By: The Honest Company Top Photo by Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit
At The Honest Company, we get numerous inquiries about guest blogging for Honestly. We really appreciate working with contributors that stand out from the crowd because it keeps content fresh and allows us to build relationships with bloggers. So, how do you write for a business? Based on our experience, here are five steps you can take on the successful road to being a guest blogger for your favorite brand.
Do your research. While customers and fans make the best brand ambassadors, knowing the company’s products is only part of the equation. Before crafting your pitch, familiarize yourself with the company’s mission and voice. Subscribe to its blog or actively read posts for a few days to get a feel for the variety and style of content published. Then, craft your pitch with this in mind.
At The Honest Company, we look for guest contributions that align with our goals of providing readers with useable information regarding healthy, natural, and stylish living — and showcases the blogger’s talents. It’s especially impressive when a blogger boldly suggests an idea she thinks is missing in our editorial lineup that would round out the reader experience.
Find the right person to pitch. Visit the company’s blog, look for the “Contact Us” page, and reach out to the e-mail address provided there. If the company doesn’t provide a blog-specific contact, look for the e-mail address of the in-house PR manager. Finally, if those roads lead to nowhere, reach out via the brand’s general media inquiries channel. Your pitch will find its way into the right hands.
Before hitting send, make sure your e-mail also introduces your blog and social media channels, includes links to a few sample posts (provide one that is similar in scope to your pitch), and a media kit. And don’t forget to personalize it! Content managers receive numerous inquiries each day, so this is an easy way to stand out from the crowd of boilerplate messages.
When you get a “yes.” They love your idea. Now what do you do? If the company doesn’t automatically share this information with you, send a follow-up note asking about:
- Editorial and style guidelines
- Word count
- Creative asset formatting (e.g., minimum pixel width)
- Deadline(s)
Armed with this general information, you can focus your attention on what really matters — delivering a polished post that requires little to no editing. It’s really appreciated when a contributor hyperlinks where appropriate throughout her post. For example, if you cite a study or adapt a recipe, link to it so the content manager doesn’t have to search for the source. Provide original photography or artwork to accompany the post. And include any links to your blog and social media channels, so the company can tag you in promotion of your post.
“No” sometimes means “not right now.” At Honest, we finalize our editorial calendar a few months in advance. So, we often have to pass on a pitch because the timing isn’t right. In this case, it never hurts to ask the content manager for insight regarding the upcoming themes slated and pitch a holiday post as early as September.
Join Us for Alt Chat Wednesday: Building an Online Community
Growing and nurturing a thriving online community takes work. Join the Alt community and The Honest Company this Wednesday morning at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET for an hour-long chat about community. Honest will be giving one lucky participant a Family Essentials Bundle. Simply follow along by searching for the #AltChat hashtag on your favorite Twitter client. Participate by answering questions posed by @AltSummit and including both the #AltChat and #HonestatAlt hashtags.
Want to win a Family Essentials Bundle from Honest? Here are the details:
- Join the #AltChat on August 6 from 9 – 10 AM PDT, if you can.
- Every tweet using the hashtags #AltChat and #HonestatAlt will be entered to win the bundle. You can tweet once or tweet 17 times, each is another chance to win.
- Tweet all day! All tweets related to and using the hashtags #AltChat #HonestatAlt will be entered to win from 9 AM – 5 PM PDT. You must use both hashtags.
- One winner will be randomly selected and announced on Twitter Wednesday night before midnight PDT. The winner will also be listed here.
This post was sponsored by The Honest Company.
