Seeing as Valentine’s Day is coming up, we figured now would be a good time to talk about collaborating with popular brands. (How and when to do so, specifically.) After all, love is in the air …and if you, fellow influencer, read the title of this post, you get where we’re going with this. Don’t follow? Don’t worry. We’ll help you collaborate! 

Forgive us if that sounded condescending. The point is: Reaching out to brands is a lot like dating. Actually, it’s exactly like dating. You put your best foot forward, hope someone notices, engage in some small talk, yada yada yada—you enter into a relationship with them (one that is hopefully longer than one night), and repeat. But let’s elaborate:

1) Putting your best foot forward.

Whether you’re creating an online dating profile, or actually leaving the confines of your home to go out into the world to attract someone of your persuasion, you go about it essentially the same way. Curating your profile with flattering images and witty bios is basically the virtual way of putting on an outfit that’s complimentary, doing your hair, and venturing out to that hip, new bar.

Guess what? Ditto when it comes to connecting with a popular brand. Make sure your profile speaks for itself, just as you’d hopefully have the confidence in yourself when holding up the wall at that bar we talked about. Any pick-up artist will tell you: Be your best self. Confidence is key.

2) It’s a numbers game.

Not everyone will swipe right for you, just as not every person you approach will look longingly into your eyes and decide to go home with you, etc. But like we said, it is a numbers game. So the more you put yourself out there, the better your chances are. That said, you don’t just ask anyone out. Where’s the romance in that? (Meaning, desperation is a stinky cologne!) Similarly, you don’t just hit up any popular brand you think might throw money your way. Think about the products you use and love; the ones that are reflective of your identity and the ones you think, by extension, would resonate with your audience.

That’s where you start. Make a list. Check it twice. Start at the top and work your way towards the bottom.

3) When to collaborate?

Like we said, it’s Valentine’s Day—so dating (ahem, collaborating) is on our mind. If you’ve ticked off no. 1 and no. 2 from the above list, the next logical step is to begin reaching out and the question you’ll likely have isn’t so much “how” as it is “when.” This might be best answered by first assessing when popular brands look to promote—which, of course, varies from company to company …as does the setup time for these activations. But you can almost always bet that popular brands look to promote their products during major holidays or cultural events. In order, they are: Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Back to School, Thanksgiving/Black Friday, and Christmas. Beyond that, they’ll also look to collaborate to help promote new product launches, and those may or may not fall on the aforementioned holidays. Again, the more organized companies will do this far in advance of these holidays—so if you’re looking to do a Valentine’s Day promotion, holler at that brand months before!

There’s no such thing as too early. You, dearest influencer, will look prepared and professional—and the popular brand you reached out to will be all the more excited to collaborate with you!

As for the “how”—if you’re reading this, you most likely have downloaded our app. And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for!? That’s what we made REP for: For you to find your ideal collaborator (influencer or brand), connect, and inspire!

Click here  to see why brands need you now more than ever!

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