Tips & Tricks: Working With Brands & PR Agencies

To start, I have worked with countless connections, whether that be a brand or a PR agency (a marketing agency, who has multiple clients looking for influencer marketing), who have been nothing but spectacular from the very beginning.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about “The Ugly Truth: How Influencers Are Hurting Themselves”, which basically broke down my opinion of the industry as it is right now. Influencers can fall victim to a competition mindset versus building a community with their peers. This happens because of multiple different reasons, all of which are laid out in my blog (link above).

One of the key messages from that blog was that not all brands take advantage of the situation to get free advertising and promotion. Some of you reached out with questions, which inspired this blog! Taking a closer look at amazing partners there are out there. How incredible an experience can be working with a brand or PR agency who truly values your talents as a creator/influencer of your community.

Also, to strip off a little of last week’s blog as well “Money Talk: When to Charge, How, and How much?”, I am going to dive deeper into over delivering, especially when it is for a brand/pr partner who truly values you, your time, and your efforts. To respect brands/agencies, influencers and the relationship built, I am not going to name names.

To start, I have worked with countless connections, whether that be a brand or a PR agency (a marketing agency, who has multiple clients looking for influencer marketing), who have been nothing but spectacular from the very beginning. Which normally results in long lasting relationships between myself, the influencer and the brand/PR agency.

Working with a brand directly:

The bonuses to working directly with a brand is it allows you to build a deeper relationship as there is no middle man involved. There are a lot of benefits to this, as you can speak to the brand directly. They listen to your feedback and provide you with valuable feedback as well.You can give them feedback, understand their vision/ideas for the collaboration directly, but also get their feedback for you as well. Having a constant stream of communication is so key, therefore working directly with a brand is so perfect for that. 

I have worked with a few brands who are just SO invested in their relationships and who truly want to get to know you as a creator. You can tell they want the partnership to be equal, because they see you know your audience and respect you as the creative genius you are. As a result of all this they are usually open to working together to find an awesome creative brief that fits both parties needs and wants.

The key with these relationships, is you want to over deliver, EVERY TIME! Show the brand that you truly love them, their products, and their support. Trust me, they will notice and be very appreciative for it. This is how you build a strong relationship and shows the brand you want something long term. After a collaboration, send them that Final Report Email (read last week’s blog for a checklist on what to include), they will be amazed and you never know where it could go from there. To show you are invested, brainstorm some collaborative ideas for a long term partnership. Throw an out of the box awesome idea in there to really show off your value and drive home that long term partnership. 

Unfortunately, for long term brand partnership opportunities, most brands are moving towards working with full marketing agencies who handle all their advertising needs from top to bottom. However, the brands who are doing it in house see the value in building great relationships that positively enhance their business moving forward.

Working with a PR Agency (working through the PR agency, for the brand):

Relationships with PR Agencies are just as important but for different reasons! A PR Agency, as mentioned above, is a marketing agency/influencer marketing agency that works with numerous clients all at once. Picture something like a team running the marketing and advertising for Nike, Coca Cola, and Samsung, all under one roof. Now having a connection with a place like that…would be INSANE!

Most PR agencies operate like this, they represent and run full marketing campaigns for multiple clients (brands), so there is a HUGE opportunity for you. Building a great relationship with somebody at an agency can open up an array of one-off collaborations for yourself with different brands. A lot of agencies are also starting to drive home the power behind long term partnerships to their clients, so there will be more potential for those through PR agencies as time passes.

From my experience, I have worked with multiple agencies that I have been able to build strong relationships with. We have now run multiple campaigns through a number of their clients and has made life a lot easier for both sides. So let me share our secret for success…

If you can supply them with:

  • Great content
  • Strong exposure
  • Quick responses
  • Being proactive with sending them everything they need
  • AND, they do not have to follow up and chase you

…you will be building yourself a strong partnership. If you follow this simple checklist you can trust me they are going to keep coming back to you because you run a smooth campaign and make them look good to the brand.

Try and even discuss doing monthly or quarterly calls with your contact so that you stay at the top of their mind. Follow your contact on socials and send emails about a trip they went on or something they saw or did. Build a strong relationship with that person and I am sure they will want to keep choosing you.

Contacts for a lifetime

I can tell you that this industry, marketing and advertising in general, has a lot of turn over. These amazing people work long hours and are often at the office long after you have submitted your content for approval. This can lead to them getting burnt out, but trust me, they are going to end up somewhere else, where you can most likely continue to work with them and in turn expand your opportunities/relationships to another agency. 

If you hear of one of your connections leaving their current position, reach out to them and say congrats on their new endeavour, get their new contact info, and make sure you ask to be introduced to who is replacing them. You have spent months building on a relationship with a brand, you do not want all of that to go down the drain when that person leaves. It is even more important when it comes to a PR agency, because you do not have direct relationships with the brands themselves. MAKE SURE you get those contacts and follow up with your old one once they get to their new location/job.

These people are killing (working HARD!) it all day everyday, so give them the recognition they deserve at the end of a partnership or every once and a while. If you find yourself lucky enough to have a strong connection with someone, who you work with a lot, or even someone who just made things so easy for a great campaign, do NOT be afraid to send them a little thank you at their office. Letting someone know you appreciate them and recognize their hard work will go along way, but also will boost your relationship with them moving forward.

In closing, after my blog a few weeks ago, I think I may have scared everyone a bit saying that a few brands and PR Agencies are harder to work with and are exploiting the industry. I wanted to write this because more often than not, you are going to end up with an amazing person at a brand or a PR agency, who is going to be fantastic to work with.

To clarify, referencing my last blog, there is a clear distinction between the financial side of the job and the relationship side. Nine times out of ten you will have the opportunity to work with an amazing person at a brand or PR agency. The reality is from the top down perspective, financially it makes sense for a brand/PR agency to take advantage of/exploit the industry. But, let me be clear, this is not to discredit the hard working people from the brands or PR agency and all the potential incredible partnerships that will come from those people.

Remember to always treat them well, because they have the power to keep bringing you back and it will also help move every partnership by smoother if you put yourself in their shoes and find a way to make things work.

Let me know in the comments some amazing brand or PR agencies you have worked with, and why your experience with them was/is so special!

I think we will take next week off, since it is Christmas in two days and we will all be spending time with our families and loved ones. Happy holidays to everyone and I will see you all in the new year![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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