Watch the full webinar here
Thank you to everyone who joined our "How to Market Your Blog for Collaborations" Webinar! It was so great to see some familiar faces, and meet all of you. Shrpa is thrilled to work with you in the future!
For those of you who weren't able to attend the webinar, feel free to watch the webinar and follow along with the notes taken below! We hope to see you at future webinars.
Webinar Notes:
What is Shrpa?
- Your ultimate guide for planning and sharing day trips
- We want to highlight what you can do around your own community and communities in the Midwest
How it works:
- In an easy to use format, Shrpa adventures lay out places to go, describes what to expect, and lists what to bring.
- Our map feature allows users to easily access the adventure for driving and exploring purposes
- By “exploring” the adventure, travelers can see what there is to do at each stop, get a “pro-tip” for extra advice, view any photos taken, and access the address and website of each location
Shrpa and Communities:
- We love communities at Shrpa!
- Communities purchase a Shrpa subscription and then have access to our Shrpa Network
- Shrpa contacts a travel writer/blogger to create adventures in that community
- Travel influencers are compensated for going on Shrpa adventures!
How can Shrpa benefit you?
- We want to introduce your blog to a new, and bigger audience!
- Get paid for going on your own adventures
- Meet and collaborate with new bloggers and communities
- Be an early influencer on the next hot platform
The Next Steps with Shrpa
- Create and account on shrpa.com
- Create 3+ adventures
- Join the Shrpa network! You can do so > here
If you have any questions, reach out to hannah@shrpa.com
Kristen – @ExpeditionKristen, ExpeditionKristen.com
Kristen explores Minnesota and focuses on adventures you can take around the state. She has a career in marketing and communications and has a master’s in marketing. She moved here about 10 years ago and has enjoyed exploring the state ever since.
Her Learning and Success Story
Learning: Bots are bad
- Will be unprofessional when address you
- Their form of “collab” is a way to get you to purchase clothing from their company and offer a discount code for followers
- Be aware of these bots and know the red flags
Success: You’re never too small, just ask
At 200 followers, Kristen was able to get a collab with a bigger local MN blogger and a clothing company. Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there and try.
How do you find the right companies to pitch?
- Do some research on brands/products/companies
- What products or companies do you use?
- What products/companies would your followers use?
- Find out what your followers may be interested in by asking questions and seeking their opinions in comments and on stories
How do I pitch myself?
- When sending an email and reaching out, focus on what you can offer them
- You may have an highly engaged audience, you may be an expert in your niche, you have great views on your blog
- Find what you can offer, and capitalize on it
- Create a media kit (a resume) – you can download templates online, or use canva.com
- Use photos that represent you and your blog
- Explain who you are, why you started your blog, and what it’s about
- Include demographics of audience and followers (where they live, age range)
- Add logos from previous collaborations
Where have you struggled with selling yourself and your blog?
- Being small and not having many followers – it’s hard in the beginning stages
- Trying to stand out among a number of people
- Receive responses from companies that say, “you don’t have enough followers,” “we work with bloggers who have more followers,” “we don’t have money left in our budget.”
How do you price yourself?
- Choose a pricing plan that works for you. Some common ones are…
- Price per word
- Hourly rates
- Flat fee
- Create packages (# of posts, blogs posts, stories)
- What are your personal standards?
- What do you believe is your worth?
From @PlanetwithSara’s experience:
-
- Lay out what you want to do and what you’re looking for
- Wait to hear back about budget and what they can provide
- Understand that things can add up when you pay out of pocket
- Negotiating tip: it’s better to ask for things up front rather than adding it on later
Do you have any tips or tricks for standing out?
- Don’t compare yourself to others
- Focus on what you can offer
- Talk about what you do know
- Personalize your content
- Stay true to your brand and what your audience wants
Tips for TV interviews:
- Always smile, even if you don’t know if the camera is rolling
- Try to limit the number of ums, likes, and filler words
- Make sure you have good, natural lighting
- Be mindful of eye movements, look directly into the camera
Questions for the group:
Has anyone ever done a collab with someone who isn’t in the same niche?
- It can be helpful to focus on products and collabs within your niche
- However, your followers have different perspectives and different interests, sometimes your followers may enjoy a collab you do that does not necessarily match up with your niche
- Your followers are tuning in to hear your perspective