An *Exclusive* Invitation to Promote Me

Dear [family friendly brand],

I saw your product once and couldn’t help but fall in love with it. I can tell you had families just like mine in mind when you created it. Kudos — for the brand you’ve built and the social influence you’ve gained in doing so.

Since you love kids and moms and all things family life, I’d like to invite you to become part of an elite group — The You Should Be Reading Using Our Words Ambassador Program. I’m only reaching out to my very favorite brands, so of course you came to mind.

To participate, all you need to do is:
• Post original content about Using Our Words — and how my unique spin on family life is just one of the many reasons you should be reading it — on your product’s website 2 times per month.
• Promote the posts through your social media channels with a minimum of: 1 Facebook post, 1 Instagram post, 2 tweets, and 3 pins on various Pinterest boards. (All using the hashtag #YouShouldBeReadingUsingOurWords. And, if I happen to see it, I’ll even retweet you!)

In return, you’ll receive:
• A special badge to display on your site. I know you’ll want all of your consumers to see that you’ve been selected for this exclusive partnership with a slightly popular blog in the parenting space!
• An exciting opportunity to be featured on the Using Our Words Facebook page. Yes, you’ll be entered into a drawing along with all of the program’s participants, and two(!) brands will be chosen at random to be highlighted to 10% of the page’s followers (thanks to Facebook’s wonky algorithms).
• Exclusive interviews with my entertaining and insightful family including me, Big, Little, and Pink. (Sorry, Lenny fans, I’ll be speaking for him in this case, too.) I’m confident that your consumers will absolutely love hearing Pink’s 20-minute analysis on whether it will or will not be raining on her 3^rd birthday!
• The best part? Even more can’t-miss opportunities are in the works!

As you know, your loyal consumers are always looking for new ways to laugh at all of parenting’s ups and downs, so not only will you be building your brand by partnering with Using Our Words, you’ll be doing good for the dedicated community you’ve spent years and years building.

RSVP Now! This opportunity is limited to a small, exclusive group of family friendly brands, and I don’t want you to miss out. Because I know how valuable your time is, and you may not have even the 5 minutes it takes to read this email once, I’ll be sure to follow up at least three times this week if I don’t hear back from you right away.

I’m so excited that in no time we’ll be Using Our Words — together!!

(PLEASE NOTE: If this program isn’t a fit for your brand, please feel free to forward this invitation to any other family friendly brands you know.)

From tears to cheers,
Amy Heinz
Chief Wordsmith, Using Our Words
https://usingourwords.com
http://facebook.com/usingourwords
http://twitter.com/usingourwords
http://instagram.com/usingourwords
http://pinterest.com/usingourwords
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmyHeinz/
#YouShouldBeReadingUsingOurWords

 

Note to my non-blogger readers for context (if you’re even still reading): I get anywhere from 25-50 email pitches every day from brands asking me to write about them — mostly for free, though sometimes it’s in exchange for a bag of chips or a sample of lotion. The vast majority of the brands aren’t a great fit for anything I write about (meaning it would be anything you’d want to read), so it’s quite obvious that they got (or bought) my contact information from a long list of bloggers.

I’m certainly not trying to shame these folks, just giving them some food for thought by turning the tables. It’s my belief that any sort of partnership should be mutually beneficial. It’s up to each individual blogger to decide what’s beneficial to their own brand, so that doesn’t mean exclusively paid opportunities. There’s value in community, exposure, exclusive content, product samples, and more.

Many brands are doing this well, and those are the ones you’re most likely to see here on Using Our Words. I like to think that the Yahoo! Mother Board was a great example of a blogger program (from its inception through the time I was running the group, at least). Hopefully more brands will take the time to get to know bloggers who truly represent their brands and invest in those voices to share their message rather than sending blanket pitches in the hopes that someone — anyone — will respond.

But hey, maybe I’m wrong. If this is working for them, maybe it will work for me too!