Collabs 101: How to Prepare for Your First Collaboration

All bloggers dream about collaborations, (and don’t let any blogger tell you otherwise!). That first email with the subject line “Collaboration” is music to a blogger’s ears. I mean, who doesn’t like free stuff, recognition, and/or money?!

If you’ve never had a collaboration, regardless of your following, don’t worry, they’re comin’! In fact, it’s probably better that you haven’t had one so you’re able to prepare for your first collaboration after reading this post.

ask yourself 3 questions

Will I enjoy doing it?

Most bloggers start blogging in the first place because it’s their passion and they enjoy doing it for free, so naturally once they learn they can get paid to blog, they realize they hit the jackpot. So you want to ask yourself if it’ll be fun, make you happy, or you’ll enjoy doing it. If you answered yes, then you’re in business.

It’s once you stop having fun and when you realize your work is no longer serving you and it’s time to move on. Plus if you’re not happy with a collaboration the quality of your work will reflect that. So just remember your happiness always comes first.

Will I learn anything or be challenged?

Each collaboration is a learning experience. Some are positive learning experiences (you negotiate a higher pay) and some are negative experiences (the brand doesn’t deliver like they said they would). Both of which are lessons to be learned for future collaborations.

In my opinion, the best part about blogging is challenging yourself by trying new strategies, reaching a wider audience, or hitting major goals. Half the fun of blogging is taking on collaborations that will improve your skills, gain you more experience, and push you outside of your comfort zone. I love when bloggers fill white space with a new spin on a collaboration.

Will it benefit me financially?

Unfortunately, in a saturated market a lot of brands aren’t willing to pay for a blogger’s services. And unfortunately for brands, collaborations are a big part of how bloggers make a living so we need to get paid!

I mean, without money coming in, you won’t have money going out to invest in your blogging business aka you won’t have the time or resources to bring brands quality stuff. (Don’t worry, negotiating is coming in week 4 of this series.) So, you definitely want to weigh your options in terms of what you’re getting out of the deal. Because collaborations are a two-way street, my friend.

have a media kit updated & ready to go

At some point in your blogging career, you may need to hire someone, like an intern, agent, or project manager, to handle all your collaboration inquiries, but until then you can start by keeping an updated media kit on hand.

Media kits help eliminate the back and forth between you and the brand. You have all the information a brand could possibly need (stats, services, pricing, bio) on your media kit which will make your first collaboration an organized breeze. Since your blog/business is constantly growing, you’ll want to update your media kit as often as possible so you’re not scrambling as soon as a collaboration comes in.

(See this post for how to make a media kit.)

be prepared to say no

When you start to get collaborations you’ll be so tempted to say yes to everything. Trust me, I’ve been there. Free stuff? Yes, please! But what if you’ll never wear it or use it and accept it anyway? Then you just look bad to the brand and risk ruining your reputation.

9 times out of 10 the collaborations you get are going to be ones you should politely decline. It is extremely important to stay “true to brand” so you can become a trusted source for your readers/followers and the brands you work with. You want to maintain integrity at all levels so you build credibility in the industry. There is nothing worse than a blogger who is a “sell out” or a blogger who doesn’t keep his/her word.

Conclusion: Put your happiness and financial needs first, stay organized with a media kit, and only say yes to things you truly believe in and you will WIN. 

Did you prep for your first collaboration? How? Tell me in the comments!

xx

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want more?

Week 1 (this week): How to Prepare for Your First Collaboration

Week 2: How to Get Brands to Notice Your Blog

Week 3: How to Price Yourself & Your Work

Week 4: Secret Negotiating Tricks No One Talks About

Week 5: How to Get More Collaborations