So You Want to Turn a Gifted Campaign Into a Paid One?

Aren’t ya’ll glad it’s Friday?! There’s just something about Fridays, it’s always been my favorite day of the week.   Today I’m getting caught up on work emails and editing some photos to send to a brand for approval.

I thought today would be the perfect day to write a blog post on how you can start transforming your gifted campaigns into paid ones! I think the best way to share this is by sharing an email template. I’m going to keep it short, sweet and to the point.

Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s more complicated than this because it’s truly not. It’s simply having an honest conversation about wanting to be paid and remembering that a “NO” just means next opportunity!

Let’s get right to it!

If you’ve just started your content creation biz (or maybe you’ve been at it for a while), we are all very familiar with brands and companies reaching out with the promise of free products and “exposure”. As lovely as that sounds, at the end of the day you don’t want to just have a closet full of stuff because stuff doesn’t pay the bills and doesn’t put food on the table.

I like to keep things on the real real, always have, always will. Which is why I’ll be the one to say that BRANDS HAVE BUDGETS FOR PARTNERSHIPS. Read it again.

The old saying “you never know until you ask” comes in handy during these conversations because it’s rare that a brand will offer up a budget during the first email interaction. Now don’t get me wrong, some brands will come in with a budget in mind and they will share that budget with you upfront. There will be a different blog post in the future with a template on how to handle those conversations.

So a brand reaches out and they say they found you through Instagram or your blog and they like your style and would love for you to promote their newest pair of jeans. In exchange for a post they will send you the pair of jeans and repost your picture to their story AKA “exposure”.

HOW TO RESPOND:

Hi (Brand name),

Thank you so much for reaching out and for thinking of me for this campaign!

I believe my audience will resonate well with your brands’ mission and size inclusivity. I would love to explore a partnership with you and promote your brand to my audience.

May you please let me know what budget (Brand name) has for this campaign? Also does (Brand name) have an affiliate program? If so, I would love to explore that as well.

I’ve attached my media kit to this email for your reference. Below you’ll find 3 examples of recent work.

Link to example 1

Link to example 2

Link to example 3

I’m also available during (2 date/time options) for a phone call to discuss our partnership further if you’d like!

Thank you for your time, looking forward to hearing from you!

All the best,

(Your signature)

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I wanted this to be a simple template that you can just copy and paste right into your emails. Make it your own and put some pizzaz into it!

Remember when talking to a brand manager or associate that it is simply a conversation. Don’t let it psyche you out! Let me know in the comments if this template helped you navigate a conversation with a brand and if you want more blog posts like this one!

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