There are some bloggers who are able to avail sponsorship from brands within months of entering in this creative industry.
How some bloggers are successful, while some aren’t?
It might be because, those who’ve just started thinking it to be their full time business, they’ve generally sacrificed something, like job or any other financial opportunity. This means they’re more willing to take the risk. Taking risk increases the chance of profit and so of losses. If they’re able to succeed, they win the fortune of big sums of money otherwise, they’ve nothing left (in terms of financial security). Though, working on it as a side hustle can ensure your financial security and you can make it full time when you’ve stability of earnings in this field, but generally, such blogs grow at slow pace.
Requirement of Networking
Another factor which can be considered is Networking. You can do it both on the scale of offline and online. In online context, it is easier, but is risky as well (for your personal safety). Anyways, I sometimes leave comments on some credible blogs which are a bit known to me.
As I’m a blogger based in Muzaffarnagar (Don’t expect me to tell the whole postal address, I’m not kind enough), it’s not feasible enough for me to maintain my offline networks with fellow bloggers. I guess, I’m the only professional blogger of the city ( Many people keep on trying, I’m not counting them; I’m talking in context of the level of monetisation and keeping aside the big news websites etc.)
For networking, you need to be in contact with other bloggers and know about what they’re writing about, the scenario and trends.
Many brands organise meets to encourage networking in lieu of promoting themselves. Many media companies are on the same track these days but they’re usually in big cities. I’m not interested in store launches anyway. I was once invited to a bloggers’ workshop in Meerut and I even remember the date, it was 21st July 2018. I was desiring to attend that. But, do you know what, it wasn’t feasible. Meerut is 57.7 km away from Muzaffarnagar, which means around Rs.500 spent on fuel and Rs.500 was the fee of workshop. So it’s not easy for a small town blogger to maintain offline networks.
Brands I would love to work with
If I must tell you what my friend asked me a few days ago, he asked if I would like to work with luxury brands; I denied as I wish to work with holistic or eco-friendly brands or at least some brands which have an off-the-beat concept. I often see the products of same brands with many bloggers which have ditto stats like mine. Look! There’s no uniqueness of content. I really don’t know why but I have a craze for holistic living. You can see my instagram profile in which I’ve shared several holistic changes which I’ve made in myself in the past few months.
Yes, earning money is the motive of this blog as without it, it might be a disgrace to your talent, but when I started blogging, this wasn’t in my mind. So what I want to tell you is that I won’t like to show what I ain’t. I would like to review only those products, I would approve of.
If you’re a brand or a representative and you think that you meet the criteria, you can email me at shivsangal@gmail.com for business.
Case1: A established unprofessional blogger.
I followed a blogger on twitter around two months ago. She posted a tweet stating that she would like to get her ebook reviewed. I posted an enquiry. She immediately emailed it to me. Let me tell you, that was a cheap ebook, with literally no theme ( she discussed her favourite things in A to Z sequence), still it was gracefully written.
It was agreed, that I would provide a blogpost, a tweet and a review on Goodreads. After tweeting and giving a review on goodreads. I asked her the price of the ebook before writing the blogpost as it was required to be mentioned.
She said it was free. I was literally mixed with the emotions and laughter. Should I really write the reviews of free products? Why would we review those products which are so easily available for free? I immediately replied that I won’t blog about it as I only review paid products which hold some value.
She said, she has another ebook to offer for review (which was free as well). I replied again that I review only the products for sale. I further said that I can review her paid paperback books (Got to know from her profile) if she likes.
She said that to review them, I must buy them. Man!! I was astonished that a woman who is blogging since 2004 (it’s one and a half decade) can be so unprofessional.
If I were supposed to supposed to review her paid book, she was supposed to send it to me for free and get the deliverables in exchange or she should have sent some monetary fees if required.
But this is worth thinking, why would I bother to buy that book, if I was supposed to review it. Even if I buy that book, why would I bother to review it as I’m not paid, neither in the form of money nor with any other deliverables.
Difference between a blogger and an influencer
To all the bloggers/influencers out here, I want to tell you something. Blogger and influencer are two different terms. Influencers are those people who make use of social media handles to share their opinions. While, Bloggers are those who make use of a blog or website to share their opinions.
An influencer with a blog can be called a blogger. A blogger with a good hand on social media can be called an influencer as well.
Think about why are brands willing to collaborate?
Bloggers must understand that there are a lot of costs involved by the brand; The cost of product, profit margin, packaging and postal expenses to name a few, while some bloggers have no regard to it. They just think of it as a free product.
If you see every other person on instagram becoming an influencer, this must be the reason. They’re tempted for free products.
What all of the people must realize is that brands are not collaborating with bloggers just because they’ve got money and stock in excess so that they must dispose it off in some way. It’s because they’re attracted by a certain blogger’s profile and they find him capable of delivering good content so as to promote the prospective product to the predefined audience.
So you see, in this online creative industry credibility, stability and honesty are a must for everyone.
