Through documenting, strategically sharing my travels, and creating passive income streams over the years, I’ve gained first hand experience about the business side of content creation. It is through my own journey that I have been able to create a roadmap to help ask the right questions, grow my brand and business, and continuously create value for my audience. This focus has helped me leverage my platform, thereby attracting brand collaborations and sponsorships I never in my wildest dreams would have expected. So after receiving countless messages and emails from others who want to do the same, I’ve decided to start sharing more strategic resources for you: an aspiring content creator at the beginning level of your journey, who is ready to take a leap of faith and build a business that is rooted in passion and purpose.
Second in this series: how to write a stellar cold pitch that secures partnerships!
The goal of your email pitch should be to introduce yourself, get on the brand’s radar, and impress them with the work you’ve already done so that they agree to work with you. You don’t want to send a super long email (no one will read it), list every statistic/achievement you’ve received from your last five clients, link all the press you’ve ever gotten, or go on endlessly about how fantastic you are. Instead focus on introducing yourself, communicating why you are a great fit for their brand, and what value they stand to gain from working with you in a concise way.
It should be short, to the point, and position you as an expert. Here’s a checklist of what to include:
Your name, the name of your blog and a quick description of what it’s about.
Why you’re interested in working with them specifically & possibly examples of content where you’ve featured their brand in the past (so they know it’s an authentic fit).
A specific idea (or ideas) of how you’d like to work with them. This could be a sponsored blog/vlog post, sponsored social posts, an event — whatever it is, be clear on your idea and offer specific content themes as well.
A media kit that includes basic information about your following, demographic, and other metrics (number of monthly page views & unique visitors your blog receives as well as your social following, other recognizable/relevant brands you’ve worked with, notable press or features you’ve received, etc).
In terms of budget, wait until they respond to your initial email before sending your rates. Just be sure you use the word “sponsored” in your initial email to imply that you require compensation.
Provide links (to your social, website, etc) within your email they can easily refer to.
For reference, here is one of the exact email templates I sent out when pitching (and ultimately securing) a few luxury hotel partnerships ahead of a recent trip.
Sample Cold Pitch Email:
Hello _____
My name is Lee and I'm the blogger and content creator behind Spirited Pursuit, where I focus on travel and lifestyle for adventurous travelers seeking rich experiences.
I'm currently traveling long-term and planning a trip to (CITY/COUNTRY) in (MONTH), so I wanted to reach out and introduce myself as I would love to partner with (NAME OF BRAND) on sponsored blog and social media posts. I work with brands, hotels, publishers, and tourism boards in a creative capacity and offer exceptional content creation, high social media engagement, blog posts with links to each featured piece, and high-res imagery as collateral.
To get a better understanding of the kind of content I create, I invite you to view my media kit here (LINKED). I would love to continue the conversation on how we can work together, would you be interested?
Warm Regards,
Lee
Other Key Things to Remember:
Use an appropriate subject line. Be sure to pair the email with subject line that won’t be ignored. Something like “Content Partnership: Spirited Pursuit x BRAND NAME” has always gotten me great results.
Be professional. This should go without saying, but make sure to remember that you’re not sending a casual/personal text or DM to a friend. Be yourself, use your tone and voice but always keep it professional. Correct grammar, spelling, minimal slang. I would avoid things like: emojis, xo at the end of emails, acronyms and abbreviations. Remember this is a business even if you are discussing social media.
Follow up. There’s a great Google extension called Streak you can use to monitor when people open your email, if at all. If no one has opened it yet, send a follow up email after 7 days saying something like, “Hey There! I wanted to follow up and bring this to the top of your inbox. Looking forward to hearing from you.” If they have opened it, send a follow up 3 days after they open and send a more detailed vision of what kind of campaign you would like to work together on and ask what they think. Anyone who has an onslaught of emails or just uses their inbox as their to-do list (*raises hand*) knows that it can make your life so much easier when people follow up and are proactive to keep you on top of things. I’ve let important emails fall through the cracks in the past and would have missed out on great opportunities if my contact didn’t follow up. You’re not being annoying, you’re making sure that your voice is being heard.
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