Latest / Influencer Confidential / Planning Your 2025 Brand Collabs: How to Start Strong with New Year Partnerships #233

Transcript

Planning Your 2025 Brand Collabs: How to Start Strong with New Year Partnerships #233 · Influencer Confidential

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: in this influencer industry and see behind the currentin Well,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: let's jump in. Hey everyone, I mean Azeta a Sidewalker Daily.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about planning out your brand collapse
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: for the new year. This is going to take some
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: foresight and some work, and that is what we're going
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: to do now. We can't plan twenty twenty five without
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: reflecting on twenty twenty four. I'm gonna go ahead and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: just leave this little worksheet here that we did in
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: case you guys want to do it this time, because
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I think again, getting into any sort of new year stuff,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: you want to take a second to pause and reflect, right.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: You want to reflect on the brand partnerships that did well,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the ones that didn't, What could you have done better
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: with them? Right? So reflection is a key element of
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: planning for the new year. So if you do want
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: this little worksheet so that you guys can work through
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: it on your own, It's all about reflecting end of year.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite end of year practices. So
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I'll go ahead and leave that worksheet for you guys
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: if you want to access it. When it comes to
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: brand partnerships, though and reflection, I want you to really
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: dive into again, want made that partnership successful? What were
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: sim key metrics? What were the best partnerships that you did?
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Take the time go in your feed wherever you're doing
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: these partnerships and pause and they not just what were
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the best paying ones, but which ones performed the best?
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: And also ask yourself which were the best paying ones
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: and how do I go back to those clients in
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the new year. This is a very important step for
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five planning because it's going to give us
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: insights as to what worked and what did it Now.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: The next thing I want is to do after we reflect. Now,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I got to get into writing things out. I want
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: you to define your twenty twenty five vision. I want
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you to set clear goals, clear goals around income, clear
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: goals around the types of partnerships you're looking for. Are
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: you looking to do more UGC style work? Are you
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: looking to do more sponsored content on your page? What
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: type of industries do you want to get into. This
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: is where you got to get crystal clear, y'all, to
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: visualize what twenty twenty five brand deals are going to
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: look like so you can execute on the goals that
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: you've set. Ask yourself, what are some brands that align
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: with your current niche? Right? Because the first step in
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the pitching process is list generating brands you want to
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: work with. Now here's the thing. A lot of creators
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: fall short when they generate their list because they only
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: create lists of brands in their niche. I have this
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: awesome story that always kind of sticks with me. There's
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: this travel influence that I'm working with, and she told
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: me her highest paid brand deal of twenty twenty four was,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: wait for it, a popcorn company. Was at least a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: five figure brand deal twenty thousand dollars plus. And she's
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: in travel, but she's working with a popcorn company. So remember,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: when you are kind of deciding the types of brands
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: you want to work with, don't just stick and limit
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: yourself to the brands that are in your niche. Again,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: in this travel popcorn example, it was quite easy for
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: her to be like, ask someone who travels, I always
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: want to give my kids healthy snacks this popcorn company,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: YadA YadA, YADDI Right, So she was able to integrate
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a brand that is not in her niche into her
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: existing content seamlessly and authentically. And those are the best
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: types of partnerships. We'll dive a little bit deeper into
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: lists generating in a minute, but this is kind of
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: that part of the process where I want you to
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: really outline again that income that you're looking to generate
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: and kind of work backwards, and I'm a partnerships that
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you would need to achieve it. Now, if twenty twenty five,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: is there a year that you're ready to get into
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the arena, start pitching brands and start getting paid brand deals,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: you were going to want to come to my next
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: free live training on how to land paid brand deals. Y'all.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: This is a signature training we do here at Sidewalker.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: It's free, it's live. It's going to blow your socks
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: off because we go into so many examples. I do
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: role plays, I share my screen. You're going to learn
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a lot, So make sure you sign up blow to
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: see the next time that we're hosting this training. We
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: host them all the time, so I definitely want you
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to join us at the next one. You will not
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: regret it. Now, the third thing you must have done,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I mean this is a non negotiable here at Sidewalker Daily.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: In order to see success in brand deals is you
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: got to have your media kits in y'all. You know,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: on this channel, I drill it home and I drill
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: it home because a media kit is not just a
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: little document you send to brands. A media kit is
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: a revenue generated for creators. It is a sales tool.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: It is what you send to land the interview and
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: what do I mean by interview, the call, the opportunity
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to talk with the brands that you want to and
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: send them a proper proposal. That's why we're talking high
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: four figures, you know, five figure brand partnerships. They don't
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: happen over email. And the media kit is that first
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: item that a brand sees about you and it reflects you.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: So twenty twenty five, if you're planning at your partnerships,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: go and update that media kit. Make sure it is relevant.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Does it have the updated stats, updated partnerships? What does
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: that look like? Updated photos? Y'all? I was working with
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: a creator, Tell me why her media kit still had
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: photos of her kids looking four or five years old
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: when her kids are now like seven and ten years old.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: The kids don't look the same. Those are not the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: same children on her media kit, and she was pitching it,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and that is a missed opportunity because, again, me being
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: on the hotel side, I know, sometimes we are looking
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: for influencers with very specific talent looks like I'll be like,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I need a family that has children under five because
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I want them to test out the new toddlerpool. If
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: your media kit shows that your kids look five but
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: your kids are actually ten and twelve, it's misleading and
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: it's a waste of time. So please, please please make
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: sure your media kit is fresh and up to date
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: as you enter the new year. Do not forget to
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: avoid including your rates. Y'all we're not doing that this year, right,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: We're not including our rates in our media kits because
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: the type of partnerships you want to generate are bigger,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: higher paying, and you don't know the budget that these
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: brands have. I have seen many of these budgets, and
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: let me tell you they are big, and you are
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: missing out by putting your rates in those media kits.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: So we're not going to do that this year. Okay, Now,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: we did talk about the importance about when we're planning
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: out our brand collaborations, about putting our hit lists together
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: right the brands we want to work with. I mentioned
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: that a lot of times creators will just only partner
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: with brands in their niche. They're not thinking big enough.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: This is a huge missed opportunity. But one thing that
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I want you guys to also is not forget the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: local brands. Everyone wants to work with the First Seasons
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and Delta and you know, these big companies. But for
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: every big company, there are smaller localized companies that also
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: need you, Especially my UGC creators, anyone that's creating content
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: for brands, anyone that's creating social media style content for
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: brands target that local market, y'all. They need you guys too.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: It's not just the big brands. Obviously, when you're putting
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: your list together, you can obviously include those dream brand partnerships.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: But for every dream brand, I want you to also
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: think about the competitors in that space. I want you
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: to think about, you know, more mid tier brands, local brands,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: brands that maybe you've already worked with brands that you
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: have a better shot of getting into because you have
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: a person you know in commons. You know, really think
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: about putting your hit lists together more strategically by pitching
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: your brand's master course students, y'all know that this is
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: step one. We got a list gen so that we
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: can then go find their contacts and send them pitches.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: But for y'all, if you're trying to get organized in
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: your brand partnerships for twenty twenty five, you got to
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: put together your hit list and to ensure that you're
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: sending out a good quality of pitches. Because at the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: end of the day, it is a quantity game as
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: much as it as as it is quality. So what
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: I mean by that, you know, if you're sending three
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: to five pitches a month, that's not enough. It's like
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: doing three to five sit ups at the gym and
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: expecting a six pack. It's not going to happen. You
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: really need to be putting effort towards this. Again, this
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: is exactly what we do teach in our program. If
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: you want a deep dive, it's thirty plus hours of
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: video and audio training. This is what I eat, breathe,
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: and live y'all. So I'll leave a link to our
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: pitching program if you want to learn more, if you're
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: ready to take that leap and actually do this for real,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: real now, remember do not sleep on your past partners.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: There's this really interesting balance between acquisition and retention. I
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: know that sounds like fancy, but it's really just saying,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: like new people and old people, right, there are a
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: lot everyone wants new partners. A big thing that I
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: teach is how do we maintain those old partnerships right?
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: How do we take a partnership that paid us for
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: three reels and get them to commit to three months.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: How do we expand on our current partners versus always
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: just thinking about new brands, new brands, new brands, new brands.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: So please, please, please don't sleep on your past partners
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: and even the gifted collab partners, the brands that have
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: not paid you but they've given you stuff for free.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Those are like the sitting ducks, because those are the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: people that you can go after. They already know you exist.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Now you're going to send them your updated media kit.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: You're going to ask them potentially to get on a
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: call and to see what they're working on and really
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: sell them a really nice package of either content or influence.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: So do not sleep when you are putting that list
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: together of going back to old partners Entering twenty twenty five.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: If you're planning out your collabs, this is where we
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: are cleaning up shop, right, We're building out our lists,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: we're updating our media kids. Something that a lot of
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: creators don't do until they work with me is take
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: time to get their testimonials together. I know it feels weird,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: but one thing that my program really stresses is that
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: you are a professional and this is a business, and
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: testimonials help any business thrive. So as a creator, if
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: you can be like oh, the marketing director of this
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: company said, I was amazing to work with and I
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: was a professional and I delivered X y Z, that's
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: going to help you. That's going to help your cause.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: So this can be the perfect time as you're planning
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: out your collaborations to go and get those testimonials of
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: past partners so that it can help you when you
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: are doing that active outbound pitching. Remember, y'all, Around eighty
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: three percent of US marketers are doing influencer marketing in
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four and that number is expected to grow
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: in the new year. It's not going away. This is
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the future of marketing. Consumers trust influencers, that's how they
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: get their information. So if this is something that you're
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: truly serious about, take the time to do what we
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: discussed to set you up for success in the new year.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: This is always like the work that people don't like
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: to do. It's like the behind the scenes stuff like
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: putting your list together right, or cleaning up your media kit,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: or getting those testimonials, or getting clear about your goals.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Like that's some work that people are like, no, I
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: don't want to But again, when you treat yourself like
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: a business, you'll start to see those results. And last,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: but not least, one thing that you can do that
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: I think will help you plan out your collabs is
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: also think about the content you want to make in
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Q one. Now, I'm not telling you to batch create content,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: but I'm telling you to think strategically what will the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: first quarter of your twenty twenty five look like from
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: a content perspective, so that you can then pitch to
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: brands that makes sense with the content you're already gonna do.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: This is an overlook strategy that creators tend to treat
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: these two spaces they separate them. They're like, pitching is
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: this and content is this, and I'm here to tell
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: you that they are very intertwined. The content you create
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: will affect the brand deals that you get and vice versa.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: So if you want to be strategic, really take some
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: time to plan out what's the content you want to
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: make in the new year, so that way you can
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: reach out to brands that make sense with your content strategy.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: I know it all makes sense. I hope you enjoyed
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: today's episode. If you did, make sure to rate, review,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and subscribe to our show and visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: for more resources on all is influencer marketing, and social media.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Until next time,