Blogging - The Dos And Don'ts Of Working With Brands

Looking to monetize your blog? Working with brands is a great way to do so. Am I ready to quit making money elsewhere in order to blog full-time? Definitely not. But along the way I have learned what works and what doesn’t when working with brands. Today I’m going to share my dos and don’ts with you.

Do A Check To Make Sure You’re Being Professional

So often I see bloggers swearing on their Instagram Stories or worse yet calling out other companies by name who have done something wrong. This is so not professional. Think about blogging like having a nine-to-five job. Would you swear at your job? Would you dress inappropriately? Would you bad mouth others? If not then don’t do it when you’re representing your blog.

Do Your Research

With the invention of the Internet, it has never been easier to get information on anything you need to know and yet people have never been lazier. I can’t count how many times I have been asked things that someone could just Google. Make sure you do your research before you contact a company to request working with them. They don’t want someone to represent them who comes across uneducated or needing hand holding.

Do Contact The Company First

I see it all the time. Bloggers who are sitting around and waiting for brands to contact them and work with them. Don’t wait! If you see someone you want to work with, contact them. Make sure to be professional and be ready with your blog information and statistics. You’ll be surprised by how many times you will get a “Yes!”.

Do Try And Be Patient

Success never comes overnight. The bloggers who are making good money have been working their butts off for many years. Getting in a flap about not making money when you been only blogging for a year is not going to help you out. What is going to help you out is posting regularly, having great content, and working prefessionally with others.

And now the don’ts.

Don’t Lie About Your Statistics

Definitely make a PR kit. There is lots of information on Google about how to put one together. However when making your kit, DO NOT lie about your blog statistics. Companies have ways of finding this information out and if you lie and they do find out, not only will that company not work with you but word will travel and you will find yourself out of many more jobs.

Don’t Over Promise

Sit down and think about what you will offer brands when working with them. Come up with something reasonable that you can provide 100% of the time. For example if you decide that what you will do for a brand includes a blog post and posting a pic to all of your social media, then that’s what you do every single time. Whatever agreement you enter into with a brand, make sure you hold up your end. I always like to go above and beyond what I promise and that has served me very well.

Don’t Get Used

Time and time again I see bloggers being taken advantage of by companies. The latest trend is “The Brand Ambassador”. Yeah that may sound really cool and official but it’s a total joke. The company wants the blogger to buy their stuff at a “discount price” and then promote said stuff for free on the blogger’s social media and their blog. So let me get this straight. Despite the “discount” the company is still making money off the blogger. Then the company gets their stuff promoted for free. Wow! That sounds great! For the company that is. What exactly is the blogger getting? Discounted product. Am I missing something here because that totally sucks! The product should be free and in a dollar amount that represents how much the blogger wishes to be paid per hour. Then and only then is it worth it. And never pay for shipping or duties.

Don’t Be Underpaid

Sadly this happens way too much! I was just approached to promote a company for a $12 product. After I received said product I’d have to post three photos on my Instagram. Oh I’d get it for free, but let’s take a look at why this is a bad idea. My photo shoot of the product would take an hour. Then I’d need to choose the best three photos. Then I’d need to edit them. Then I’d need to plan when each photo is to be posted in my Instagram schedule. Then I’d need to post each one over the next few weeks. My time spent in total for these three photos posted on my Instagram feed is approximately 2.5 hours. Take $12 and divide by 2.5 hours and you get $4.80 which is the amount I’d be making for two hours of my time. What the heck?!? That’s way less than minimum wage! Yet I see many bloggers doing this all the time. Something is dreadfully wrong here. Needless to say I turned down their offer. And you should never waste your time on such things. Know your worth and don’t settle.

Hope this helps you out when working with brands. Have I missed something important? Please let me know in the comments below. Happy blogging!