Only 14% of bloggers make a salary blogging, so chances are, if you’re reading this—you’re not one of them. Have you wondered what it takes to be a brand ambassador or how to make money via sponsored posts and brand campaigns? Annelies and Annabel have the insider scoop as both brand representatives and bloggers who’ve worked with brands. In this interactive panel presentation, you’ll learn the secrets brands won’t tell you about working with them along with key steps to take before, during and after any blogger-brand campaign. Here are some of the take-aways you can expect:
- What are brands really looking for?
- How to determine what you want from a brand relationship: brand ambassadorship? Sponsored content? Short-term or long-term? We’ll tell you what questions to ask yourself
- How to strategize and be proactive about your outreach to brands, including how to conduct the research and craft the perfect pitch
- How to audit your brand—are you really putting your best foot forward?
- When to think outside the dollar, i.e. when does it make sense to accept money-in-kind or non-monetary ancillary benefits?
- How to communicate your value to a brand (“ROI”) & how to create a media kit that makes you irresistible
With our no-nonsense approach and experience on both sides of the blogger-brand dichotomy, we’ll leave you feeling empowered and knowledgeable when it comes to defining what you want from a brand relationship and actually getting it.
The Panel
Annelies Zijderveld–Annelies has been working in food as long as she has been employable. From an early stint at a bakery while in high school to serving restaurant patrons during graduate school, the combination of hospitality and nourishing others through good food has made working in food for over a decade, a delight. As a chai-wallah, she has worked in tea and for over 4 years has been a whole grain ambassador and enthusiast, working at Attune Foods, a manufacturer of non-GMO cereals, granolas, organic grahams and probiotic chocolate bars, where she manages the online community for several brands including Erewhon Organic Cereals. Bringing people together over good food gives her great joy. Helping connect bloggers with food they care about puts a bounce in her step. Follow Erewhon Organic at @erewhonorganic. Follow her personal antics @anneliesz on twitter.
Annabel Adams–Annabel Adams is the Los-Angeles-based writer and PR strategist behind the blog Feed Me, I’m Cranky. On her blog, she discusses life after a 150-lb weight-loss, food & obesity politics, Health At Every Size and vegan food. When she’s not blogging, she’s the director of communications for H.U.M.A.N. (“Helping Unite Mankind And Nutrition”) and the founder of Madcap PR. Annabel has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Fitness, Health, and Redbook magazines. Find Annabel on as @FeedmeI’mCranky1.
Carrie Kocik–Carrie Kocik is a communications consultant for organic food brands, working daily with bloggers to help bring them inside the industry to learn and discover what’s behind many of today’s better-for-you foods. Carrie knows working with bloggers is a two-way street and believes brands learn and gain just as much from these relationships. Carrie spent the beginning of her career as a business journalist and at PR agencies in New York, learning the communications ropes from some of the biggest brands in a variety of industries. She then worked at a PR agency in Boston where she was able to focus in on food, eventually jumping ship to work full-time for a client, Stonyfield Organic, as Director of Communications. Now as a PR consultant with her own growing business, Carrie is fortunate to be able to pair her passion for better food and better agricultural practices with her love of sharing stories and connecting bloggers with brands that can help make their lives a little better. Sometimes a lot better. She has recently worked with Organic Valley, Kingdom Cheddar, Hope Foods and other delicious brands helping to keep this great big world healthy and happy.
LOL, I’m reading this and I make money blogging and am also a brand ambassador.
I’m reading this too, Carolyn. I’m also a professional blogger who makes an income from my blog and is an ambassador for several brands.