How To Pitch To Brands & Hotels As A Small Influencer WITH PITCHING TEMPLATES & GIVEAWAY

[@AustenTosone]

Love how you explained using a media kit to highlight your strengths! Media kits make you look more professional in my opinion and even if you're a small influencer you can use it to show off your biggest platforms and even top comments and DM's. Great tips!

[@MontelleBee]

Yes they sure do! Thanks for watching Austen 🙏🏾

[@EmperorMingg]

I work in Marketing consultancy for Hotel Chains and independents, and I want to share a few points. I’ve worked with influencers and I’ll tell you what I look for when handling ‘influencers’ and even approaching some, which does happen. 1) Hotel Marketing teams are the ones to approach in the first case, as you mentioned. Never approach a Hotel Marketing employee on their personal social media, LinkedIn is surely the best way. Approaching a Marketing assistant, if possible, is the best way to go about it, because they’re the ones that make things happen and definitely look at their inboxes compared to possibly a Manager or certainly a Director. Instagram is where we see and usual ignore a lot of requests, 99% go unanswered, and 95% aren’t even looked into. 2) The keywords influencer and blogger are massive turnoffs, so use workarounds. 3) The ‘influencer’ sector is overflowing and heavily saturated with inexperienced bloggers, who are either looking for something for nothing, or a free place to stay for their vacation in exchange for a few tiktoks, posts etc that will be shared to an audience of around 10,000 people; a complete turnoff for hotel marketing teams. Realistically speaking, everyone with an above-average social following consider themselves an ‘influencer’, and hotels will get between 5-20, sometimes even more proposals per day, and the majority of proposals are so badly written, I sometimes wonder whether their heart is really in what they’re doing. 4) Branding. You have to be ‘on brand’ to catch the attention of a hotel. A 5* luxury hotel where guests will comfortably drop $1000+ a night are not interested in influencers that look like they save up to stay at the Airport Ibis. They don’t need to give anything away or attract customers this way, and 7/10 times, you had better believe that they likely won’t. The possible exceptions do happen, for big name creators but the likes of The Plaza Hotel in New York is a tough sell. 5) Smaller independent properties are often wary of people begging to collaborate. As we saw with the ‘scandal’ with that Irish Hotel who put the KZbinr on blast, they were ‘on-brand’ themselves by being completely abrasive, but the point they made was sound - smaller properties that employ around 20 people and have an equally small number of rooms aren’t in the position to swallow the cost of your stay, not in the way that a bigger hotel with a full marketing team would consider doing. What do I, as a hands-on Marketing Manager look for in a potential collaboration with influencers? 1) You have to be realistic. I would never, and I don’t know of any hotel that will comp a suite for a young couple that has under 80k followers on Instagram or their channel. 2) We do of course look at your socials, so it’s important to state your numbers in your initial pitch to be taken seriously. If it’s KZbin, I look at a minimum of 100k subs and roughly 40k-50k views on your recent videos for bigger properties. These numbers of course will drop for smaller influencers that I can see benefit from. I’ll look at your content and see if you’re hitting the right target audience for me. If your last videos were about makeup, or sports, or a daily routine, I’ll stop. To get the attention of the hotel marketer, don’t make it all about you, but start off talking about what you can do for them. Don’t mention your prices in an initial pitch, but open them up to a discussion. 3) Hotels have been burned in the past, so keep that in mind. That’s why you should avoid buzzwords that can be seen as a complete turnoff. 4) I will look to see how you interact on your other social media platforms. Have you been involved in any ‘scandals’? Will collaborating with you bring my hotel brand any negative press? Do you have a degrading apology video? Have you been involved in any public social media feuds? Have any big KZbinrs covered you in a scandalous or ‘the truth’ kind of way? Do you use curse words on your Twitter feed? Are you involved with any radical causes or movements? (However innocent or worthy you might think they are. If you publicly speak out on certain issues, for example: I once declined a collaboration with a blogger just before contract signing, who was too outspoken on the Hong Kong protests, and my brand had properties and a customer base in China. We won’t touch you with a 12 foot pole. Same with being outspoken about politicians, racial issues on either side, etc.) Have you been accused of anything, or lied about anything? Were you spotted doing Coke in a nightclub? That sort of stuff. Brands need to stay clean and professional, and what’s more, they work with people who operate in the same - clean. 5) Watching a few of your videos at random. Do you do crazy things or behave embarrassingly, foolishly, or in a degrading way in the style of Nikocado Avocado? It’s not going to happen. Do you cover things in the detail that I’d want you to cover this hotel, in previous videos? 6) If I’m going to my directors and pitching you as a possible collaborator, the cost of your stay can often come out of my Marketing budget, it doesn’t just evaporate. If I’m fighting to comp a suite for an influencer, I’m putting my professional reputation on the line in front of my superiors, and of course, I want the best chance at results - direct bookings after the collaboration. Anyone can pick up a camera and take a few shots for their Instagram, or a story, or a KZbin channel, but to comp a suite for a weekend or however long, I look for influencers who are already in the travel, tourism, or hospitality arena.. and there are many. A lot of pitches fail so quickly because we see that you’re not interested in showing our hotel for your channel and your own pocket, but you want a freebie... or a nice background for your Instagram swimsuit shots. 7) The perfect example of a successful influencer that I’d want to work with, if he was in the hotel blogging game, would be Sam Chui. Check out his style and content, he’s a KZbinr with a very successful platform and following in the airline and travel market, and the content of his videos are superb... so much so that he’s fighting collaboration offers away with a shit covered stick. Essentially, I want someone who will blog about the property, go on a sneaky look around, use the spa, use the restaurant, try the room service, use the dry cleaning, use the casino, the infinity pool, the bars, any and all of the things we need you to shout and scream about for us to a relevant target audience, not just one video about the breakfast you ordered while you go around the area as a tourist and then come back to sleep that evening. I want an influencer to make their audience believe in my hotel brand, make it their go-to if it’s an international chain, choose our properties over a cheaper alternative or an AirBnb. Quality Hotels aren’t just somewhere to sleep, if that’s what you as a consumer want they yes, approach an Airbnb or a Novotel. But hotels with amenities are supposed to be an experience in their own right, and I look for people who believe it, and are willing to showcase it. A post here and there does absolutely nothing for my marketing objectives.... it doesn’t deliver results. 8) If you’ve collaborated with a direct competitor in the past, it’s not the end of the world. If I have a contact there, and in the big brands, we’re a tight-knit bunch and move around career-wise, I’ll ask them how you performed for them, what you delivered, essentially an unofficial job reference. 9) If you’re a food blogger then approach about the restaurant specifically. Health and well-being, ask about the fitness facilities and spa. Many hotels open those facilities to PAYG customers, as they’re still a source of revenue. I have collaborated in the past with a fitness blogger, I booked out the whole studio and gym for them to live broadcast their workout content, in which they talked about the property and the relevant fitness and yoga facilities, with their discount code for worldwide properties that were open to the public, and we saw great results. 10) Don’t think you can get away with paying for bot followers either, because for influencers we’re serious about, we look at audience engagement per post, per video. Many try it, but it doesn’t work. 11) I often see people reaching out for collaboration that are following a script. It’s fine to use a template in order to get the gist of what you need to say, but I get 3 or 4 per week that are worded the same; some have odd spacing and others even have different fonts where they add their own information is. This is the biggest slap in the face, and I see such people as careless, and that have no real interest in working in collaboration. I’d say that you should treat the proposal like your CV... and that means wording it all yourself. If you don’t know what to say after reading templates and advice, plus your own insertions and formatting... how do I know that you’ll give the care and attention that my brand deserves? I mentioned that hotels have been burned before; they want everything I mentioned above, but rarely get it despite contracts and SLAs being outlined. We put effort in for each other’s benefit. Hope these hints help! If there’s one key takeaway for anyone reading this, it’s that we know when you’re sniffing around for nothing more than a free stay, and we despise it... because it’s insulting.

[@leandrawilliams5596]

This is great advice. Thank you for sharing.

[@EmperorMingg]

@@leandrawilliams5596 you’re most welcome!

[@hicksa1]

This was amazing information! Thank you for taking the time to post!

[@EmperorMingg]

@@hicksa1 it was my pleasure!

[@EmperorMingg]

I feel like I forgot to add that - smaller channels or influencers that I can see value from. Since writing this, I’ve worked with one of two that have surprised me - it doesn’t matter if your channel is about makeup or football, but if you have a large enough audience then I would work with you in a more aligned way: say, there was a game on and if your followers booked at a certain property near the stadium, there would happen to be a 10% discount code that you could share with your followers on that weekend. I wasn’t suggesting that topical channels become immediately irrelevant. Also, check any contracts with an attorney if you can. I wouldn’t be sneaky but I know a lot of people that bank on influencers not knowing much about contract law. I always tell collabs to read it several times and get a fresh set of eyes over it, come back to me within a week if they don’t understand anything, and seek independent counsel. Brands have been known to write clauses that mean you owe them money (or the cost of your stay) if you don’t meet certain SLAs. It’s sneaky, but it happens - and every initial you do on a page of a contract is your written acknowledgment of everything on that page. The signature at the end is your agreement to everything you’ve seen… so be thorough!

[@travelswithmbali]

3 years later and this is still one of the most informative videos on this topic. Thank you so much 💓

[@BreannaQ]

Thank you so much ! I am working model for about 5 years now and I been wanting so travel influencing for years ! This video was extremely helpful and I will be looking to purchase the templates soon ! 😍 So excited !

[@abbiefisher8026]

Love this video! It’s helped me so much and had given me the confidence to finally start reaching out to brands!💓💓

[@VersastyleV25]

How did it go?

[@MontelleBee]

Amazing, have you reached out to any yet?

[@4Myami]

Went and purchased the pitch kit within 5 minutes of watch the video. Love to support thriving young women 💪🏽

[@MontelleBee]

🤍🤍🤍

[@victoria.breyer]

Your scarf is so pretty! Thanks for the help. I've learned more in this video than others.

[@iidasmaa]

*this video is so informative and helpful!!* pitching isn't talked about very much on youtube, so it was super interesting hearing more about it!

[@MontelleBee]

Glad this video helped! You can purchase the pitching kit bundle here: bit.ly/2LWvJ6F or check out my giveaway that ends tomorrow 😬💖

[@theheartoftexastv]

@@MontelleBee I cannot seem to pay with PayPal on your bundle. You have it listed as a form of payment however I cannot seem to pay with it

[@MontelleBee]

@@theheartoftexastv hey love! Sorry about this. This issue should now be resolved so please try again 😊

[@beckyguerrier]

I just got your templates, can't wait to utilize it. What a great resource! Thanks in advance!

[@karysegocoul4236]

I have a question. Would you pitch to work with them as an Influencer or as a UGC Creator or BOTH? Would you also request a free stay or free stay and payment as well?

[@Travelwithchris]

Very good video! Don't know why this doesn't have more views!

[@remiolagoke]

Your site says "account is suspended" when I click the link

[@koce1313]

Same :c

[@millennialmommoneymagnet3340]

Great video. I never knew of the social bluebook. I'll look into that. Thank you.

[@kerimcnatt1772]

I love your voice and your energy girl you’re so beautiful inside and out. One constructive thing I would suggest is not using the pop sound effects it was so distracting and a little loud with headphones. I had to rewind it to what you said.

[@BerniceTaylorFitness]

Love, love the way you presented this. Thank you!

[@ChristineLozada]

thanks this was helpful! i’m a new travel vlogger and am starting to hear from brands but realized i need to be pitching THEM!

[@solo.life.travels7215]

Congratulations! How man....but followers do u have

[@TheCherysTv]

Hello ! Is the pitching template still available?

[@FLYLUSI]

Hey the pitching link isn't working... hw do i find it

[@imanbenetlewis6365]

Is this asset still available ? I would like to purchase

[@Tamaranji43]

hi, is your kit still available?

[@AshleyNoSwiper]

Your video is literally answer all the questions I had

[@MontelleBee]

So happy to hear that!!

[@manalh159]

I couldn't reach to the pitching kit, there is something wrong in the website.

[@geauxariel]

For some reason I can not purchase the templates. It’s only giving me to GBP option and I need USD. 😔 Any who, thank you very much for this video!

[@Lucy-op6zr]

You’re killing it with these videos 👏🏾💫

[@MontelleBee]

Lucy M Ah thanks love! 🙏🏾❤️

[@rinainlondon8]

Very well said

[@Shein2508]

I’m so glad you did this video. Very helpful information. I’m Travel blogger I find this very useful. Thank you for sharing this 💕

[@MontelleBee]

Zandi Travel No problem! Glad you found this useful. I’d really appreciate if you could share this video ❤️

[@Shein2508]

MONTZXO no problem I shared on instagram and I will do the same. Supporting one other. Together we grow 🙏🏾

[@MontelleBee]

Definitely ❤️

[@ossamaalnuwaiser6574]

How to open up and say what you want to charge them?

[@Nemyinspired]

My time wasn't wasted!!!

[@MontelleBee]

🤍🤍🤍

[@reinadenova]

Thank you very helpful!

[@CharlesKellam]

THANK YOU LORDESS !

[@HannahAlexanderia]

I WANT THIS

[@ladyfitness67]

Thank you 🙏🏾

[@oliviajonale]

Thank you Montelle Bee

[@MontelleBee]

🤍

[@SmellGoodTravelWell]

OMG! THANKS SO MUCH!

[@ally8604]

That was super helpful thank you so much.

[@FrameAmbitiontv]

Thank you for this Montelle! 💖

[@WandaResende]

Thank you beautiful

[@anjelpinero]

awesome video!!

[@CharityRay]

Your pitching kit link is broken babe

[@victoriapeters628]

I want this

[@tutajuliet2776]

Thanks for this

[@the.soup.troupe6192]

Thank you for the inspiration!

[@MontelleBee]

No problem 😌

[@kmink1727]

This great ... very helpful

[@NandapelosAyres]

it just gave me the confidence i needed. Many thanks =)

[@queenamedome]

Hello, the link to purchase isn’t working

[@MontelleBee]

Hey my love! Extremely sorry about this. I changed my domain name which caused issues. Here's the link www.montellebee.com/product/the-pitching-kit/

[@officialthetravellifestyle]

Thanks for the info ! I tried the link but it doesn't work

[@MontelleBee]

Hey my website is under construction until later! I’ll send you the link very soon!

[@officialthetravellifestyle]

Montelle Bee Ok cool I’ll be on the lookout for it 💯

[@SoulQueenWu]

This is so helpful! Thank you so much!

[@MontelleBee]

No problem love 🥰

[@kheziadaley4254]

Smashing it ✨💖

[@MontelleBee]

Thanks girl 💖💖

[@lidiakalinowska4044]

This is really good, thanks! It would be even more useful to have like 5 steps to pitching etc... to break down your video a bit :) would be easier to follow for me personally.

[@MontelleBee]

Hey, I did layout the steps in this video. The steps are: Pre Pitch Soft Pitch Pitch Follow Up Sorry if you found this hard to follow! Maybe my pitching templates bundle would help x x

[@shermainecraigwell2492]

@@MontelleBee hey sweets, can you spare a book?

[@temitayofraser]

What of when a brand (Realestate) reaches out to you and then at first clearly state they want to pay you, but later on don’t pay you.!

[@ladyfitness67]

Thank you. I’ve been wanting to know how to collaborate, as a newly re-erected small YT.

[@krisapkris]

youre so cute! love the way youre talking :)

[@MontelleBee]

Ahh thank you ha :)

[@Ishtarthemoon]

your account has been suspended hun?

[@MontelleBee]

I've changed my website provider - the pitching kit will be back soon :)

[@andressawow3521]

Great Video! IG: andressawow

[@kmbrly222]

this is so informative thank you!