Part 2: How to Create Successful Collaborations with Online Influencers

Building up a raving audience of fans can be a tough job.

It’s even harder when you’re trying to do it alone – especially if you’re selling an ‘unsexy’ product like ice-cream scoops, wine refrigeration, or pet food.

In part one of this two-part series, I shared with you nine insightful tips to help you connect with and create successful collaborations with bloggers and online influencers.

In this follow-up post, I have another seven tips that will help you solidify your next partnership campaign in less time, with less stress and more success.

So read carefully, take notes, then get busy reaching out. Like Gary Vaynerchuk says, “if you want sales in today’s overcrowded marketplace, you need to go out and grab them.”

 

1. Don’t make assumptions, make agreements.

Experienced bloggers know the drill. You send products and/or cash, and they create content and promote it. However, this does not mean that you should proceed without some sort working agreement which makes it clear what is expected in return for whatever the collaboration is costing you.

It doesn’t need to be some legal behemoth of a document, just something that clarifies what both parties expect and agree to deliver – this is helpful not just for you, but also the blogger you’re working with. Not to mention it makes you look like a pro.

2. If you’re not passionate about your product, why should anyone else be?

It doesn’t matter whether your selling Tupperware or neoprene swimwear, you need to be able to exude and communicate your passion and enthusiasm for your product in an authentic way. That feeling of passion and excitement is infectious, and will make more bloggers trust your brand and business ethic, and want to work with you, especially long-term.

3. Formulaic is ol’ school. Keep it personal.

Yes! It takes a bit more time to go through their website looking for a first name, but even this tiny bit of effort will make you stand out in comparison to the ‘spray and pray’ approach to blogger outreach that many inexperienced ecommerce marketers adopt.

Don’t forget bloggers get tens, sometimes hundreds of these types of emails a day. And if you can’t be bothered to find and spell their first name correctly, most influencers – the ones worth working with, anyways – won’t be bothered to respond to you.

4. Bring some ideas to the table – make it an easy yes!

While bloggers want and need freedom to create content that feels authentic to their brand and audience, everyone likes to work with someone who brings ideas to the table. Come prepared with a few suggestions that will help give the blogger a clearer idea of what you want and like, as this will provide inspiration for them when they are coming up with your content.

5. Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

How often do you do charitable acts for people or causes that you don’t know and have no connection with? Not often right? And the same goes with bloggers.

Contacting a blogger, especially one with a big audience, and then getting offended or snarky when they start talking ‘payment’, not just product – shows you’re still not familiar with how this industry really works. Bloggers do work for and with passion, but they also need to eat.

6. Have ideas, but no one likes a list of demands.

While it’s great to have a clear idea of the type of content you would like to see created with your products, having a long list of non-negotiable demands is likely to make the blogger feel you will be a difficult client.

If they are already a big name, and are getting products sent to them daily, they will just ignore you. Bloggers and influencers are by their nature creative and artistic people, and if you cramp that creativity they are unlikely to want to work with or for you.

7. Don’t be in a mad rush.

You’re releasing a new product next week, and you’re in rush to get as much attention and buzz going around your product as possible. I get it! But contacting bloggers to whom you are a complete stranger, and pushing stressed time constraints on them is unlikely to result in them working any faster – especially if you’re not offering a financial incentive for them to do so.

So that’s it for today’s article, but I guess you’re probably wondering: “where do I even start to identify the influencers and bloggers in my niche?” Good question!  The list of articles below will give you some step-by-step tips on how to smoke out online influencers. Some of the articles are older, but the information is still relevant and helpful.

What was your favorite tip from this series? Which influencers do you plan to reach out to for a collaboration? Come and tell us in the comments, we’d love to know. And if you’re stuck with what to say, then, you’ll love this FREE 2-part email outreach template which will give you a great start. Grab yours here, it’s FREE!

Resources to Help You Find Influencers in Your Niche:

http://new.soldsie.com/blog/find-leverage-instagram-influencers-business/

http://casmccullough.com/how-to-find-influencers-in-your-niche-on-twitter/

New Homepage

http://nichehacks.com/connect-with-influencers/

6 Best Influencer Marketing Research Tools For 2024