How to work with brands: The complete guide

With the wind in my hair we sped in a classic sports car down the seafront in Cannes. The winter sun making it a perfect moment to catch myself and realise that this was actually happening to me. The plane over to France had been full of journalists working for major National papers. Journalists whose bosses and titles had put them on that plane; on that trip which lead to that amazing experience. Me, well, I’d put myself on that plane and in that sports car. I’d got there my building up my blog, developing relationships with brands and by making sure I did a great job with all the brands I worked with. As I took in that amazing experience, I was so thankful for my blog. Thankful also for the persistence and drive I had in me, which had seen my blog grow and become appealing to brands.

As you get further into you blogging journey, you might start becoming interested in working with brands. Maybe you fancy doing the odd product review or perhaps even work towards ditching the 9-5 and making your blog your business. Working with brands is one of the most popular ways of monetising your blog and today I’m going to share my wisdom about working with brands.

Know your worth

I want to start by saying Bloggers need to know their worth. As a blogger, chances are you have an engaged and trusting audience. Your readers feel as if they know you. They’ve read stories about your family’s happy and sad times; maybe even watched your children grow up. They trust you and value your opinion. This is a lot more appealing to brands than you think. So brands are looking more and more towards bloggers to promote their business/products.

I’ve been blogging for over four years. In this time I’ve had some wonderful opportunities for my family and I. We have been on many incredible holidays, been on fab days out, enjoyed lovely meals, received fantastic goods, worked as brand ambassadors, earned cold hard cash and have built many fantastic relationships with wonderful companies. However, none of this is easy and the amount of work which goes into a blog is vast. So PLEASE bloggers know you worth and value yourselves. Otherwise, you might find others don’t.

What are the different ways you can work with brands?

The landscape of advertising has change with the increasing popularity of the internet. Where in the past advertisers would spend on billboards, newspaper ads and commercials. Today they are investing in partnerships with bloggers.

Blogging is the most popular form of new media and according to a recent report, almost 80% of Internet users read blogs. The draw of bloggers is that they develop special relationships with their readers and brands know this. They know that if a blogger reviews their product and tells their readers the benefits of that product, their readers will be more likely to purchase it. The blogger-reader relationship is something not found in traditional advertising. This is very powerful, and so can be highly sought after.

Benefits of working with brands

There are many benefits to having the opportunity to work with brands.  Here are some of the most popular benefits:

  • Increased traffic to your site by conducting giveaways, which allows the blogger to earn more through advertising sales / ad networks.
  • Products to review, which can enhance the blogger’s lifestyle and save them from purchasing the product on their own.
  • One time payments earned through conducting giveaways, publishing sponsored posts.
  • Sometimes, a company will hire a blogger on an ongoing, freelance type basis

Different brands have different ways to work with bloggers. Don’t discount an opportunity simply because it isn’t “paid.” Proving to a company that you are reliable and trustworthy can lead to bigger opportunities down the road.

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Is it selling out?

Some people think bloggers who work with brands as “selling out.” I think that’s nonsense. Anyone who can monetise their blog deserves a ‘virtual high five.’ More power to them! If you don’t want to monetise then that’s totally fine too. Horses for courses! Personally, I feel that as long as the blogger is being honest, they’re not selling out. Now, if the blogger is saying they he or she liked something simply because they were getting paid, then, yes – that’s selling out.

A serious blogger who wants to work with brands will know that they need their readers. Your readers are central to the success of your blog. Therefore, serious bloggers will be authentic and write from an honest viewpoint in order to build their audience and deepen the relationships. Your readers will spot it a mile away if you’re not being honest!

Disclosure statement

This is an excellent time to bring up the Disclosure Statement. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) require bloggers fully disclose if they are being paid in any way in return for promoting a brand on their blog or social media accounts. You should have a “blanket” disclosure statement  that lets people know that yes, you do receive free products/ receive payments/ are an affiliate, etc. This should be written on it’s own page within your blog and linked to from your navigation menu.

You should also include a disclosure statement in each specific post you write where you received something for free or received some type of payment.  For example, if you received some shampoo to try out, then you can start out by saying “I received a sample of this shampoo” or at the end of your post, you could say “Thank you to Company X for providing me with a sample of this shampoo.’

How to work with brands

Reviews

Reviews are one of the easiest, and most popular ways to work with brands. The brands will send you a product and in return you will share your opinion on your blog.

Reviews are pretty self explanatory. But remember – you have to be honest, and there are some people out there who don’t  want to hurt anyone’s feelings, and don’t like to say negative things. If you’re one of those people, an easy solution is to simply say 3 things you like about a product and 3 things that you think could be improved about the product, and stick with this method for all of your reviews. If you want to mix it up, you can also record yourself doing the review. That way, you can visually show your readers what you like and don’t like about a product.

To possibly earn a little commission for the review from Amazon, include a link in your post that says  something like “To buy the ‘perfect product’ now, click here,” and of course, link that to your Amazon affiliate link for that product. Amazon sells just about everything, so you should be able to find an  affiliate link for it! Check with the brand first though.

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Giveaways

Giveaways are VERY popular! And with good reason! Everyone likes to win free stuff! In some cases, the brand will give you a sample product to review, and offer a giveaway to your readers. In some cases, they will just ask you to do the giveaway – without any “payment.” And sometimes, you will get paid a “giveaway fee.”

First of all, I’m going to go over the basics of a giveaway, and then I’ll go into specific points about each of the above examples. The best part about a giveaway is that it can bring you a lot of traffic.  If you sell your ad spots on your blog or participate in an ad network, you’ll know that the more traffic you get, the more money you’ll receive from ads. In addition to money from ad revenue, your blog will start looking a whole lot more desirable to other brands, once they see how much traffic you’re getting. A giveaway with a smaller brand today can lead to a much bigger opportunity with a larger brand tomorrow!

You will need to promote the giveaways, of course. Write your blog post and then promote it via social media. You can include some wording in your giveaway to entice the people entering the contest to help you promote it. For example, let’s say you are giving away a ‘Perfect product’. This is how your blog post might read: “Perfect Products’ are great for _____________. If you would like to win your own Perfect Product, leave a comment on this post. Your comment will give you one entry. You can receive 5 entries for tweeting about this giveaway. Your tweet must include a link back to this page. Leave a comment with your Twitter handle. You can receive 10 entries for blogging about this giveaway. Again, your blog post must include a link back to this site. Leave a comment on this post with the link to your post. The winner will be drawn at 10am on _____________. Good Luck!”

See? People will receive more “entries” if they help you promote your giveaway. And trust me, this works!

You will also see that I clearly stated the date and time that the giveaway would end.  As for how long to run your giveaway, that depends on you and the brand. The brand may request a certain time frame, such as two weeks. If they don’t say anything, you can choose. I would go with one or two weeks. Anything longer than that is a little bit overkill. Once the contest is over and you’ve posted the winners’ name in a comment, you can  close the comments on that post, if you’d like. When it comes to picking the winner, I use www.Random.org. It’s super easy – you just put in the number of entries and click submit. The website will tell you who the winner is.  You can also use a programme like Gleam to simplify the competition entry system.

Now that you know the basics, let’s talk about specific examples.

If you’re given a product to review and giveaway, then you simply write a review post like we talked about in the last section. You may be wondering why you would want to do a giveaway if you’re not given a sample to review yourself. I mean, if you’re not getting anything out of it, why do it, right? Well, like I said before – you’ll be getting traffic, and that can be worth a lot to you, if you play your cards right! Plus, it could lead to something bigger and better down the road.

That being said, if you are totally against doing a giveaway for free, don’t do them. It’s your blog, and you make the rules. Some bloggers charge a giveaway fee. A while ago I started to charge for giveaways, but it’s your choice. I charge less than a sponsored post, as it will be a less in depth post. A lot of how much you can charge will depend on the brand, how much money they have to spend, and how much they appreciate the value of social media. If the brand or company doesn’t bring it up on their own, it’s okay to ask them. You can simply say “Do you provide a fee to the blogger for hosting the giveaway?” If they say “no,” don’t feel bad. It’s not standard practice to receive a fee. It’s a nice bonus, but it doesn’t always happen. If they do say “no,” you have to decide if the other benefits of getting more traffic and boosting up your “brand” resume are good enough. If not, then politely pass on the offer.

Either way, always make sure you know what the brand expects from you. Know in advance if they require you to keep track anything and if they are happy with you using an automation system such a Gleam. Also make sure that the brand will be shipping the item out to the winner. You don’t want to get stuck paying for shipping fees!

As I mentioned in the Review section, there’s potential to earn an Amazon commission with your giveaway. Just include a link in your post that says something like “To buy the Perfect Product now, click here,” and of course, link that to your Amazon affiliate link for that product. Again I would double check with the brand that they are happy about this.

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Sponsored posts

A sponsored post is exactly what it sounds like – a brand will pay you a fee for posting about them. The amount of money will vary, as that’s something that will depend on the brand and the following/readership that the blogger has.  It’s still important to be honest in your post.

Brand Ambassadors  

These titles are a little fuzzy. They may mean very different things to different people. In general, a Brand Ambassador is a “spokesperson.” More than likely, you’ll be writing posts about a company, brand, product or service. You may be paid monetarily (from hundreds to thousands) or you may get free products for a certain length of time.

I realise that this does nothing to clear up your confusion, and I wish I could give you a cut and dry answer, but this is one of those situations where there isn’t an easy answer. Each brand will have different ways of handling a Brand Ambassadorship.

Freelance gigs

Once in a while, you may turn a review or giveaway into a freelance gig. Respect every opportunity you have to work with a brand as you never know where it’s going to lead.

Conference sponsorship

There are many blogging conferences out there, and if you’re serious about working with brands you should be going to them. Going to conferences can get expensive. Many bloggers seek sponsorships and brands to help off-set the cost.  The brand may pay the travel costs, ticket and the hotel room. You’ll have to work out the specifics with the brand that you’re working with.

Of course, you’ll have to do something for the company in return. At the conferences I’ve been to, I’ve seen women wearing a logo t-shirt from a company or brand they were sponsored by, I’ve been given free samples of a product from a blogger, I’ve been given cards that had the bloggers’ name and info as well as the name of the company that sponsored them to attend the event.

Other examples include attending a breakfast or some other type of event where you will be able to talk to other bloggers about the product or service you are promoting. The specific brand that you’re working with may have their own ideas. One thing is very clear, though, you can’t pester the other conference attendees. You have to conduct yourself in a non-intrusive way. The other attendees are there to learn and enjoy the conference, not get a sales pitch every time they turn around.

Social media promotion

Brands are often happy to pay bloggers to promote their clients goods, services or events via social media. The most common platforms for these promotions seem to be Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Brands are now also getting more interested in bloggers who are prepared to ‘go live’ on Facebook for them or share the promotion on Instagram Stories.

Video content

Video is a big deal. For bloggers it helps them to connect with their audience and can be a really useful tool to help you develop the know, like and trust factor. Brands often love bloggers who are willing to do video content for their campaigns. Often video content can command a higher fee too.

Guest posts

This can work both ways, one way for monetary gain and the other for exposure. A brand may pay you to host a guest post on your site. So they provide the copy and you host it on your blog for a fee. The other way would be you offering a guest post to a brand to gain exposure and to deepen your relationship with the brand.

Speaking

As you progress into your blogging career and in your niche you may be in a position to be asked to speak at events or take part in media campaigns. Some of these maybe paid opportunities.

Event attendance

A lovely part of blogging is going to brand events. I have been to so many over the years, most of them wonderful. While some events do not have a budget for attendance, others do and it is totally up to you if you wish to attend without a fee. I usually charge a day rate of £500 plus travel to attend an event. However, I have been to many events and haven’t received a penny for them. Sometimes the events are so wonderful and so the fee becomes less important.

Webinars 

It may be possible to join with a brand and run a webinar. This could be the brand responsible for a service or product you use. This partnership could be used to help you drive affiliate sales to the relevant product/service.

Get creative

While the above situations are some of the most popular ways to work with brands and companies, there are many other methods. You can get creative! Tell the company or brand your ideas and see what you can come up with.

How to find brands to work with

When you first start wanting to work with brands and companies, it may seem like it may seem a little daunting.

Which brands do you use/buy from?

Start by taking stock of the brands you currently use. Which brands would you write about – or have already written about, simply because you love them. Make a list.

Once you have your list, you’re going to start contacting them. You can do this in a variety of ways, including Twitter (which I’ll talk about later) and email.  You need to keep this initial email friendly, short, and sweet. Don’t overload them with a load of statistics. Let them know that you’re a fan of the brand and that you would love to collaborate with them.

How do you know where to send the email? Good question. Look at the website of the brand / company you’re interested in and you might find some of their emails listed. If you don’t see anything on the site that says “PR Contacts” or something similar, do a Google search. You can type in “Brand X PR” and see what comes up.

Personally, I usually reach out via email as a first step. But if that sounds intimidating, we’ll talk about reaching out viaTwitter in just a few moments…

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Look at the blogging community

If your list of brands  / companies isn’t very long, or if you’re not sure if they’re the kind of company who would be interested in partnering up with a blogger, take a look at the wider blogging community and see which companies are partnering up with bloggers.

Make a note of the various giveaways, Twitter Parties, etc that you come across. If you like that brand and would like to work with them yourself, then put them on your list of brands to contact.

Twitter is a brand paradise

You will be able to find TONS of brands on Twitter, and contacting them is super simple. You just send them a tweet. What’s the worst that can happen?! Finding a brand or company’s main Twitter page is usually pretty easy. It will most likely be Twitter.com/BRAND. But that doesn’t mean that is the best account to reach them on. They might have more specific Twitter accounts for interacting with bloggers, so it might pay to do some research. If you’re sending tweets to the main Twitter account, that’s great, but ideally you need to talk to the person in charge of partnering with bloggers if you want to get anywhere.

Sometimes, this information is displayed on a company’s main Twitter page. Sometimes, you just have to keep your eyes open. You will notice this in the Twitter Parties than a company or brand participates in. Who is tweeting for the company? This is usually the person you want to talk to. At first, just send them a “hello” tweet. You’re building a relationship. Let them know you like the product. Take a picture of the product and say “Hey – I’m using this right now!” and tweet the pic to them. Just start building a relationship with them. Once they’re following you and you’ve sent a few tweets back and forth, tell them you have some ideas for them, and ask what email to send it to.

Then, send the email! Keep it short and sweet. Tell them what your ideas for partnering are. Let them know you’ll follow up with a longer email, which includes your stats in a couple days. This gives them a chance to respond. They may say “Send your stats right now!” or they may say “I’d love to partner with you, don’t worry about the stats,” or they may say “I enjoy talking with you on Twitter, but your blog isn’t what we’re looking for.” And that’s okay. You’re going to get some “no thanks” responses along the way. Your blog isn’t going to be a fit for every company and brand. Just move on to the next one!

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Go to blogging conferences

Blogging conferences are a fantastic place to meet brands and companies that want to partner with bloggers. These brands and companies go there specifically to meet with bloggers, so you’re already half way there. There will usually be an expo hall where the brands have booths set up, and you can meet with them and exchange cards. ALWAYS bring cards with you when you go to a conference, you will look so much more professional.

There’s a lot of mixing and mingling at these conference, and it can be hard to tell the difference between a brand representative and a fellow blogger sometimes! The person sitting next to you at lunch or standing in line with you at the elevator may be the representative from your dream brand! That’s why it’s important to smile and make small talk with everyone – and carry lots of cards, everywhere you go. Yes, meeting and talking to all of these people can be a bit overwhelming, but that’s what these conferences are for!

When you get a business card from a brand or company representative, it should include their email and their Twitter handle. You can start following them on Twitter and send them a “Hey, nice to meet you” tweet, but definitely send an email once you get home from the conference. You want to stand out and one tweet won’t be enough to land a collaboration.

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Blogging Networks

It’s a good idea to join the main networks out there as they often have opportunities. Britmums Pro, Tots100, Joe Blogs, Collective Bias, The Blogger Network are all worth registering with.

Follow up

I can’t give you a specific time frame on when you should expect to hear back from a company or brand, it varies so much. If you don’t hear from someone right away, don’t take it personally. They’re busy. It’s okay to send a follow up email after a couple weeks have gone by. Either way don’t sit around waiting for them to respond to you. Keep finding new companies and brands to work with. Whether you’re a new blogger or have been round the block a bit, working with brands is a great way to turn your blog into a business.

How to make sure you do an awesome job

  • You can work with brands even if your stats aren’t amazing. What matters is that your audience is engaged. Also, if you blog is in a narrow niche, then you can afford your stats to be lower. As the specific audience might be the perfect audience for a certain brand.
  • Be truthful with what fits you and your family. Don’t just accept every offer put your way, as you may lose respect of your readers.
  • Create a Media Kit and know your numbers. When talking to PR’s and brands, it’s a good idea to know your monthly page views and unique visitors off the top of your head (roughly will do).
  • Be flexible and think outside the box in terms of what you can offer. If a company or a PR emails you, think of ways you can work together. For example, if they are not offering enough money for you to create a post, offer to do some social media promotion instead.
  • Don’t delete press releases. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I hear people saying they just delete the press releases sent to them. DON’T! I know they’re sent out in a blanket fashion, but you can still use them as a conversation starter. Email back and ask the PR if they are looking for sponsored content or reviews. You never know what it might lead to. Once I did just this, and it resulted in me being hired to do a Podcast for Ladybird Books.

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Why not devise a standard response you can send in response to press releases and save it as a keyboard shortcut, so it takes only a few seconds to respond?

  • Be professional. This should go without saying, but if you want to represent brands, then you have to act in a professional manner. Think about how you act on social media as brands will check your feeds before working with you.
  • Create great content. Try to be original, think of how to tell the story in a different way. I still want my content to be interesting, even if it includes a sponsored link. Try to make your sponsored content personal.
  • Add value. This ties in with the previous point. Don’t just take the money and post the link, but think how you can add value to the post. The link will be clicked by more people if your post is interesting or useful. So create a great post, regardless of the fact that you have included a certain link.
  • Don’t be too literal with the content/link connection. I’m not advocating that you’re abstract, but when writing a post that has to include, for example, a link to a technological product, it doesn’t have to be a detailed post about that product. Think outside the box.
  • Use attractive and large images. Show the brand that you can show off their product. Images should be as wide as your template allows.

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

  • Make sure it’s worth it to YOU. You must decide your own fees and if you decide to have a minimum product value for reviews. Whatever your limits are, just make sure it’s worth your time. It will take time to test a product, photograph it, edit the photos, write up the review and promote on social media. Make sure what you get in return covers your time.
  • Ask other bloggers for advice. Blogging is such a helpful and supportive community. So, if you need help, ask another blogger. Email them, message them or join one of the many Facebook groups for bloggers. I have a super supportive FB group the Mamapreneur Revolution.
  • Keep your social media feeds professional. Many brands will check your timelines before hiring you or agreeing to work with you.  I’ve heard about people who have lost good projects, after the brand checking their feeds.
  • Don’t work for free, unless YOU want to, not because you are made to feel is if you should. The offer of high res images or perhaps they have written a wonderful post that you can use for ‘free’…. doesn’t mean you SHOULD post it. It’s your blog, know your worth and you should post only what you want to.
  • Make it easy for PRs to work with you.  Make sure you have a search bar on your blog (so they can quickly find out if you have worked with a particular brand before). Include an email address, not contact form. Have your social media links on the front page in a prominent position.  Include a picture of you on your sidebar (not your dog or your baby!). Tell them where you are located. If you’re an ambassador for a brand, put badge in your sidebar. That way they can avoid any conflict with brands.

CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Are your social media links in a prominent place?

  • Make your blog represents you, while remaining professionally laid out. Proof read, use clear text, don’t use music or moving backgrounds.
  • Work with me page. A ‘Work With Me’ page can be a great place to summarise the brands you have worked with, how you work with brands and any other relevant details. This page should be like a CV of brand work.
  • Be confident and pitch to THEM. Confidence does comes with a bit of experience. However, if you want to be successful, you need to give the impression of confidence to brands. If you want to work with a particular brand, then pitch to THEM. Don’t wait until they come to you. Chances are they might never come across your blog. A prime example of this for me is my past collaboration with Diet Chef. I wanted to work with a weight loss brand and so I pitched to them. I laid out why I would be a great person to work with their brand, why it would be good for them and what exactly I could offer them in return. This resulted in a 6 month collaboration, which was the longest collaboration with a blogger that they had ever done.
  • Keep in contact with brands/PRs you have worked with. Every month to two months, give all your PR contacts a quick email. Remind them of you and your blog and ask if they have any suitable opportunities.
  • Search FB groups and Hashtags. For blogger opportunities. On Facebook try BlogPR(UK), Twitter #BloggersRequired, #PRRequest, #BloggersWanted.
  • Join the Networks. Britmums, Mumsnet, Social Fabric, Tots100 to name a few. All these networks offer opportunities to bloggers.

There you have it, my deep dive into working with brands. I hope this will give you some ideas of how you can start to work with brands, or further expand your brand work and then make sure you do a killer job.

If you want to go deeper into brand work, then you should CHECK OUT MY FREE WEBINAR – 5 STEPS TO WORKING WITH BRANDS AS A BLOGGER

Do you work with brands? Who would be your dream collaboration?

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Do you want to grow your blog and start to work with brands? Here is the complete guide, your one-stop shop

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  10. Thank you..that is a really helpful post! Some great tips! I can’t believe you haven’t been going that long, yet you are so established!! Well done you 🙂 xx

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  12. What a great post this is. I have been blogging for around 18 months and I need to take the plunge into working with more brands. I shall definitely be using some of the tips. Thank you so much x

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  13. I think most brands throw their arms up in horror at us! Seriously though I can’t understand companies who still work with bloggers (who think they are writers!) but yet those bloggers don’t know the basics when it comes to spelling, grammar and punctuation. I keep coming across blogs where the contraction of ‘you are’ is written as ‘your’ and they think a pural needs an apostrophe such as ‘photo’s’ rather than the correct version ‘photos’.

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      I think for every blogger that is as you describe, there are 10 who do a great job, work hard, invest in their blogs and have an engaged audience. That is what brands want.

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  14. Thank you for this. Only been blogging properly since December 2014 so still a newbie but just done my first review and hoping to work with more brands in the future so am going to favourite this page as love the tips x

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  16. As always Aby you have such great advice and so much for me to take notes. This newbie here really needs to learn more. lol Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme

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  19. As always I find your ‘how tos’ great, easy to follow and they are really helping me. I was writing a blog post the other day and something you had said about links in your text popped into my head. Thank you so much! I haven’t work with brands yet but I will be bookmarking this page, one day hopefully will have the opportunity to! x
    #MMWBH

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  21. Great tips as always my darling!! There’s so much on here I should be doing but haven’t. One for the old book mark 😉

    #Brilliantblogposts

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  22. Thanks for a great post. I love the fact that the blogging community seems so inclusive and that help is freely given. I have a lot to learn but what better way to learn than reading blogs?

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  23. This is so useful and I’m going to go straight back and read over it again. Gave me a couple of things to think about. Thanks for this 🙂

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  25. This is a great post. I’m not new to blogging but certainly new to any monetisation (free wordpress doesn’t allow it). Really interesting. Thx

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  26. Thanks for writing this list, I’m definitely going to work on some of these. Blogging is still a hobby for me at the moment and I’m still finding the time to make sure I post regularly but I got to work with my first brand this month and ran a competition which I loved so it’s definitely something I’d like to do more of soon! #thelist
    On a side note- I’ve linked a post but couldn’t copy the badge code on my iPad sorry xx

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      Thanks huni. Most of my stuff is still inbound (due to a lack of time) but once every 6 weeks or so I go through my Pr inbox and message most of them to see what’s about xx

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  32. some really fab tips that I need to look into more as I get more and more into this blogging. Also probably need to look into Dubai specific! But a great platform base for me to jump into!

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  33. This is so useful. I totally agree with being true to your blog and not feeling pressurised into posting something that isn’t releavent to you. This is ultimately going to devalue your blog, turning off readers and brands. Great post! #thelist

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  34. I’ve sometimes thought I should approach brands because most of the emails I get are for products that are good but not really right for me? But I never get emails from fashion or beauty brands, so maybe I should be more proactive? Great advice.

    x

    #thelist

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  35. These are really awesome tips. The ones I like the most are to make it easy for them to find your contact information and that you shouldn’t feel you have to work for free. I’m just starting growing my blog and I’ve turned down a bunch of free offers because my time is limited (new baby and working full time and all) and I need to respect my own time. Plus, I feel like if we’re asked to work for free a lot the quality of the post may suffer.

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  36. Some great tips there as always. Being professional, kind, truthful and polite are all high up there for me. People buy from people and you wouldn’t want to work with someone who is rude hey? Hence why you are always busy gorgeous, one of the nicest people anyone will meet. Xxxx

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  37. Good for you, Aby. I’m not terribly interested in working with brands at the moment, but you offer excellent advice. I have a PR background and it is about seeing yourself as a brand – so being mindful of how you project your image on social media as well as through your blog. Brilliant to see what you’ve achieved as the result of proactive pitches xx #TheList

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  38. Incredible tips! As someone who’s just turned pro as a blogger because of managing to secure much work with brands for the past 5-6 months or so, I agree with them all.

    I do pretty much most if not all of these because as you say, they work. Thanks for being so generous and sharing with others. This will help SO many bloggers.

    Confidence & self belief are the key. As you say know your worth and never be afraid to reach out and pitch to a brand. The worst they can say is no which is no bad thing at all. (And it gets much easier the more you try!)

    x

    #thelist
    #thelist

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      Thank you, I love writing these posts and don’t profess to be the most experienced blogger but I am always happy to share what I know x

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  39. Hun, the more posts I read, the more you amaze me. I can’t believe you have only been blogging ‘properly’ for 11 months! You seem to know everything you need to know. I feel so clueless sometimes. Your posts are always really clear, informative, brilliant!

    You are so right about the blogging community being supportive. When I feel I have no idea what I should be doing, I ask someone and I have always had a detailed answer to every question I have emailed a blogging friend.

    I did spot your Diet Chef pics on Instagram, so you are certainly worth their money! xxx

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      Ah thank you huni, what a lovely comment, it means a lot to me as I still feel like I am floundering around some days. The friendships is the best thing about blogging xxx

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  41. You make an excellent point about reading all press releases as you never know where they can lead. Sometimes they open the doors to new and exciting opportunities.

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  46. This post has to be one of the most useful ones I’ve ever read!!! I’ll be booking marking this one as I know I’ll be coming back to it again and again. There’s so much to do but I now have a list! Thanks for sharing this Aby, great work. #sundaystars xxx

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  47. Great tips! I’ve always found that press releases are a great way to connect with the right people for a brand you’re interested in working with.

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  48. These are great tips. Been blogging for a while, but only just tip toeing in to monetizing my blog. Hadn’t thought to follow up the blanket press releases. Get so many, but just reply with a “Thank you, but no”. Need to think out of the box. Food for thought, for sure. Thanks for sharing.

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      Thanks, glad it will be useful to you. It is a great way to make a connection, even if nothing comes of it initially x

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  49. This is a brilliant post with some great advice, I feel like I have so much to learn still! I’m a week in and have already made lots of changes bur still think I have lots to do.

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  51. Another fab post! I’ve been thinking about working with brands and how to go about it – this is really useful in ensuring my foundation is right x

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  52. Brilliant tips! You are fast becoming one of my favourite bloggers, your website is so useful thank you!

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      Hun, just be careful paying for things. You are giving them exposure, however new you are. They really should have given you the product for free xx

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