A 3-part series on how to make money online by partnering with brands. Including how to become a high-ranking affiliate, structuring successful brand partnerships, and how to make a media kit. Today’s post is focused on an introduction to the concept of making money online outside of selling your own products and services.
Watch part 1, Brand Partnerships: The Basics, or Part 2, Brand Partnerships: Affiliate Marketing.
OKAY today is a hefty topic with many, many layers, so let’s not waste any time. If you’re wanting to create an income online by developing brand partnerships, working with brands, developing a media kit, and so on, watch this…
OKAY today is a hefty topic with many, many layers, so let’s not waste any time. If you’re wanting to create an income online by developing brand partnerships, working with brands, developing a media kit, and so on, watch this…
Remember: Partnering with brands requires that you LOVE the brands you’re working with. If you don’t LOVE it, the quality of your promotions will be garbage. If you don’t love it, your community will see through it and this WILL affect you overall presence, readership, trustworthiness and more. While you can make money sharing brands, it’s important that you think of your reputation above all else.
A Brand Partnership Is…
It’s a relationship between an individual or company with another company where both parties receipt benefits such as financial compensation, brand recognition, increased followers, credibility/trust, direct sales, search engine optimization, increased social media presence, and more.
Examples of Brand Partnerships
There are so, so many ways to partner with a brand outside of affiliate marketing. Here are a couple that we’ve found successful. So there’s no confusion:
Brand = the company you’re partnered with
Promote = sharing via blog post, newsletter, social media, etc.
Trade Options
- Option 1: You promote brand, brand EQUALLY promotes you
+ Grows your following and builds relationships with your favorite brands. A great option if your online business is new
– Sometimes brands don’t have a loyal following and you lose out, and it’s not going to pay the bills - Option 2: You promote brand, brand makes you an ambassador and you get FREE STUFF
+ Develops your relationship with the brand and you get what you love for free
– Can be very one sided and doesn’t pay the bills
Compensation Options
Option 3: You promote brand, brand LIGHTLY promotes you and PAYS you UPFRONT
+ Money to manage your business, opportunity to prove yourself, plus build a relationship with the brand
– Sometimes brands don’t have a loyal followingOption 4: You promote brand, brand PAYS you via AFFILIATE and PAYS you UPFRONT
+ You have money to manage your business plus the opportunity to make more
– Usually requires you become an affiliate first (to prove yourself)- Option 5: You promote brand, brand PAYS you UPFRONT
+ You’re provided with money to manage your business and the opportunity to prove yourself
– You may have less creative control, there’s more liability, tighter schedules and requires you have an active community
How To Partner With Brands: The Media Kit
Once you’ve decided on an option (using one of the five options listed above), you’ll need to reach out to the brand… and to do that, your best course of action is to be equipped with a media kit!
A media kit is used to highlight your business, offerings and talent. Think of it as a pretty version of a resume. You can add as many colors and images as you want! No rules.
The components of a media kit include:
- What your business is about
- Introduction to who you are
- Why you’re the right one for the job
- Your community: social following, page views, newsletter size, analytics, who your customers are
- You offerings: how businesses can partner up with you
Creating A Successful Brand Partnership
- If it’s your first go, it’ll likely be a 1-month feature
- If it’s your second, third, or fourth feature, attempt to sign them on for 6 months to a year.
- Try to combine multiple offerings so that you have the opportunity to shine
- If it doesn’t feel right, don’t agree to it. If you feel like you’re selling yourself short, you probably are.
- Look at more than just money. How can you align yourself with the brand to benefit you and your business long-term?
- Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start with one brand, see how it goes, learn from it, and repeat.
Maintaining A Successful Brand Partnership
- Listen to your people. If they don’t like the product or have had bad experiences with it, address it!
- Go to shows where you know the brand will be to meet with them face to face
- Coordinate monthly/bi-monthly calls or update emails to adjust marketing campaign strategies
- Adjust your stance on the product if the business changes
That just about does it for this introduction to partnering with brands, from start to maintenance mode. I’m sure there are a lot of nitty gritty details we haven’t covered, but we hope this provides you with a solid base.
Happy brand marketing!