paid for. you know, your brand or to collab, even if you have, you know, 5, 000 followers, what's the difference between like a [00:05:00] paid collaboration and influencer collab and all the different things that you kind of talked about?
Yeah. So there's a couple of different things when we say partnerships. And so in the influencer creator world, where let's say you have. Like you said, 5, 000 followers or a YouTube channel or a podcast. You want to think of it in terms of like traditional entertainment. I always go back to the entertainment example because one, it's existed forever and we were all kind of familiar with that.
And then also it's my background. And so if you think about, let's say TV and they have a station and it's like, how do you know the studios make money off of like Grey's Anatomy or scandal or things like that? Well, they run ads, right? There's commercials. Usually you can also pay for like the premium Hulu where you don't watch ads, but you're paying Hulu itself for that membership.
And so if you think about it in terms of the micro media, which is, you know, the influencer with five, 10, 000 followers, That's [00:06:00] their show. And you're still getting in front of those 5 to 10, 000 people. But the cool thing about it is that instead of paying millions of dollars to be on Grey's Anatomy to reach moms, let's say you have a wine product, you can get in front of someone who has less followers, but actually are more engaged and more, uh, connected to that person because they follow they comment on their stuff.
They know like the names of their kids and all the things that they're doing. It's like a reality show, right? It's like, you're watching the influencers that you follow. And when you're like, Oh, what is this person wearing? You're more likely to buy that product than like, let's say you're watching a show and they're like.
that one of the characters are wearing the product. So it's the same thing. It's product placement, it's advertising. And so that's kind of how it works in terms of like TV shows versus an Instagram channel. Now, in terms of different types of partnerships, three are the ones that usually exist. Uh, one I call a [00:07:00] collaboration where it is.
Usually, you know, kind of like P. R. Where you get a product, you give it to someone and hopefully they use it right. There's no guarantee that they use it that they post about it and hopefully they do. So in some cases, that's one way to work with the influencer creator. If you send them a product, the second one is, you know, maybe they ask you for it and they say they're going to post it and then it's unpaid and they're willing to do it in terms of it's just valuable to their audience.
Or maybe they offer a discount. I don't know if it's I tend to tell my creators to stay away from that because they still have to create the content. They're still, you know, building that audience. They're still, you know, doing a photo shoot or video shoot. There's editing. There's lots of hours involved.
It's no longer, I'm going to take a selfie with this product and that's it. It's a lot more than that. The second type is called the partnership. The first one was collaboration. The partnership could be anything. It's kind of [00:08:00] vague and I feel like in terms of media in general. That's kind of vague. So I like to always ask the brand, what is the partnership look like?
So it could not be monetary, but maybe it's something that would be beneficial to you. So for example, let's say a big brand reached out to you. They offer you free products. They're not offering you payment, but they're offering to get you in front of their audience. So that could be a big audience booster for you.
And so maybe you're willing to accept. an unpaid partnership, but you get in front of that audience, it becomes a mutually beneficial partnership. The third type of partnership would be a sponsorship. And this is where they would pay you a certain rate to post your content. And this could include also them posting it on their channels, them using it for ads or things like that, that goes into more of licensing.
And so my goal for my clients and my students is to help them get those sponsorships. Because I do believe that one content creation is valuable. Those [00:09:00] skills are valuable. It does lead to brand awareness, leads and sales. And I always tell them, you know, to try and get those partnerships rather than unpaid collaborations and partnerships.
And if you're just starting out, that might be a great place to. start to just show that you can do that. And to think of it like an internship, right? Like maybe you do the first one for free, but then after that, if you show results and you're able to show that it has leads and sales, then you could then charge for that.
So there's different ways to structure it. And it really depends on where you are. Your audience, how engaged or how big it is, and kind of just what the brand is open to. Now, you said so many things in there, but one thing I want to touch upon is here on the podcast, we're always talking about how you can work smarter and not harder.
And I really feel like what you touched on is one of those like 10 percent activities that can really move the needle for 80 percent of your business. And I really feel like PR in that way and learning how to pitch and get that organic earned media is one of those two. And I think the reason [00:10:00] why is because we're Feeding money into this ads machine, you're creating a win win.
Like you said, if you actually meet an influencer who likes your product, maybe they'll even try it for free. Right? And then there's that longevity there of that sustained relationship. So let's tap into some examples because my audience, I would say is 50 percent product based, very small, but amazingly awesome, like female owned businesses, whether they're making soaps or yoga, and then some of them are coaches.
So can you talk about how someone in product, let's start with product, can start to reach out to influencers? What do they need to know when they don't have any guidance? Like how much would they like think about budgeting? How can they avoid quote unquote scam artists who really aren't going to move the needle for their business as we head into the holiday season?
Right. And so I think the best thing is to kind of see What influencers or creators would be the best fit for your brand. So that's like the first thing I talk to brands about because they do consult with brands on how to work with creators is one. Like, is there people already tagging your brand? I feel like the best partners are [00:11:00] your ambassadors.
Right. And sometimes, you know, you, uh, some product based businesses have ambassador programs, and then you pick like your most. Best ambassadors who create great content to be your influencer partners where they're actually creating specific content for you. And so are there people already buying your stuff and, you know, they're buying it.
And then too, when you look at it, their content, does it mesh and align with the values of your brand. And so that's the first thing I would look. for. Is there already people in your environment? And then two, if there isn't, I would look at your competitors and maybe look at, let's say you are a yoga mat brand.
What are the other yoga mats? Who are your competitors? Maybe you don't go like Manduka or super big, like little lemon, but maybe like a mid tier brand. Are there people already tagging them? And on Instagram you can see who tags who. So go to that medium size, small, smaller yoga mat brand and see like, are there people?
not even influencers, creators. Are [00:12:00] there people who are tagging those brands? And if there are, look at the quality of their content. Are they posting consistently? Are they showing up? Are they responding to comments? Are they engaging with their audience? And so that those are the things that I would look for.
And if you do find someone, then I would reach out either by DM or by email and say, Hey, I have this brand yoga mat brand. I'd love for you to try it out. I'd love to know what you think. And so I would go into it if they've never heard of you or they've never tried the product to give them the sample.
One, because like, you know, you're not like telling them to do it for free. You're offering them to try out a product. And two, you could be like, if you love it, I'd love to talk about partnering together and you creating content for the brand. And then from there, There's two different ways you could do it.
They could create content on their channel or they can create content for your channels. There's actually a win win for you because instead of you and your team, or if it's just you as a solopreneur creating [00:13:00] content, sometimes like you run out of ideas or you don't want it to just be you and you can actually hire creators now, we call it UGC content, user generated content to create content with your product.
And so they already have your product. They love it. Maybe they're using it already. So you can either hire them to create content for your channel specifically, or even to post on their channel if they do have that following and that audience already there. And so that's how I would do it if I were a small business.
And then in terms of, you know, paying for them, that's something where I would ask the influencer or the creator, like, what are your rates? And if they do have rates, which My creators do. Then you can see what is in your budget and not in your budget. And if it's not in your budget, is there a way that you can make it work for them?
And so that could be a higher percentage affiliate deal. Like don't offer someone 2 to work like that's illegal anywhere. And so, you know, like you're not Amazon where it's like 4%, [00:14:00] but then you have like cookies and stuff like that. So you have to think about it like is free product enough. And if it's not, what can you give them or, you know, just.
Pay for the content because you can use it anywhere. And also think about it as a part of your marketing expense. Instead of paying Facebook, you can be paying another small business just like yours. Yeah. I love what you said about the different options. It almost seems like it's really negotiable where you can, where you can kind of ease into it, right?
Where you can maybe not say right away, Hey, what are your rates? But let me send this to you. And you're saying that there might be a good chance that they might. Post on it for free, at least, at least in the beginning. Yeah, you could, well, I, for as a business owner and I've had product businesses as well.
It's like, I don't want anyone to just post about it. I want them to actually love the product because you don't want anyone advertising for you. If they don't actually believe in the product, they love the product. And so I would focus on that first. It's like, who are my product ambassadors that. [00:15:00] You know, if I told them to sell this thing, could they effectively sell it?
And if, if they don't even care, or it's not a priority for them, or it's not gonna be like infused into their daily life, then you don't want that person anyway, and so I feel like I would want to work with people who actually. Like passionately love the product. Now, would you say that most, so I know it's hard to categorize, right?
Let's say somebody is working with an influencer that has 5, 000 followers, right? Like a micro influencer. Would you say that it's like 50 percent they would post about it for free? Or is it like very rare that an influencer would post about it for free and that it always leads to some kind of paid structure?
It really depends. It's like asking like, you know, people like are different, right? Like also we are human beings, right? And, uh, for me, like I don't charge the same amount that I would charge, like a big corporation like Disney or Target than like a mom and pop Etsy shop. Like, [00:16:00] those are two different things.
And so, I charge differently on that. And so, a lot of creators, they just want to work with brands that they believe in. And so, and that's why I think that's your lowest hanging fruit. Your leads are the people who are already buying your stuff. Cause you didn't even ask them to buy it, they bought it on their own.
Um, they already have the product in their house. If they, you know, they're probably doing yoga on it and all they have to do is turn on the camera while they're doing yoga and then create video on that. So it becomes a much more seamless experience rather than asking someone like who doesn't even do yoga.
To try your yoga mat and use the yoga mat and then be filmed with your yoga mat. So it has to really make sense in terms of like product placement. I love that. It's so the barrier to entry is so low because someone can just look at their customer roster, right? And literally go on the Instagram and see who are the people who have a [00:17:00] following.
So that's probably the first step I would say. So let's say we've done that, right? We've, we've reached out to like the five or 10 people who love our product, who have five to 10, 000 followers. What do we do next to really kind of get our product or services out to more people? Other than just going through our customer list.
What about, what about YouTube or Twitter or threads? Yeah, so you can definitely reach out cold. I think that it would definitely be, you know, a hit or miss like anything, just because one, like, are they, would they be a good fit? Right. Two, if they're not a customer, they don't know about it yet. So that's something where you can send them a sample and see if they even like it.
And three, it's like, most likely they're going to ask for payments if they're not already aware of the product, it is a longer sales cycle in terms of that kind of partnership. Because you still have to indoctrinate the product to the person. And so that's why I would do that last if you have a lot of time, but for most of us, we don't have a lot of time.
So I, if [00:18:00] you can partner with, you know, five to 10 creators a month, that's already a lot of people. If you think about that, even in terms of. five to 10, 000 followers. Like people don't think that's a lot. And yes, in this day and age, like not every one of those people will see the content, but that's like another layer where you could have them, you know, boost the post and run an ad to their audience.
So their 5, 000 followers can see their content. There are like media and paid as strategies. Behind the influencer content. And that's why I'm always like, it's a very layered, could be as complicated as possible partnership. But in terms of just starting out, I would just find those five to 10 people that already love your stuff.
Right. So, so start with a customer roster, go with the five to 10, and then if you have the budget for it, maybe you can talk about, you know, throwing some ad money or, or money behind that to kind of really give it a boost. Yeah. Awesome. What about, so as you were [00:19:00] talking about this, I thought about various legality, right?
Because if someone is promoting a yoga mat for someone else, if I made a yoga mat, I would think there's some kind of competition clause. Like how do I navigate that and what are the things I should look out for when scoping out these partnerships? Yeah, so when I've worked with brands, there's always usually a legal agreement and an exclusivity clause or, you know, area.
My sister's a lawyer and she'd be like, I heard that. That wasn't the right term. So usually it's like the terms of the campaign are in the agreement that you sign. sign. If you are working with an influencer and you're paying them, like I do suggest like coming up with an agreement. I would talk to a lawyer because I'm not a lawyer and having some sort of, you know, it's kind of like a contractor agreement, a freelancer agreement where they're Giving you these deliverables there.
Are they giving you a license to use it for how long? And then are they required to be exclusive? And [00:20:00] so I've seen a lot of influencer agreements and some people like don't want you to work with a competitive brand for a year. And I'm like, well, if I'm not going to do that, then you need to pay me more because that's the loss of income on my end.
So it really depends on how long. So let's say, and that's why I really want you to work with someone who already loves your brand or that you introduced your brand and is willing to not. work with other brands anymore, just because then, yes, you don't want to work with someone who works with 10, 000 different yoga mats, right?
So it is looking at, are they more loyal with your brand or not? And I also like that too, on the creator side, I'd rather have to work with less brands. Brands, but we have like longer term partnerships and this is why a paid partnership actually is better because you're paying for that exclusivity and that they're not just going to promote like another brand, but that is, you know, income for people.
And so you have to think about that in [00:21:00] terms of if you don't have a budget, I don't think you have the right to ask someone what to do or not to do, especially if another brand is willing to pay them for that content. Yeah, that's that's so good. Definitely something to look out for. Are there any other red flags that someone who is Really new to the space that they should look out for before going into an agreement or a partnership with somebody Yeah, so I always look the great thing is about this is that everything's public And so if you're an influencer creator, you're posting your stuff out there and so I would always look at like, you know, are they talking about the things that I You know, are brand safe for me, right?
Like, so if let's say you have like a family friendly brand, but this creator always has like profanity or has like explicit music language and lip sync, then that might not be the best fit for you. Right? And so on the other side of this, like I have some creators that come to me and they're like. Gwen, I really want to work with Disney.
I really want to work with [00:22:00] like these PG rated G brands. And then like I go to their site and then they're lip syncing on Tik TOK with like a lot of explicit music. And I'm like, well, they're gonna look at your profile. If you have that in your profile, they're not going to want to partner with someone who's not brand safe for them because they only want to partner with those who are going to make sure that their brand stays in that.
Good light. Right. And so I think if you are going to partner with creators or influencers, one, you can see their content and it see if it vibes with your brand values. You're going to do some stocking. You know, look at their posts, look at the comments, look like, see if there's any controversy, which is not a bad thing, right?
I think that there's, there are brands that look for people who are outspoken on different things. Say your brand's all about like environmentalist climate change. Like you want someone who does talk about that and cares [00:23:00] about that. If you don't see anything about that social issue, and that's really important to your brand, then to me, that's not a good fit.
I would rather find someone who maybe is not the best content creator, but is the most passionate about that. Social issue if that's like a cornerstone of my brand. Same with diversity, right? If they never talk about diversity, then that's probably not a good fit. And so I think that it's great that now everything's public because you can really see people's brand personality and see who you.
Want to work with and who you would want to be an ambassador. They're, they're really a spokesperson for your brand. And so choosing the right people is super important. Yeah. I mean, 100 percent we are only our values, right? Because people really want to buy from people. Even if you make a water bottle, we want to know what you stand for.
So I think that's definitely the day and age that we live in with very discerning customers and public information, a lot of things. came up when you said that, are there any like tools? Because I know [00:24:00] you talked about like legality lawyer for people who don't have the budget to maybe hire a consultant or get a lawyer, right?
Are there tools out there that can help people find creators, maybe come up with a template for what that contract looks like, or any other tools that could help a business owner along that journey? Yeah, so there's like influencer marketing platforms that you could use, but there are like to access those platforms.
And then there's software to like track analytics and things like that. But there are costs. It's like you're paying an agency who has, you know, gathered these influencers or have a roster of influencers. But of course there's benefits to that where they have like the templates and you know, the data, all of that in there.
Um, I think some of those platforms include Aspire. I think there's one called Isaiah. I've gone on. Think if you just like find influencer marketing platforms, the cons of that is that one, you're usually paying the platform more than the [00:25:00] influencer. So that's something that on the creator side, we don't really like as much.
If you. are more experienced and you have a bigger following, you don't do those because they pay you less because they're paying the agency and the platform more than usually the creator into like the relationship is through the platform. And that's why I'm always about direct outreach. And I feel like it's human to human connection is always better than, you know, with.
People in between and you're paying the creator and all of that is transparent rather than you're paying the agency and the big company instead of the creator themselves. Now I'm a big supporter of just paying the creator themselves because I know how much like sometimes the agency charges versus how much they pay the creator and it's like, not, not good.
And so that's why I would prefer to do that. And again, it's less about, you know. I feel like there's, there are formalities and there are things that you are concerned with [00:26:00] legally. But I think most importantly, it's finding people who you connect with and relate to and actually really love your brand.
And so I feel like those, you can't really get that from like a platform. It's more in like the human to human conversation. So I would always start with human to human conversation if you can. And It makes it so easy now to do that, like with DMs and voice messages and jumping on a quick call and really figuring out like, you know, I feel like too, as far as like red flags and knowing if it's the right partnership, like you don't know that until you're in it.
And if you're talking to that person and seeing like, well, this person actually do what they're going to do. And, and there are of course, horror stories and things that don't work out, but that's everything in life. Yeah, I love how you said to avoid putting a layer in between because that's kind of what I teach as well, where it's like, let's change the game.
Let's not always go through like a PR rep or an agency rep, like weak, young, confident pitch. So that leads [00:27:00] me to my last question, which is, you know, here on small business PR, we're all about empowering women. Especially women of color to pitch confidently and to deliver that message. And I know that that's something that you do as well, although it's, it's pitching to influencers.
So how can someone pitch confidently? Do you have a framework? Do you have any tools, any kind of tips that you can offer my audience? Yeah. So I probably teach the same thing you do, but in terms of creators. On the side of, if you want to work with brands, I always say, you know, make sure that you're already following them on all social media platforms, engaging with their content.
I can't tell you how many times, you know, creators talk to me and be like, I send a brand, my pitch and. They ghosted me or nothing happened. And I was like, well, are you even following them on social media? And they're like, no, like that's step number one. There's a lot of brands now that if you are not following them, they'll check.
And if you've never posted about them, that brand, they'll refuse to work with you. I [00:28:00] know a lot of big brands do that because it's like, again, they also want to work with people who already shop at their stores or already buy their products. So if you have never talked. about Disney or about Target in your content, why do you think that brand will want to partner with you?
Like, that's to me is like ridiculous. And it's a tiny thing. You click follow, you click, you, you do a little comment. And so for me, it's always the pre pitch is the biggest thing, making sure that you're Following the brands on social media, you're liking and engaging in their content before you send your pitch.
And I always say like slide into their DMs and then start moving the conversation to email where you send them, you know, your creator portfolio, which is our version of a media kit with your rates and your case studies and all of that. So having that pitch ready while you're doing those pre pitch things.
And I would do the same if I were. A product brand trying to work with a creator, I would make sure I'm [00:29:00] following them. I would engage with them on social media, connect, make that connection. It's not hard to do that before you reach out and be like, well, you promote my product. And I'd be like, who is this person?
Like. They don't even follow me. They haven't even like engaged with any of my content. And now they want me to work for them for free and promote their business. So it's the same thing. I think that you need to put yourself in that person's shoes and ask yourself, would you want to work with this person or partner with this person?
If you've never even connected with them at all. And so the pre pitch is what I teach and then sending them the pitch with your materials ready. Awesome. I love that. Any other tips about timing? Because that's one thing that we cover for gift guides. Is there like a rule? Let's say if I want something to be really getting out there for Q4, oftentimes the busiest season for people, right?
Like holiday season, Black Friday. When should I start reaching out to influencers? Yeah, so I used to work for gist. com back in the corporate world and we started Christmas like in [00:30:00] August and so now is the time and so if you are looking for creators to partner with I would talk to them now. I teach my creators to have an editorial calendar and so So they have their schedule of what's coming up, you know, for 10 pull events, which I'm sure is same in PR with like back to school and fall fashion and fall travel and like Halloween and Thanksgiving, it's the same thing.
And it's like, what are the things that you're going to be posting content about? So then if you do reach out to brands, you can give them even ideas on, you know, where their ad placement is going to be and in terms of product owners. Okay. Let's say you have. you know, a product business, what are the things that this person posted about last year?
You can actually go through their Instagram and be like, did they do Halloween content? Did they do Christmas content? Did they have some sort of series? And I think too, when you talk to them, ask them, okay, like I have. stuff coming up. I'd love to do something with you for the [00:31:00] holidays. Do you have content already set?
And for a lot of content creators, we do have, it's like a show. It's like a channel. We have our shows already lined up and what we want to do. And so it does become more of a collaborative And I think it's great because it's like you become a content team together where you can create content that would promote the product as well and it can reach more people.
And so I think now would be a good time, the earlier the better. A lot of brands do this last minute and it's like the worst where everyone is like going nuts. It's a hot mess. The deadlines are crazy and it's just a busy time. I think in life in general, if you have family and kids and so the earlier the better.
Yeah, it's never too early to start honing on your pitch. And that's why I always say, because this is, I think knowing how to cold pitch, and I wish they taught every high schooler this, like knowing how to cold pitch and create a win win situation with someone who doesn't know you, that's probably one of the most valuable skills anybody could have.
I love that. That's what you're teaching. I could talk to you for [00:32:00] hours. There's so many more. Maybe we'll have to have you come back for part two, but is there anything else you want our audience to know about the world of influencers, AI, how it's changing and kind of what's going to be in the next two or five years?
Oh my gosh. I think that I've seen so many changes, but there are things that don't change. Like you said, communication, connection, your brand values, your. pitch, like all of those things. I feel like as entrepreneurs, those are skills that we should continue to build and grow regardless of what it is we're promoting.
Cause whether that's, you know, Instagram, Tik TOK, what is now X Twitter X. threads, like all of those things, they're always going to change. There's always going to be a new platform. What doesn't change are the fundamentals of like, okay, how do I market my business? How do I reach more people? How do I create partnerships and connections to amplify my reach?
Like those will never change. And so I feel like focusing on [00:33:00] that more than All the things that are changing right now is going to be where you can keep your sanity, because trust me, like, if I can tell you all the platforms and all the strategies, all the things, you become overwhelmed. And I think sometimes when you do that, it's because you're doing, trying to do too many things.
And I, always have to tell myself, okay, I need to stop. I need to remember why I'm even doing this and then like stick to the basics of what I can do consistently. And so maybe, you know, you're already busy for your, what you're planning for the holidays, but maybe your goal is, okay, I'm going to try to find three.
Content creators partner with whether or not it happens. I'm going to reach out and so that could be your goal for this first launch of your partnership and trying to see that. And if you're a creator, what are the three brands that I already feature in my content that I wear? That people can see when I'm, you know, doing content on [00:34:00] social, why don't reach out those three brands and see if they're doing something for the holidays and start to create content, whether or not it's a partnership.
Because again, like other brands are going to be looking for creators creating that type of content anyway, and it might not be the brand that you're talking about. And so being open to those opportunities. So that's what I want to say about that. As far as AI, it's here. Like I know there's still so many people that don't want to use it or are scared of it or like, don't understand it.
For me, it's definitely a tool like social media. People were scared of social media. People were scared of the internet, right? And then here we are, we can't live without it. And so think of it as a tool. Think of it about, it's like Google, right? Or. Or Siri, Alexa is the same thing. And to me, it's like, if I can find something that helps me with my workflow, with my content creation, I'm not a machine.
And luckily we have machines that help us with creating ideas and doing things [00:35:00] that, you know, may not be something that we feel like doing today. So. We developed this custom built tool to kind of help entrepreneurs, creators create more content more efficiently. And it's not just chat GPT. We trained our own version of chat GPT to be a content creator.
And with my content framework. So you don't have to think about what to say to chat GPT. I think that's like the biggest thing is like, come up with a prompt. What do I even say? And so our tool that we built is promptless. And you basically just, it's like a multiple choice question. So we have idea generation in their social media captions.
We even have brand partnership pitches in there and it gives you the first draft. I never say never send the first draft. And then you want to put in your human touch and your unique brand personality in there, but it helps you get started because I think that's the hardest part is like getting started.
But if all you have to do is. Push buttons [00:36:00] and press click and go. And I guess it started for you. I feel like that helps us take action and I'm all for that. Yes, girl. You're on fire and riding the wave. I love it. It's all about working smarter and not harder. This has been such a pleasure. You're awesome.
I love your energy. I love how you're a champion for a female founded women of color businesses, and I feel so aligned. So I'm so happy that you're here. How can people find you and connect with you? Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram and all the channels at heyguenlein. You can find out more about me at guenlein.
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