Latest / Influencer Confidential / How Influencers Turn 'No' Into Brand Deals & Opportunities #223

Transcript

How Influencers Turn 'No' Into Brand Deals & Opportunities #223 · Influencer Confidential

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
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  Speaker 1: Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
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  Speaker 1: working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
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  Speaker 1: Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
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  Speaker 1: in this influencer industry and see behind the current, Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's jump in. Rejection in the creator economy is really, really,
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  Speaker 1: really normal, and it's something that as much as we
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  Speaker 1: want to normalize, it still hurts. So many creators are creative,
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  Speaker 1: and creatives have an attachment to their work, and it's
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  Speaker 1: normal to personalize it. So many of us feel like
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  Speaker 1: if a brand says no to us, it's us that
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  Speaker 1: they're saying no too, because they don't like our work,
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  Speaker 1: and it's this personalization that we do, when in fact,
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  Speaker 1: I'm here to free you from that and tell you
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  Speaker 1: it may have absolutely nothing to do with you. What
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  Speaker 1: I want to talk about today is what to do
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  Speaker 1: when a brand says no, and how to turn that
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  Speaker 1: rejection into opportunity, because with every no, there could be
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  Speaker 1: a silver lining. Now, before I share some strategies to
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  Speaker 1: turn those nose into future opportunities, I do just want
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  Speaker 1: to give you, guys an analogy to help set the tone. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: imagine you're going into a shoe store and you're walking
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  Speaker 1: around and you see shoes and you're like, do I
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  Speaker 1: want a pair of shoes? Now? Depending on where you're at,
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  Speaker 1: well determine if you're going to make a purchase or not.
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  Speaker 1: If you walk in their barefoot and you are desperate,
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  Speaker 1: you're gonna probably leave with a pair of shoes, right,
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  Speaker 1: But what if you're just browsing and you don't really
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  Speaker 1: want any end up shoes? There's nothing the salesperson can
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  Speaker 1: say at the end of the day to get you
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  Speaker 1: to buy the shoes, right, You're just kind of like,
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  Speaker 1: I don't really know. There's also times that you may
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  Speaker 1: not have the money. You're like, I love those shoes,
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  Speaker 1: I really really want those shoes, but you just don't
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  Speaker 1: have the money. And what I kind of want to
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  Speaker 1: set the tone when I share this story is that
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  Speaker 1: you could be offering your services to a brand and
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  Speaker 1: they just maybe like the shoe store. It does not
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  Speaker 1: mean they're going to always buy. And that's why I
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  Speaker 1: always tell the creators that are in my one on
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  Speaker 1: ones or in my pitching program that a lot of
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  Speaker 1: outreach really depends on quantity. If you're talking to two
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  Speaker 1: or three brands a month, of course, getting a no
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  Speaker 1: is going to sting. It comes down to numbers. If
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  Speaker 1: you're pitching around forty brands a month, thirty brands a month,
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  Speaker 1: twenty brands a month, we're able to get some data.
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  Speaker 1: We're able to start to see, Okay, why are they
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  Speaker 1: saying no? Are their common patterns? Am I you know
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  Speaker 1: my media kit strong enough? Is my pitch solid? Am
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  Speaker 1: I pitching the right person? All of these things come
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  Speaker 1: to play. So before we even talk about turning these
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  Speaker 1: nos into yeses, I want you to really self examine
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  Speaker 1: and self reflect. What's a quantity that you're even pitching
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  Speaker 1: and do you even have data to reflect on and
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  Speaker 1: to review regarding your pitching strategy. To also remember that
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  Speaker 1: sometimes it's just not you, and that at the moment
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  Speaker 1: they may not have budget, but those things change. I
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  Speaker 1: actually tell the creators that I work with. I'm working
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  Speaker 1: with this girl right now and we got a no.
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  Speaker 1: We got a no from a brand we're pitching it.
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  Speaker 1: And I told her that's a good thing. And she's like,
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  Speaker 1: why is that a good thing? I'm like, because that
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  Speaker 1: means we can market as a no and follow up
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  Speaker 1: with them in three months with something else. She was like,
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  Speaker 1: we can. I'm like, yes, pitching a brand, you don't
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  Speaker 1: just have to pitch a brand once, right, You can
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  Speaker 1: repitch them with a different idea down the road. That's
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  Speaker 1: the first tip I want to share with you. I
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  Speaker 1: want to remove the pressure that if you pitch a
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  Speaker 1: brand once, you can never pitch them again. It's absolutely
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  Speaker 1: not true. When I worked on the PR side, we
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  Speaker 1: would pitch to the editors of the New York Times
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  Speaker 1: monthly orderly for our clients. We're always trying to get
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  Speaker 1: them in the New York Times right, and the editors
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  Speaker 1: many times would just be like this isn't the right fit,
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  Speaker 1: or not respond or say no thank you, this isn't it.
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  Speaker 1: But all it takes is just one concept that they do. Like,
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  Speaker 1: So to make it like creator language, let's just say
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  Speaker 1: you pitch something and the brand is like no, thanks, no,
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  Speaker 1: I don't really need it. And actually this happened to
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  Speaker 1: one of my creators. This was a hotel property and
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  Speaker 1: they got rid of all their straws on the property.
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  Speaker 1: They're like a straw free, plastic free or whatever property. Now,
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  Speaker 1: so this creator's pitched this hotel many times. Only she
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  Speaker 1: pitched them and said, I noticed that you're no longer
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  Speaker 1: using straws, but all your marketing materials ship straws. Can
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  Speaker 1: I come in and take some content and shoot it? Boom?
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  Speaker 1: That's what hit, That's what they wanted, that's what they needed.
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  Speaker 1: So the biggest tip here is to change the pitch,
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  Speaker 1: change the angle. That is how you can pitch the
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  Speaker 1: same brand multiple times because you're not coming to them
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  Speaker 1: every time like with the same pitch, like Hi, I'm this, No,
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  Speaker 1: you're like shooting different shots, different angles. The second tip
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  Speaker 1: I think is really important to get a know into
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity is to understand what it is that the
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  Speaker 1: brand wants. Doing this on email is hard. All my
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  Speaker 1: pitching a brand's master Corse students know how I push
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  Speaker 1: them to get on calls with brands. I'm like, y'all
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  Speaker 1: need to get on a calls and I prep them
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  Speaker 1: for this because that is where we can find out
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  Speaker 1: what we need to refine. So the second big tip
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  Speaker 1: is refining the pitch, right, it's getting to understand what
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  Speaker 1: the brand really wants. You may be pitching Instagram, but
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  Speaker 1: they don't have an Instagram budget, but they may have
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  Speaker 1: a TikTok one. How are you going to find that
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  Speaker 1: out on email? No, you got to get these brands
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  Speaker 1: on calls and you have to be able to ask
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  Speaker 1: the right questions to get them to give you that information. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you already have our pitching program, you guys know
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  Speaker 1: that we have the brand call role play in there.
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  Speaker 1: You can go ahead and watch that, you guys, so
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  Speaker 1: that you can see that back and forth and the
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  Speaker 1: questions you should be asking on calls to get this information.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're a creator who has not enrolled yet
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  Speaker 1: but wants to learn more about our Pitching a Brand's
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  Speaker 1: master course, I will leave a link below. This is
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  Speaker 1: a program designed to help you land paid brand deals period.
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  Speaker 1: End of story. That is the focus of this course
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  Speaker 1: purely monetization on the brand deals and sponsorship side, and
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  Speaker 1: I will leave more information below. Now, I also think
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  Speaker 1: if you have a good rapport with this brand and
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  Speaker 1: they end up saying no, depending how this is, if
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  Speaker 1: you're on the call with them and you have a
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  Speaker 1: post call, you could ask them for feedback. You could
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  Speaker 1: be like no worries, Like I absolutely get it, Like
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  Speaker 1: is there any feedback as to why we were able
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  Speaker 1: to move forward, and they can tell you, yeah, we
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  Speaker 1: don't have budget, or the idea is not solid enough,
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  Speaker 1: or you know, we're moving in a different direction or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe they make an excuse, maybe they tell you the truth.
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  Speaker 1: But again, your job as a professionalist to find that out. Now.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot stress this enough. If you're a creator and
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  Speaker 1: you're pitching and you're getting a no, please do not
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  Speaker 1: burn that bridge. Keep those doors open. You never know
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  Speaker 1: if you're gonna need them again. I recently had a
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  Speaker 1: creator who pitched a sponsorship, the brand said no. She
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  Speaker 1: ended up posting like a blogger brunch. Six months later,
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  Speaker 1: went to the same brand and asked them if they
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  Speaker 1: wanted to sponsor this brunch and they said yes. So
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  Speaker 1: you never know when you're gonna need these people in
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  Speaker 1: the future. You never know what type of opportunities you
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  Speaker 1: may be working on. So just because they say no,
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  Speaker 1: it does not mean you can't keep those doors open.
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  Speaker 1: You know, finding them on LinkedIn, connecting with them there. Again,
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  Speaker 1: depending on how you know this person, you continue to
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  Speaker 1: network and continue to keep them in your loop. I
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  Speaker 1: always think that is one of the best ways to
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  Speaker 1: turn that no into future opportunity. You can also just
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  Speaker 1: be very forward and say, understand this isn't the right moment,
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  Speaker 1: but please you keep me in mind for future opportunities,
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  Speaker 1: or is there a way I could be added to
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  Speaker 1: a certain list, or just telling them, you know, let
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  Speaker 1: me know if anything changes, I'd be happy to work
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  Speaker 1: with you in the future. I had a creator who
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  Speaker 1: was pitching a really big, big, big property luxury hotel,
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  Speaker 1: and he pitched them once, followed up, followed up, followed up, nothing,
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  Speaker 1: and then pitched them again six months later and they
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  Speaker 1: said yes. At that time they didn't need someone. But
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  Speaker 1: things change. So remember things are always changing internally for
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  Speaker 1: these clients as well, So it's up to you to
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  Speaker 1: also like keep them in the loop, keep that door open,
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  Speaker 1: and kind of touch base with these brands to see
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  Speaker 1: what is happening internally. If there's a brand that you
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  Speaker 1: are really excited about, I really want to be kept
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  Speaker 1: in the loop, put a Google alert up for that
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  Speaker 1: brand so you can know what is relevant, what is happening.
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  Speaker 1: Because even if you've got no maybe you want to
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  Speaker 1: go and pitch them again and you find out that
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  Speaker 1: they're launching a new color palette or whatever they're launching something.
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  Speaker 1: You can use that information in your pitch now. One
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  Speaker 1: of the biggest questions I get asked constantly is do
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  Speaker 1: you know what happens if a brand says yes, but
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  Speaker 1: they can't pay me. It's kind of like a no right.
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  Speaker 1: It kind of feels like that rejection. Well, I actually
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  Speaker 1: share what to say and I read a pitch out
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  Speaker 1: loud in my free live training how to land paid
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  Speaker 1: brand deals. This is a free training that I host.
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  Speaker 1: It is live. I will share with you what to
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  Speaker 1: say to those brands when they say they don't have
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  Speaker 1: budgets so that you can pivot that free offer into
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  Speaker 1: a paid one. If you're a creator that wants to
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  Speaker 1: get paid brand deals, whether you're already getting paid and
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  Speaker 1: you want to get paid more, or you're just getting started,
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  Speaker 1: I highly recommend you come to this training. They're super fun,
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  Speaker 1: they're very interactive, they're hosted by me, and they're full
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  Speaker 1: of valuable information. So make sure you come and join
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  Speaker 1: us at one of our free live trainings and you
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  Speaker 1: can hear me read that pitch out louds so you
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  Speaker 1: know what to say when a brand comes to you
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  Speaker 1: offering you something for free. Now something I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: share is really interesting. This creator did this recently. This
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  Speaker 1: is one of my coaching clients. She has a newsletter
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  Speaker 1: and when she gets to know from a brand, she's like, no, like,
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  Speaker 1: is it okay? You know, after some conversations with them,
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  Speaker 1: can I add you to my newsletter? And some brands
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  Speaker 1: would say yeah, sure, go ahead. And in this branded newsletter,
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  Speaker 1: she would only send it out to people on the
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  Speaker 1: brand side. She would say future wins, so it was
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  Speaker 1: like a monthly or maybe every other week where she
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  Speaker 1: was like, wins of the week. You know, this is
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  Speaker 1: what I've been working on, this is what I've done,
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  Speaker 1: this is what I've had And again, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: creators do this on LinkedIn, but you could also do
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  Speaker 1: this as something that you like fill in these brand partners.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's an interesting like newsletter approach because it's
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  Speaker 1: very like B to B. It's very direct to brand.
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  Speaker 1: It's not to your follower, but it's to the brands
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  Speaker 1: that you have rapport with and you want to keep
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  Speaker 1: them up to date on like your monthly wins and
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  Speaker 1: your monthly milestones and growth. And she said that when
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  Speaker 1: she would send those emails, people would respond being like,
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  Speaker 1: oh my god, congratulations, like, we'd love to see what
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  Speaker 1: you're working on this month. So it was a really
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  Speaker 1: interesting way to get those brands to respond to her. Again, y'all,
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  Speaker 1: pitching is what I do. It is my secret sauce.
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  Speaker 1: So if you are a creator and you want to pitch,
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  Speaker 1: you know, there's so many things that we can do
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  Speaker 1: here at Sidewalker to help you, whether it's our programs
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  Speaker 1: are working with me one on one, the sky's the limit.
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  Speaker 1: I love doing this. I love getting in and sending
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  Speaker 1: those pitches out and turning those nose into yeses. So
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  Speaker 1: I think that there's always opportunity. It's just about being strategic.
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  Speaker 1: It's about networking. I'm a huge, puh, huge, huge proponent
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  Speaker 1: of in person networking. I can't stress that enough. Stop
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  Speaker 1: hiding behind the computer, stop hiding behind your screen. Get
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  Speaker 1: in person, Meet people in person, Vibe with them, let
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  Speaker 1: them feel your energy, let them see your face, let
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  Speaker 1: them remember you. A lot of people that are in
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  Speaker 1: the decision making role are not young gen z internet
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  Speaker 1: phone people. They're old school, right. They value that human
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  Speaker 1: connection still, So speak to them in their language, find
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  Speaker 1: them where they want to be found. Right, So, in
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  Speaker 1: person networking is a great way to turn, you know,
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  Speaker 1: those nose into future opportunities because a brand may say no,
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  Speaker 1: and then you meet them in person, and then they
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  Speaker 1: vibe with you, they like you, they see what you're doing,
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  Speaker 1: and then they want to work with you. I've seen
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  Speaker 1: this happen time and time again. I hope you enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: today's episode. If you did, make sure to rate, review,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to our show and visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: for more resources on all things influencer, marketing and social media.
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  Speaker 1: Until next time,