Collaborations. How to approach brands and what to say
Collaborations. How to approach brands and what to say.
Want to collaborate?
The most successful brands collaborate, not compete. One way to grow your lash business is to reach out to brands for collaboration opportunities. Collaborations are a great opportunity to not only grow your social following but to also help the brand build awareness.
Thinking about reaching out to a brand for a collaboration? Here are our tips on how to approach and what to say:
Who to approach.
So you’ve found a brand you would love to collaborate with, but who do you approach to start the conversation? You need to be looking out for job titles such as ‘PR contact’, ‘Press Team’ or ‘Social Media Manager’. These are the people who will most likely manage collaborations or influencer campaigns. Sometimes their contact details can be found on the company website, or sometimes it can take a little more digging. If you can’t find their email address, the next option is to message the general company email (usually found on the ‘contact us’ page on the website). Explain why you’re getting in touch and ask if they can pass your inquiry onto the relevant contact.
How to approach
Once you’ve found your contact, you then need to reach out to them. Email is the best way to do this, it’s quick, professional and easy. Brands receive hundreds of messages through social media, so by sending an email you can go directly to the person and will have more chances of receiving a response. This also shows you have put in the time to put the email together and find the relevant person instead of just sliding into the DM’s on Instagram.
What to say.
When starting your pitch for a collaboration, you need to be concise, start with a short catchy subject line to get the attention of the person reading. Put forward an idea of how you want to collaborate, what products you want to include and how you want to execute this, will it be on Facebook, Instagram or your blog? What products would you like to include and why should the brand choose to collaborate with you over anyone else. Explain what you hope to deliver for the brand and what you are hoping for in return.
By including these details, this saves a lot of back and forth between you and the brand contact. Brands want to see how this collaboration will help build their brand awareness. Make sure to include direct links to your social media channels (make sure these aren’t private). Include your stats (followers, engagement, monthly views, audience demographics) and most importantly state why you think you would be a good fit for the brand. Brand collaborations are a two-way thing, it’s all about what the brand can gain but also what you can too.
Do your research and be realistic.
Tailor each email to the brand you are approaching, brands can tell if an email has been copied and pasted over and over. So be genuine, mention a recent campaign they have produced or new product launch. Have you used their products before? – If so, mention this in the email! Brands want to collaborate with people who are genuinely passionate about their products and services. It’s also important to be realistic, you wouldn’t go and purchase a lash product if you weren’t qualified in lashes or have them done yourself. So why would you approach a lash brand for collaboration if you don’t know what products they sell or the audience they target?
How to end.
Close your pitch by saying something like ‘thank-you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you’ This ends the proposal on a positive and opens the conversation for a reply. You may hear back straight away, but if you don’t there nothing wrong in sending a polite follow-up email a few days after.
We hope this blog post has been helpful and provided some insight into how to approach brands for collaboration opportunities. Don’t be afraid to reach out – remember it’s about collaboration not competition!
Team LashBase
