When brands contact me to work with them i am always amazed and happy. When i started EmmysBeautyCave I did it as a hobby for me to fill up time whilst I have been off work long term due to my operations. I had been blogging 6 months when I got my first PR email and it was so exciting. I have now been blogging 21 months and have learnt alot from working with PR firms and Brands. As with anything there are definitely good and bad points to working with brands and PR firms. I am doing a two part post including the Good and the Bad Sides of working with PR.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Right?
We should all be proud of our blogs, when PR companies contact you it is kind of like a pat on the back as someone is appreciating the work you do. I have worked with small and large brands and I always treat them the same. It shouldn’t matter how large or well known a brand is. PR work/Collaborations come in all kinds of forms from reviewing products to writing sponsored posts. Once a brand has contacted you make sure to keep a good conversation, keep up with timescales agreed as alot of the time the brand will come back again and work with you.
I can usually tell from a PR email whether I need to be chatty or more formal, keep it professional but on a friendly note. Ask them how they are or how the weekend went. Don’t always keep it just about blogging. You can make some great contacts through blogging which can lead to other opportunities.
How They Can Benefit You
1. Promotion | Every time you talk to a brand/pr you are promoting your blog. Every bit of promotion is in your favour. Remember to be yourself and show your personality.
2. Media Kit | I only recently made my Media Kit but it is worth it. I usually pick the top 6-10 brands I have worked with and put them in my kit. It shows new pr/brands that you have worked with others and it has gone well.
3. Contacts | Keep note of all of the PR Firms and Brands you have worked with so you can always contact them in the future to see if they would like to work with you again.
4. Followers | This isn’t the biggest thing for me as I blog as a hobby so don’t have official targets etc but when working with brands make sure to tag them on Social Media as they may retweet or tweet about your post which will bring more readers/followers to your blog and social media.
Making Money
For me not one I focus on too much, like I said my blog is a hobby not a job for me. Sometimes brands may contact you asking you to review products or promote something and in return you get the product plus a percentage of any profits made using your discount code.
Sponsored posts are a popular one, if a brand asks you to promote something on your blog and you think but what’s in it for me? Alot of bloggers will charge a fee in order to write a post on behalf of the brand. Some brands will have a post they want or will ask you to write one up on a certain topic. Each bloggers fee will vary. Some pick a fee by the amount of followers they have or the amount of readers they get per post etc…
Psst… If you do make money from your blog you do have to declare it for tax purposes. Even if you only earn a tiny amount.
“Freebies”
This is one i think is good and bad but i will include it in this post rather than the bad side. It is obvious some bloggers do it just for the freebies which is just so wrong in so many ways. When brands offer to send me products to review of course im happy i have got a free product who wouldn’t be? But that doesn’t mean i don’t put in the hard work. I spend alot of time trying to get the photo’s right and make sure the content is perfect. At the end of the day the post will tell the brand whether they want to work with you again or not. I am honored with all of the products i have received and still can’t believe some of things i get sent. I am very thankful.
As you can see there are many good things that come from working with brands/pr firms and everyone will take different things from it. Keep your eyes peeled next Wednesday as i will be posting the “Bad Side” to PR.
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