A Content Creator's Guide to Working with PR Teams
Content creators 🤝 PR teams
If you’re scrolling through TikTok or Instagram these days, you’ll see a lot of “PR” unboxing but there’s a lot more than surprise packages that go into effective creator and PR relationships. JAM Collective prides itself on taking care of our creator relationships on behalf of our clients and we want to help creators navigate PR opportunities with informed tips.
First impressions matter
Approaching a PR team or brand graciously with a tailored approach can help you stay top of mind. We love confidence and specificity, but we love kindness and clear communication even more.
Do:
Tailor your outreach to request partnerships that align with you for specific purposes.
Research who you’re contacting, who they represent, and why you align with them and their team so you can be specific with your introduction.
Request to learn more about what the brand’s goals are for the specific product or service you’re inquiring about. This communicates that your interest is in support of the brand’s goals.
Include links and resources for easy-to-access review.
Keep it short and sweet. We read a lot of emails all day, every day, your brevity is appreciated.
Be authentic in your voice and example metrics.
Don’t:
Use broad language that may indicate your outreach is merely a template.
Simply ask to be put on a “PR list”.
Demand products and services.
Inflate your social media impact.
Where can we find you?
It is surprisingly common for inquiries to come in without links or references to where we can find your online presence. Make it clear which platforms you are present on or would like to utilize in the partnership and provide links and/or handles to find your accounts. Additionally, please always double-check that your email and other contact information are listed correctly.
Many creators opt for providing a pitch deck when reaching out. This is a great way to provide an overview of your profile, audience, and engagement rates. Your profile will likely be vetted and reviewed in addition to the information provided.
Do my follower numbers matter?
A high follower count can be impressive at a glance – but brands are looking for quality over quantity these days. JAM Collective manually reviews creator profiles to check for organic engagement and followers. We are looking for a healthy engagement rate that indicates your audience knows, adores, and trusts you. This can be identified by the number of likes, comments, video views, and more. It’s never recommended to inflate your numbers by buying followers or commenters as there are clear indications of this and negatively impacts your engagement rate.
Paid partnerships vs. affiliate marketing vs. gifted product
Paid partnerships: An agreed-upon partnership between the brand and the creator where payment is exchanged for created and posted deliverables by the creator to benefit the brand’s marketing efforts.
Affiliate marketing: Product may be provided or discounts may be offered to acquire gear from a brand in which the creator has free range to market the product as they see fit within their content calendar. Creators have a unique link to provide their followers with and any tracked purchases from that link return a percentage of the profit to the creator.
Gifted product: Product or services that are provided with no outlined expectations or deliverables and no payment is provided to the creator. Gifted products, often referred to as “PR” on social media, are intended to be designed to surprise and delight the creator in such a way that the product naturally finds its way into their everyday lives and organic content.
Be clear about what your expectations are as a content creator and what types of partnerships you are open to. If you are unclear about what the brand’s expectations are, never hesitate to ask for clarification.
Communication is key
When approaching or engaging with brand representatives whether they are internally affiliated with the brand or a part of an agency, kindness goes a long way for both parties involved. There are many factors that everyone is weighing in determining whether the partnership is a fit and thoughtful communication can make everything run smoothly.
Aim to remain timely and clear in points of communication and read through provided information thoroughly to avoid misunderstandings. If there are concerns, graciously bring them up and make space for clarifications.
Rejection from both creators and brands is common and is not necessarily a reflection of either party personally. Budgets, marketing plans, timelines, and seasonal relevance can all play a factor in how brands determine their partnership opportunities. Rejecting or accepting rejection with grace holds the door open to other PR clients that teams like JAM Collective may be working with.
Additional tips
Be mindful of any agreed-upon contractual obligations that may impact your other partnerships including conflict of interest, competing products, repeating creative content, and more.
Follow-up partnerships with gratitude and resulting metrics to impress the brands and showcase why you were a standout partner.
If you are providing assets for brand or agency use, consider naming the files to include your information and any additional photo credit that needs to be honored in utilizing the assets.
Indicate somewhere on your profiles or in your outreach where you are based. You can keep it broad to protect your personal safety but when geo targets are a part of the creator plan, it’s helpful to have that information accessible for consideration.
Are you interested in working with JAM Collective and our clients as a content creator? Consider submitting yourself to our content creator database and we’ll keep your information on file for aligning partnerships.