I’ve had quite a few people asking me lately via email and Twitter about how to connect with more brands.
So as a follow-on from last Saturday’s post about How to Make Your Blog a Success, I thought I’d share the list of blogger outreach programmes I’ve been compiling for the last year or so.
I’ve found the easiest way to connect with brands and getting your name out there is to sign up to platforms that specifically connect bloggers with brands; it’s known as blogger engagement or blogger outreach. Best British Bloggers describe it as
“the management of a brand’s reputation across blogs. It is the practice of building and maintaining relationships with bloggers who have a particular field of interest, in order for them to write about, discuss and share brand messages with their readership”
– which is great for bloggers, because it saves the hard work of approaching brands and wondering what to say to them. Brands can see which bloggers they think would be a suitable fit for them and then get in touch with offers of collaborations (of varying quality, I must point out); sometimes it’s the outreach programmes themselves that contact you. So for your reference – and in no particular order – here are the ones I’ve signed up to:
1. https://www.fohr.co (essential, see below)
2. http://thebloggerprogramme.com
3. http://bloggers-lounge.co.uk
4. http://bestbritishbloggers.co.uk
5. http://bloggersrequired.com
6. http://etailpr.com/bloggernetwork
7. http://generationblog.co.uk
8. http://brandbacker.com
9. http://linklift.co.uk
10. http://bloggersreprise.com
11. https://whalar.com
12. http://joeblogsnetwork.com
Plus:
13. http://susurrus.io
The one I would highly recommend as a must for every blogger is Fohr – as well as connecting brands and bloggers they create a profile page for you with automatically updated stats (traffic, social media followers, profile, links to features, etc.). The brilliant thing about this is that you’ve got a ready-made media kit right there – you can email the link for your profile page to brands if they ever ask for updated stats. To see an example, click here to see mine – hopefully it’ll give you an idea of just how detailed it is.
Hopefully these will give you a head-start in working with brands – do be prepared to receive a lot of emails, however. I find that I respond positively to about 15-20% of the offers I’m sent, and even then some of those never get back to me (which I don’t understand as they approached me first). Be patient, as it may take a few months for brands to find you – it won’t happen overnight.
One last thing: Don’t let the thought that your readership isn’t big enough prevent you from signing up to these programmes. I have read on many occasions that brands don’t just look for blogs with the biggest number of followers or page views: it’s all about fit. If they think your blog and your readership (no matter how small) is the right fit for their brand, they will approach you.
Good luck – and do let me know how you get on and if this helps at all! If anyone has any more outreach programmes that I haven’t included, I will add them on as amendments – give me their URLs in the comments 🙂
P.S. If anyone is reading this from a blogger outreach point of view, i.e. you work for a brand that reaches out to bloggers, please take a moment to read this excellent post entitled “The 10 Most Common Mistakes of Blogger Outreach” – it’ll explain why I hit “delete” so often after reading only a couple of sentences of the email…!
Hi! This has been very helpful and I just wanted to say thank you!
This was unbelievably helpful. Thank you so much.
P.s. I think link numbers 9, 10 and 11 are dead companies.
This is extremely useful, thank you for sharing . x
This was so helpful! Thank you xx
gemsblogstorey.com
Thank you for useful tips, I like your blog a lot <3
Carmelatte
Most useful and really great advice.
corsetsnbasques.co.uk
I've recently got back into blogging and wanting to work with brands and this is a really helpful post. Thanks so much for sharing x
Love your style by the way http://www.indigoandmouse.blogspot.com
There really aren't that many to choose from are there http://www.indigoandmouse.blogspot.com
you helped me alot. I am so thankful.
http://girlzfromvenus.blogspot.com/
Such a helpful, useful list, Thank you so much Catherine. I am really thrilled with my first and fabulous media kit, thanks to Fohr. Have signed up with all the others too. And yes, patience is certainly the name of the game when it comes to blogging. See you soon I hope. Suzi x
Awesome list! Just what I was looking for . Hopefully my blog will get through with these companies
Makeup Martini
Are these the ones you still recommend?
Hi Catherine, thanks to this great post I'm now signed up to a few of these programmes – including my very own Fohr Card! I just had a quick question: if a company gifts you a sample through one of these network's campaigns but don't pay you anything, should all links to that brand still be no-follow? Thanks! Lisa
Hi Lisa, glad this helped you make some connections! Yes, you should make links to products you were gifted no follow as well as they count as payment – if you have a read of Google's guidelines https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en&rd=1 it says
"sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link"
is in violation of their guidelines and intended to manipulate PageRank. So make it nofollow, though some PRs and brands will want you to do the opposite of course. Make it very clear before you agree to any collaboration that links will be nofollow so there are no arguments afterwards. Include it in your PR page like I have (if you want to copy my wording be my guest, I don't mind)!
Good luck, hope it helps!
Thanks for the reply Catherine, and for clearing this up. This whole blogging business is far more complicated than I could ever have imagined (!) so these blogging tips posts are a massive help. Lisa.
Thanks so much for sharing this. Most are for the UK. I looked at the @bloggersrequest too but that is searching for UK bloggers. Would you happen to know of any in the US? Thanks!
I wanted to ask the same thing!
Hi Lindsay, I know many of them are UK only but several are worldwide/US as well: Fohrcard is really the main one to sign up to and US based. Then there's Bloggers Required, Brandbacker and Bloggforward which are all US based too… so that's four, I don't know if you wanted more than that? x
Hi Lindsay and Catherine (and Inspiring kitchen!)
Shopping Links [shoppinglinks.com] is a great option for global opportunities. We have opportunities posted for the USA, Australia and all across Europe.
Cheers, Kim xx
Great info! Thanks for answering my question too. As I was concerned about a small following.
It seems as if these are all for fashion/style/makeup/lifestyle bloggers. . . is that the case?
Thanks for posting this I just started writing my own blog and this is a massive help!
Great post and very useful. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this post Catherine – really great advise.
Have a stunning day
Wendy
Great post! Will make sure to sign up for all of these 🙂
Chris – Hit The Floor Magazine
Fantastic lot of links! Lots here I hadn't heard of. I'll be sharing this post on my own social media channels too, I think it's a must read for bloggers.
Awesome post, just off to sign up for Fohr Card!
Dear Catherine – I notice that a lot of the outreach programs that you have listed are "co.uk"…does this mean they are available for British bloggers only?? And does Fohr Card collect all the data FOR you?? 'Cause I'm embarrassed to say that I don't even know how/where I would find most of these statistics for my blog…boy, do I still have a lot to learn, huh?!
http://www.StyleIsMyPudding.com
Very interesting! Pinned to work on!
Marie @ In Our Happy Place
Thanks for the tips Catherine. You are a generous person to share this. Personally I will not follow them up. As you know, it is strictly hobby for me. But I am sure you are helping a lot of bloggers. I read Henry's article (the 10 most common mistakes etc). Being in the advertising department of a bank, this was highly amusing and recognisable. Not only for blogging.
Greetje
Thank you!!! Most useful, not heard of any of these. I tend to do the reaching out, not vice versa! x
Fab post!
Great list thanks 🙂
You can follow @BloggerRequests to see tweets about collaboration opportunities with lots of different sectors and brands too
Miss Tulip x
The Thrifty Magpies Nest
So useful, thanks Catherine! xx
Thanks for this Catherine – you're very generous to share, xox.
Thanks Catherine, that's really useful, Mx
Great post, Catherine, as always. I also really enjoyed reading the link to the post on what Marketers need not to do. I get the whole Sir/Madam bulk email a lot. As well as the something-for-nothing. It is irritating!
Great advice as always!!! The Fohr Card looks quite promising! I usually search brands through different websites I encounter, if I like what they offer, I send them a personal e-mail with stats and few words about my blog. Most of the time they don't answer, but sometimes they do! 😀
Your post could be the answer to many questions of mine lately! 😉
Thank you!
XO
Jeanne
http://fashionmusingsdiary.blogspot.fr
I haven't heard of many of these programmes, I'll be sure to check them out!
Rubi
The Den