You’re landing partnerships, you’re getting your coin, you’re making the big moves. I’m so proud of you for creating the influencer journey of your dreams and I’m so excited to get to help you do it! This week, I’m answering Amanda’s suggested topic via my email list and trust me, this is going to be a great read. So grab your pen, notebook, and blanket to take notes: we’re going to talk about Mistakes To Avoid When Working With Brands.
We have all heard horror stories about brands doing influencers dirty, but more often than not, those are one offs, kind of “live and learn” moments. Usually, brands have very established influencer programs and maintaining positive relationships with them is super important for future collaborations as well as to prevent their marketing department from going to other brands and telling them you’re not someone easy to work with. It’s a small world. A lot of time marketing managers represent several brands at once, and they know to mingle amongst each other.
So, here are eight mistakes to avoid when working with brands:
Reply In A Timely Manner
Since we treat influencing and content creation like a job, you should set time aside every day, even twice a day, to answer your emails. This way, you’re never taking more than one business day to get back to important emails.
Make Sure You Have A Contract
None of this email agreement, “trust me” stuff here, besties. You need that ish in writing, signed, sealed, delivered. You can even use DocuSign to electronically sign contracts!
Actually READ The Contract
Otherwise you could end up selling your life away, for very little. Seriously.
Brands want the most bang for their buck. Their incentive is to get the most out of you for the least amount of money, so oftentimes a contract will have Content Rights, Exclusivity, Reshoots, Whitelisting included without giving you extra for your time, work and worth. So please make sure to always read the contract.
Deliver The Deliverables
Make sure you are delivering the deliverables on time and all at once. Google Drive is a great way to send large files for free (just make sure you turn permissions on for all that are viewing your link) and stay organized. You want your content, stories, caption, discount code, etc. Anything you agreed on delivered in one nicely wrapped package, and on time.
* Of course real emergencies happen, but if you’re chronically late on deliverables, you’re shooting yourself in the foot for future partnerships.
Post On An Agreed Upon Time
Did you agree to post on Friday? Great. Ask them if they have a preferred time, this way you can notate it and avoid forgetting and posting at 6pm after peak engagement is long over. This way they also don’t have to go chasing you down wondering when you’re going to post. Or vice versa: let them know what time you are going to post so they know when they can expect to see the content on your page.
Tag The Brand
Don’t mess around with Instagram when it comes to their Paid Partnership feature. Use it and avoid getting penalties on your account. Always adhere to FTC guidelines so you don’t hurt your page and future partnerships. Some brands also like being tagged as the collaborator so it also shows up on their feed, but make sure you clarify well beforehand so you don’t have to go back and edit your post.
Send Insights
Most brands request your insights after a certain period of time, such as 24 or 48 hours, so make sure you’re setting alarms so you don’t forget to do it – and if they don’t and your post does really well? Save those for a rainy day to use when you want to work with them again.
Invoice
Even if you’ve agreed on 30 days after content is posted, best practice for your own tax records and theirs is to invoice and include the agreed upon NET pay on there. Don’t wait for them to send you an invoice, because sometimes they might forget. Always track your invoice dates on a calendar so you can stay organized. Sometimes brands might give you specific instructions on who and where to send your invoice, so make sure to keep note of that too.
Do you follow all these best practices to avoid making mistakes when working with brands? If you liked this post, you can save it to Pinterest:
