How I Survive The Campaign Process

You’ve easily read over hundreds of blog pages, Pinterest pins, Instagram captions, and so on describing how to land campaigns with brands, right?

Well, what they DON’T include in a lot of these posts (mine included!) is the process of staying sane while you check off each task associated with a sponsored post. There is a lot that goes into the behind-the-scenes of creating beautiful content with a written copy.

This post will cover my tips for surviving the campaign process as you land sponsored deal after sponsored deal in the blogging industry!

1. First: Land the Sponsored Deal

The first step in the entire campaign process is to land the sponsored deal. Once you secure a brand deal you can look over the terms and conditions associated with the deal.

The brand deals that I’ve landed through Influencer websites, such as Cohley and Brandbacker, do not have set “contracts”. These influencer platforms are able to negotiate with brands to determine the terms on each campaign. Some of these platforms offer products in exchange for posts, while others do offer payment.

If you are working directly with a brand, they will most likely send over a contract for you to look over all of the terms and payment information for the campaign. Have someone else look over these forms with you just in case. I will usually send over contracts to my blogger friends if I feel unsure about something included in the content of the contract.

2. Before You Start Creating Content: Negotiate The Terms

This may seem like an easy task, but so many bloggers forget to negotiate! The terms and conditions with your contract are specific to you. That means you have the ability to alter any part of the contract if you desire a higher rate in exchange for your deliverables.

Each deliverable (a piece of content produced) should have its own rate assigned by you.

For example, I charge a different amount for an Instagram post than I do for an entire blog post. While in the process of negotiating terms, be sure to account for the time and energy devoted to creating content for the brand. Basically, don’t work for free.

Don’t leave out: photography fees, travel fees, etc.

Surviving the campaign process also means you are fairly compensated for your time and deliverables. Back when I was starting out on my blogging journey, you bet I accepted every single product I was e-mailed about!

Nowadays, I am much pickier when it comes to accepting sponsored content or even free products in exchange for socials. I would have to say that staying true to my “brand” and what makes me “who I am” has definitely helped me curate my own individual style and appeal that I can sell to brands to make money from all of my hard work, so you can TOO.

3. Sign the Campaign Contract

Sign the contract sent to you by a brand after carefully looking it over a few times. I recommend breaking down the contract and taking your time with it so you don’t accidentally sign a contract that gives the brand control over your content.

Contracts are binding for both the influencer and the brand. If a brand fails to pay you in a timely manner for your work, you can reach out to them and see what the trouble is behind the scenes. If I don’t hear back from a brand with a reason why my payment is late, I will send follow-up e-mails to the campaign managers.

4. Brainstorm Original Content Ideas

After I accept a campaign, I brainstorm exact content ideas to make the partnership come to life through my eyes.

What’s neat about working with brands is how you can take a product that everyone has access to (such as shampoo or razors) and make it stand out based on your individual taste. Influencers that are successful can take a simple idea and turn it into a beautiful expression of their character and aesthetic to entice their followers to check out. 

Ultimately, you want to brainstorm original content ideas to incorporate your brand message into the campaign to sell the product. Brands want to see a successful campaign between the influencer and the brand with real results, such as link clicks and purchases.

For example, I recently teamed up with a feminine hygiene product on a campaign. I am sharing the details of this campaign next month so I will be a little vague about it for now!

I accepted the campaign, the platform accepted my rates, and then the brainstorming process started in my head. I was thinking to myself, “How can I show off this product without being super obvious?” I feel like the more easily you can show off a product in a natural and organic form, the better reaction you will receive from your followers.

I finally chose to act as if I was pulling the product out of my purse to show that I use the product on the go and the photo series turned out great in my opinion! I have to hear back from the brand before I can sign off on this campaign which brings me to the next point…

5. Send Content Back to the Brand for Review

Once you come up with your brilliant content idea, capture the idea on your camera or iPhone, and edit the photos with coordinating text, the next step is to send the content off for review.

Some brands will accept your content right away while others want you to change things around. Some important features included for most content is to have:

• #AD or #SPONSORED to adhere to FTC Guidelines
• The brand name tagged on Instagram/Facebook
• The brand name mentioned within the caption of the photo
• The brand name mentioned in a Swipe Up feature
• Links to the bran in your profile for 24 hours

6. Hit Publish on Approved Content