Landing career-defining collabs: here’s how to pitch brands

Moodboards filled with new-season collections, daydreams about PR invites to launch parties…behind most successful influencers are the brands that once inspired them to start their journey.

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If you are a creator, chances are you also have a few career-defining collabs in mind that would feel like true pinch-me moments. Unsure how to pitch brands and create a professional, agency-level outreach method that showcases your expertise? We’ve got you.

The right contact.‍

While reaching out to smaller, independent brands via email is pretty straightforward, getting your message seen by the likes of Saint Laurent, Dior and Tom Ford might not be as simple as a DM. The good news is, many of these brands have dedicated influencer programs, usually run by agencies. Once you have a list of brands you’d like to work with, we recommend researching the best contacts to approach– look for PR platforms and agencies regularly running these brands’ collabs.

The right message.

‍The first impression is key when learning how to pitch brands. Leading agencies recommend keeping outreach messages short and concise, with a narrative that speaks directly to the targeted brands. While it’s a very competitive industry, high-quality visual and written content, as well professionalism will always stand out. Rather than sending never-ending DMs and emails, we recommend a few sentences, followed by your unique value proposition.

The right UVP.‍

Speaking of value proposition…your aesthetic, engaged follower base and understanding of your industry are all important aspects to highlight in outreach messages. These details can be difficult to distil into an equally cohesive and beautiful portfolio, which is why we created Ezra - the easiest way to design professional media kits.

Empowering you to showcase your best work.

Ezra inspires creators like you to elevate their personal brand and spotlight their unique value proposition. Bridging the gap between individual creativity and professional standards, our designer tool turns your social media presence into a creative and chic media kit in minutes.

The classic ‘one size fits all’ approach rarely lends itself well to creative spaces due to its lack of originality. Echoing this issue, premade portfolios and pre-bought media kits fail to represent the individuality of influencers. With easy-to-edit templates and designer-selected details, Ezra offers a highly creative, functional, personalised and professional alternative.  
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Creative

Yolk yellow, Bottega green, sky blue…if you’ve ever wondered what’s beyond classic CV and media kit templates, you’re in the perfect place. Selected by our in-house designers, every element of Ezra from the fonts to the palettes is centred around crafting an authentic, expressive and stunning reflection of your creativity.

Functional

As much as we wish being an influencer would only consist of finding aesthetic coffee shops and capturing street style moments, there’s plenty more to being a successful creator. One of those aspects is your stats, including follower metrics, average engagement rates and post reach. It’s key that brands know these details, so we decided to implement a live update system: you connect your socials, and your key stats instantly get added to your media kit. Saving you the hassle of taking screenshots and constantly tracking your analytics, the media kit automatically updates your stats as your audience grows.

Personalised

We’ve always dedicated time to chatting to influencers to understand what they are looking for in the perfect media kit. One aspect all of them highlighted was originality and standing out from the crowd. So, we’ve created templates that feel more like failsafe canvases rather than rushed, uninspiring solutions marketed to everyone. Just as easy to customise as they are easy to edit, the media kit templates you’ll find in Ezra are all great starting points for creating truly striking and unique portfolios.

Professional

Although endless influencers offer agency-level services, they often struggle to find a way to reflect that when approaching brands. Media kits designed in Ezra feature live stats and details curated by expert designers, ensuring a flawless finish every time.

Let’s talk collab concerns.

Do I have enough followers?
To keep it short and sweet: yes. As more and more brands trust micro-influencers to deliver measurable impact (and understand the value of more authentic content), brand collaborations are no longer purely reserved for those with millions of followers.
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Is there a 'best time' to reach out to brands?
While there isn’t necessarily a perfect moment, timing can be important, especially for micro influencers. Referring back to the ‘perfect contact’ section, it’s probably best to start with brands who have big, established ambassador programs to gain experience and case studies. After confirming the first few collabs, it’s time to expand and reach out to the brands you’ve always wanted to work with. Reaching out during busy periods (e.g. leading up to Black Friday, the holiday season or a new launch) could also maximise your opportunity.
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Why would they pick me over an agency?
Social media and self-doubt go hand in hand, so it’s always important to take a moment to value your own strengths. As an influencer, you create visuals, post to an engaged audience and create targeted brand awareness…not unlike an agency does. With the right tools, including a media kit, you can showcase your creative concepts and expertise as the professional you are.

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What if they don’t offer paid collabs?
The market for influencers continues to expand, which means that brands are also investing more in paid campaigns. To get an idea about a brand’s usual collab terms before reaching out, we recommend checking their social accounts and tagged posts for reassurance– if you notice previous paid ads with similar-sized creators, it’s definitely worth reaching out.

Getting started.‍

It takes a few clicks to sign up, and a few more to add your personal details to the media kit, allowing plenty of time for your creativity to prosper. Create custom colour palettes, different layouts using text blocks and highlight exactly what sets you apart from the rest.

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