Why pitch? What to pitch? How to pitch? We explore your ideas, how to pitch to brands and why to do it on the Freestak platform.

Advertising is changing. People don’t want to be talked at, they want to be talked with. Consumers recognise explicit brand messaging. Stories and engaging in conversations are winning marketing experiences, not calls to action which are explicitly transactional. Brands are increasingly recognising this and are looking to partner with influential content creators to help them tell stories in an authentic way. This is where you, the bloggers, vloggers and joggers (maybe not joggers) come into their own. Brands need stories and they need your help to tell them. At Freestak we understand that, which is why we created a way for you to showcase your stories and seek out the brands to help you tell them.

Why to pitch to brands?

One of the great features of the Freestak platform is the ability to showcase your challenges, expeditions and adventures to brands that you want to collaborate with. Who doesn’t want loads of gear and brand support to help with their adventure? Right? There are a range of rewards on offer from brands on the Freestak platform, depending on your expedition.

These might range from:

• Products
• Financial support
• Opportunity to guest blog
• Assistance with asset creation
• Exposure on brand social channels
• Publicity and help with fundraising
• Partnership with affiliate brands
• Support and advice from sponsored athletes

Cool huh? There’s more. What pitching to a brand allows you to do is effectively design a marketing campaign. You’ve set the challenge and therefore can control the level of support you need. Provided you agree a brand’s output requirements, you can ask of them what you need to support you on your venture. Think mutually beneficial and you’re on to a winner.

What brands look for?

A story. A really engaging story that helps the brand deliver its message, its raison d’être and demonstrate its products in an authentic way. We have had some super cool challenges on the platform that have sought out support from brands. Some are tough. Some are whacky. All are awesome and attracting brand interest. Among them:

• Cycling solo from London to Italy for pizza
• Running 1000km across mountain ranges in Kyrgyzstan
• Climbing the unexplored walls of arctic Norway

It is a two-way street however, and brands will look to you to specify the deliverables of your campaign. And we don’t mean how many slices you can wolf down when you get to Naples. Brands will look for coverage whilst you’re on your trip. This might be explicit, it might be subtle. It will likely involve a keyword, hashtag, product imagery, story-telling experience and most importantly, an agreed level of content. This might be tweets, posts, vlogs, insta’s, snaps… Think about what you might need to deliver. Do some research and then chat to the brand in question (you can do this on the platform too via our intercom system).

Lastly, and this is maybe the most important bit, don’t forget that a brand will likely choose to partner with you for two key reasons. Because you embody what they stand, how you reflect their own ethos. For example, if you are pitching at Patagonia, your quest might want to involve some idea of how your trip will showcase the environment or sustainability. And then because of your talent. Not your talent as a cyclist, climber, runner, base-jumper – although that’s important, we mean because of your content creation skills. Think:

• Social Media Guru
• Blogging Fanatic
• SEO Expert
• Photographic Genius
• Video Creation and Editing
• Engaged Community

 

How can Freestak help?

Brands that are engaged on the Freestak platform understand the emergence and importance of influencer marketing. They are early adopters, want creative ideas and willing to have conversations about well-crafted, well-researched and well-broadcast campaigns. And they will offer their support in return. The great thing about the Freestak platform is that there is a one-page creation process where you can showcase, advertise and pitch your ideas. It’s easy. No need to waste time researching who to pitch to and in what way. Also, brands can come and find you. #Winning.

‘The Freestak platform is a really exciting initiative because it offers me a one-stop-shop to engage with brands, build my profile and find new opportunities. Previously this is something I’ve done manually and can be hard to keep track of.’

– SOPHIE RADCLIFFE, ENDURANCE ATHLETE AND BLOGGER

*****

Content Creator? Influencer/Blogger? Have an adventure, challenge, expedition? Want brand support?
Join Freestak by signing up to our platform.