081 - 4 Tips to Make your Pitches Better from a Brand's Content Manager
First off, I just need to say how excited I am to be back and doing this again. Thank you for the patience and all the kind messages reaching out to see when the show would be back. I really appreciated your support and hearing how much you love this show. There will be some format changes coming to the podcast so that I can keep this going and give you the best advice, interviews, and tips while maintaining my own sanity. So, I'll be moving the podcast to twice monthly, and we will include some more in-depth interviews and on-location episodes. So, just a huge thanks for all the support and to everyone who's listening. It's fabulous to be back here with y'all today.
For the first episode back, I want to get into something that could significantly impact your photography business. Something that should help you land more clients and have some money rolling in the door, regardless of if you are working full time or just doing this on the side. I'm going to help you pitch your work to content managers, creative directors, and anyone in charge of making beautiful things at brands around the world. I've taken on this role at a tourism board and couldn't be more thrilled that I get to work with incredible creatives to help promote the destination I work for. And in the now seven months I've been in this position, I've learned a lot about pitching, what works, and what just irritates me. So today, I'm going to give you four tips to help get your pitch through the door and make it more likely that you will get a callback. This is coming from the perspective of someone working in the tourism industry. Still, I think it applies across a broad spectrum of brands and businesses.
As we get going, there are a few things that I'm taking for granted here with you, the listener. You are interested in working with brands to make content - if you're not, this information really won't help you. You can consistently create fantastic images, and you are ready to put in the work. Because working with brands can be a lot of fun; but it is also a lot of time, energy and effort.
Alright, let's get back into this. So stoked to be here again.
Tip #1: Make it Personal - give them a reason to talk to you
The biggest tip I have is to not just send out a generic email with a media package saying, 'I'm open for bookings.' This isn't helpful to the brand and the person choosing if they want to speak with you, and it will likely end up with your name just going into the discard pile. Remember, brands don’t have a person whose sole job is to listen to creatives pitch ideas. It is a small small portion of one person’s portfolio. I receive a number of emails every week just like this with no real draw or reason for me to speak with the creative, and it's obvious that they are just mass emailing a contact list. And, while I look at everyone's work and media packages, I haven't hired a single person from doing this. Honestly, I have a batch of creatives that I like to work with who know the brand's needs, and I'm going to turn to the people I know, like and trust.
So, instead of a random package, send me an idea or a collaboration potential. Be specific enough that I get the idea of what you want to try doing - but not so specific I don't need to talk to you. That's the biggest thing here; you need to pique that interest. Give them a little glimpse, a reason to hop on a phone call to hear you out. Walk that fine line, and you'll find your phone ringing off the hook.
Tip #2: Don't say, 'I saw your Instagram' as though that's a big thing
I received an email recently from a group of content creators whose entire pitch to me was, 'We looked at your Instagram and think that we can give you some great content to increase your reach.'
Really, you looked at our brand's Instagram account? That's amazing. Congrats on doing the bare minimum amount of work. Did you also look at our website, other social feeds, and business-to-business content? Because a brand is about far more than what is on their Instagram.
I'll be totally upfront here. I will never hire someone to just make social media content for us. That would be a complete waste of my budget. The brand I work for needs content that has cross-functionality to it. We need pictures and videos that can be used in paid advertising, brochures, travel documents, media, websites (ours and many others), sent out to our partners and members, and social media. And this holds true for most brands on the planet. They need content that has cross-functionality to it. So, don't just pitch making social content. That won't get you through the door, let alone get you hired and getting the big bucks. Think holistically about the brand and the cross-functionality of the content you want to create. Thinking holistically like this is what is going to endear yourself to that brand and make it more likely that they’re at least going to have a conversation with you.
The other thing that irked me about this message is that they clearly didn't actually look at our Instagram because if they had, they would have realized that our social strategy doesn't rely on content that we create in-house. And thus, I would hope they wouldn't make a generic let's make your Instagram content better pitch. About 80% of our brand's posts on social media are user-generated content (either from travellers to the area or members giving us photos). Our brand is lucky enough to work and play in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, with more than enough UGC content to fill our social feeds every day, multiple times over. So, don't come pitching making Instagram content to me. I won't give you a second thought, except maybe out of irritation.
Tip #3: Respect timelines and lead times
This same email was also sent only a few days before the creators were going to be in destination, expecting me to hop on a call with them to work something out when they would be here soon. I plan shoots months in advance - with my lead times getting longer as we settle into a good content-generation strategy that ties into our long-term goals. In fact, I'm allocating budget for all of 2022 this week.
So, when you are thinking about possible collaborations, remember that most organizations need a lot of lead time to get projects up and off the ground. Typically this is going to mean more than a month. So, the sooner you reach out and the longer lead time you give a brand, the better it is, and the more likely that person will have time to at least talk with you. You may be ready to get to work ASAP, but that brand - especially if it's a bigger brand or they work in a delicate area like a national park - will need time to talk things through internally, make decisions on cross-departmental impact and acquire permits and partnerships. This takes a lot of time and energy on behalf of the brand. So give them lots of lead time. And by emailing them with lots of notice, you are showing you understand their needs making you easier to work with. In fact, that ties in really well with tip #4!
Tip #4: Get to know their needs
This harkens back to tip #2 as well, but get to know what brands in each industry need in their content and that will help you tailor your pitches. And this will be different for each sector, so choose the areas you would like to work with. Brands have a lot of content needs that stretch well beyond the places most people think of.
I'll give you an example from the tourism industry. Most people think about seeing photos and videos on a website, a social media feed (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, etc.), or an advertisement. But, in reality, the images and videos we create are used in a wide variety of locations that stretch well beyond these direct traveller-facing portals. We need work that travel agents can use to promote tours to the area, videos and photos that draw people in at trade shows, images members can use on their websites, content for business-to-business communications, photos and b-roll that the media can use promoting aspects of the destination, and so much more. Suffice it to say, there are a lot of use cases for content. This isn't as simple as making photos for a website and social media feed. It goes so far beyond that.
On top of where the images will be used, each brand will have specific stylistic requirements to satisfy their needs. For example, I need hero photos with a simple top half to top third. This is so we can run text across the top for our website and digital advertising. I also need images that can be cropped to various sizes and have a lot of flexibility, as we will need to run them in everything from classic 16x9 ratio to 9x16 for phone feeds and even skinnier for some banner ads on websites.
If there is a particular industry you want to start working with - like the tourism industry or athletic leisure ware - get to know what the brands in these industries need. If you can come to the brand with solutions for their common needs and problems, and they don't have to think about it, you'll be much more likely to be hired.
And that's it, those are four tips to help you pitch better stories to people in charge of content with brands. Really, you need to get to know what brands in that industry need most of the time, come up with an idea or reason to collaborate, and send an email that speaks to that specific brand's needs while respecting their timelines.
Now, let's be honest here. You won't nail every single one of these opportunities. Heck, most of the time, you won't even get a response. But keep going, keep pushing and keep refining your process. Because if you put in the work, it will happen. Don't let a few non-responses or polite no's stop you from pursuing your dream. If you want to work with brands to create content, then pitching and hearing tough feedback is part of that process. Accept it, role with it, take what you need to learn from it and grow forwards.
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You can follow along with Robert’s adventures on Instagram @RobertMasseyPhotography.