5 Ways to Pitch Brands This Holiday Season

If you’re a photographer/blogger looking to get those #goals sponsorships, read on to get our 5 hot tips on pitching for the holiday season!

As the holiday season ramps up (hello pumpkins and turkeys and hot cocoa and gifts and vacation time 😍), that means it’s time to ramp up your pitching skillz. Because the holidays are HUGE for brands!

1. The Early Bird Gets the…Brand?

Here’s the deal: brands actually plan out their budgets well in advance. For some brands, we’re talkin’ like, a whole year in advance. They have no concept of procrastination…like me… 😅

This means that if you’re looking to get on the holiday sponsorship train (TOOT TOOT YES I AM!), then the time is, like…yesterday.

BUT DO NOT FEAR! There are still many brands that have “non-allocated,” or leftover, budget funds at the end of the year, so they’re looking for ways to spend their remaining advertising mullah. Enter, center stage: You—wearing a ravishing floor-length chiffon number and carrying a show-stopping pitch deck (more on that later! 😉).

The point is: reach out to brands ASAP to start snagging your dream holiday partnerships!

2. Get a Little Creepy With it…

Ever wonder what brands and companies do with the slew of “Hi, this is me! Want to work together this season?” emails they get flooding into their inbox right around this time of year? Well, let’s just say their trash folder gets a little crowded.

So if you want to stand out, get a little creepy with it. And by that I mean, do your research!

Go to a brand or company’s website to see what products they’re focusing on this year. Check out their IG feed to see what content they’ve been featuring. Dig in and really get to know what they’re all about!

Then, brainstorm and make your pitch relevant to both the brand’s current focus and the times. For example, if you’re considering reaching out to an oat company, you could suggest creating holiday cookie jars for friends and loved ones that you can’t get together with this season. (A Quarantine Christmas…Wow, that sounds like a Rom-Com waiting to happen. Get on it, Hallmark!).

Or, if the brand you’re interested in working with sells pots and pans, come up with a stunning soup recipe, and suggest creating a print-out that your followers can download to get the directions!

Be creative, unique, and most of all, have fun with it! Then package it all together in a pretty little email and send it off. 🙂

3. You don’t need a light show to create a killer presentation (though it definitely couldn’t hurt…)

Food blogging is not a cottage industry anymore. Which means you have to do more than just email a brand asking to work together.

One thing that my team does for Broma Bakery is create a mini-presentation—or basically a pitch deck, for our potential partnership. It kind of looks like a blown-out media kit, specifically tailored to the brand we want to work with.

Usually, this mini-presentation is 5-6 pages, complete with an explanation of who I am, some recent and relevant photography, and some specific pitch ideas (see #2!). We also include at LEAST 2 options for partnering (usually a “bigger” partnership and a “smaller” one: for example, one option that includes multiple blog posts, social posts, etc, and then maybe one option that’s just social posts, or half the number of posts, or just a one-off post). Finally, we also add a case study on a recent and relevant brand partnership with information on how it performed, to give an idea of metrics.

And I’m telling you guys, it works like a CHARM!

Put together a rad presentation and you’ll be sure to stand out.

P.S. if you don’t have a media kit yet, or need to revamp yours, get our customizable media kit template and edit it to fit your exact needs!

4. Show off just a little 😉

When pitching to a brand, it’s so important to strut your stuff as soon as possible. Because frankly, someone could have the best pitch in the world, but if their actual product isn’t high-quality, brands won’t work with them. So just telling someone how great you are isn’t super convincing—you’ve got to show ‘em the goods!

Reference past work that you’re especially proud of, or other examples of holiday work you’ve done, to give them an idea of what it would be like to work with you! Include any data you may have to really back up how dope you are. 🙂

5. Pile on the whipped cream and chocolate syrup and caramel drizzle and sprinkles and, and, AND…

By this point, it should be clear: landing deals this holiday season is all about going above and beyond.

I can’t tell you how many “extras” we’re throwing in for brands this year—whether that’s doing two posts for the price of one, adding on an IG live to a partnership, or even posting in-feed when a partnership is just stories. We’re bringing it, baby.

The more you really pile on those extra sugary-sweet benefits, the more you’ll stand out this holiday season!

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Now get out there and pitch like a real pro. Because those holiday cookies aren’t going to photograph themselves… 😋