All the Ways to Influence: Brand Repping, Collab’ing, and Affiliate Marketing
This article has been stuck on the backburner for a year. It’s been on my mind since last fall, after a scurrilous interaction with a “reputable” company. I’ve made it my point to encourage friends and followers to blog, be it about wooden toys or gentle parenting etc. I have ushered people into this space, but haven’t given them the methods by which they can protect themselves and their interests.
When it comes to a content creator, there are a plethora of different types of relationships one can have with a business or maker. I’m using content creator to cover a wide range of professions. This article applies to you, whether you’re Tik Tok famous or starting your own blog, whether you have a loyal IG following, or you’re writing articles for a publication. Niche isn’t important in this article either. I’ve seen these terms across all industries.
There are several ways to go about it – but the root of my advice is “get paid”. The work that you do is visible and valuable. It is time that you took out of your day, and therefore you deserve compensation. You wouldn’t believe how many women I have to talk into advocating for their own recompense. It’s endemic to our gender. But that’s another article for another time.
The way, how, and why you are paid depends on your size and your channel. Obviously, a creator with 200 followers on Instagram can’t command as much compensation as say, a Tiktoker with 2 million followers. I think we all understand that. However, both creators deserve to be paid. There in lies the disconnect with some shops and makers. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s establish some basic definitions.
There are a regular multitude of types of business relationships in this space. Here are some of the more popular kinds. Please note that these definitions are my own. They are garnered from nearly 5 years in the industry. However, no one said I’m the end all, be all resource in this space. You may encounter a shop using these words in a different matter. What follows are MY definitions.
- Brand Rep(resentative)
- Brand Enthusiast
- Collab
- Brand Ambassador
- Affiliate
A Brand Rep(resentative) is one of the more common occupations on the list. A brand rep is usually hired for a set period of time (oftentimes seasonal) and generally are paid in product and/or a product discount. The value for the company is that they are getting advertising for very little actual money. The value for the rep is that they are getting free product, while also taking advantage of the company’s network, everytime their content is reshared. Most companies find a way to track their rep’s efficiency with the use of discount codes. Each rep will have a specific discount code to share with their following. It becomes an easy metric to track. However, most brand reps are not compensated monetarily for sales they generate.
A less used occupation is Brand Enthusiast. It is generally the same as a brand rep, but they usually have a smaller following. They receive less product and may receive less of a discount. Back in the Stone Age, when I had about 400 followers, I was a Brand Enthusiast for a small maker’s shop. I had applied to be a brand rep, but I wasn’t a huge account. I think BE was a way for her to keep my enthusiasm going for her shop, without denying me and ruining the relationship. But who knows lol. She’s doing great, I’m doing great…so no hard feelings.
While they sound similiar, a Brand Ambassador is completely different. Generally, a Brand Ambassador is usually paid monetarily for a set amount of time. What I mean is that they are usually given a lump sum for an agreed upon amount of content. You’ll find most celebrity endorsements fall under the BA definition. They usually get a discount code to share with their following/community and don’t generally receive compensation for generated sales. A Brand Ambassador and a Brand Representative mostly differ in compensation and the time in which they’re hired. Reps usually finding seasonal employ, Ambassadors much smaller time frames.
A “collab” is more a verb than a noun, but I felt like it was an honorable mention. When small shops approach you to “collab”, it’s generally a one time instance. The most common examples are in the baby/child clothing realm. Small makers will reach out and ask to “collab”, which usually results in them sending free product and expecting an agreed upon amount of images. The more…scrupulous ask you to pay for shipping of the product.
Finally, the position that I think is most beneficial for both sides of the relationship: the affiliate. An affiliate doesn’t usually have a set time frame. Most often, they’re given a personal discount code and a smaller public discount code to share with their viewers (ask me about that one time some random guessed a colleague’s affiliate code and went ham at one of the stores I work with…don’t do that…they almost closed down the whole sha-bang). Anywho, an affiliate is compensated monetarily for their generated sales. Some affiliate programs that I have worked with, have sent us free items every season or so. This is smart. It’s much easier to promote a company you have a lot of product with, integrating it into both staged and candid shots.
Personally, I think at a certain level of the game, you would only pursue affiliate marketing or brand ambassadorships, as these two are the ones most often involved in monetary compensation. However, brand rep’ing is a great way to expand your audience and refine your craft. It’s also a great way to supplement product for your niche, be it wooden toys or baby bows. Please take this paragraph with a grain of salt. Everyone is worthy of compensation. Your time is valuable and I urge everyone, but especially women, in this industry to sit up and advocate for themselves.
The downsides of the brand rep/enthusiast game is there is generally a great deal of work expected for very little product in exchange. I worked under one UK based toy company for a smidge. I was so excited to represent them. I was fresh on the scene and though they had a really great business concept. I didn’t bother reading the fine print. Six weeks later, I was positively exhausted. One of their requirements was interaction with their daily Instagram and Facebook post. Meaning, I needed to take time each day to hunt down both posts and comment. And they were keeping track. I missed about 20% and I was called to the table to explain myself. They also were very keen that we “fulfill our buying requirements”, which is another seedy aspect. Most makers/companies will require you purchase a certain amount of product in a certain time period. Most of the time, this isn’t done with malintent, but I’ve seen clothing makers supplement their whole business by utilizing a huge group of reps who were cajoled into buying. You’ll want to make sure that the company has more customers than just their brand reps. Long story short, I ended up quitting halfway through my rep term.
The second toy “company” I ever worked for, I was wholesale taken advantage of. I generated $10000’s of revenue and since she had no tracking system set up, I had to rely on her honesty and crappy accounting. I had been keeping track on my end, but when confronted about the discrepancy between our numbers, she had no idea what I was talking about. This business owner slowly stopped fulfilling general orders in a timely manner and used me as a face to deliver her lies. She ended up not fulfilling my daughter’s birthday orders and I had to cut ties. She since went out of business. It’s easy to see now that she took advantage of me, but at the time I was startstruck.
My last bad story involves a company for which I wrote a full length article (now removed) regarding a roughly $300 product, received for free. This reasonably well known children’s furniture manufacturer started out the relationship by requiring I leave a positive Amazon review. Thankfully, I had the product for a solid 3 hours, so I had nothing negative to say. Before we worked together, I stipulated that pictures would never include my daughter’s face. The back of her body, her hair, her little hands, fair game. But her likeness would never be part of the photos. They acknowledged and understood.
Or so I thought.
Three weeks later, I get a request to send in black and white photos of my daughter playing with their item. I sent a few, without faces of course. They came back and said that without her face, the photos weren’t practical for their purposes. I reiterated my stance and they pushed the matter…aggressively. I stopped responding. About a week later the product started growing mold under the wood sealant. I went back and edited my Amazon review to include that relevant information. They’ve since blocked me.
So how does one protect themselves and establish good business relationships? Follow these simple rules:
- Get everything in writing. I don’t care how good of friends you are. Get the requirements, payment terms, etc in writing. I had a great experience with Wilder Witch Woods. Naomi put everything in writing, and pinned our terms at the top of a Whatsapp group chat for easy reference. When we had a miscommunication, she was a straight shooter and we easily resolved the problem. It was…smooth as butter.
- Keep communication open with whoever your liaison is. Going to miss a week or two because of a surgery? Let them know. Don’t just drop off the face of the earth.
- Start paying attention to “rep search” fine print. Is the one you’re applying to, lowballing you?
- Underpromise and overdeliver. Don’t say you can do something and struggle to complete it.
- Ensure their customer base isn’t entirely made of Brand Reps.
- Don’t work for every company under the sun. Choose two or three good companies and go from there. The quality goes down when you attempt to cater to half a dozen bosses, and they can always tell. Don’t be Rachel of 2019, struggling to keep her commitments straight.
- Work with a company that takes an active role in communicating with their team. A great example of this is Maple + Lark. I always know when there’s a huge sale coming. They’re in our (rep team) inbox, with new graphics, verbiage, and details, so we can start spreading the word to our following.
But, Rachel. I want to be an affiliate. Where do you sign up for these things? I’m glad you asked, Karen. Here’s a few of my favorite companies.
Links:
Shareasale (Sign up to earn commission under The Natural Baby Co, Kindred Bravely, Green Kid Crafts)
Awin (Sign up to earn commision on AliExpress, Etsy, Ravensburger, amongst others)
Have you signed up and don’t know how to start creating content? Get yourself over to Replica Surfaces. Yes, I’m an affiliate there too, lol. Their Stands are perfect for creating beautiful and unique content that will help you stand out in any rep search. Use this link below:
Replica Surfaces – You can use Photos12 for 12% off your order at Replica Surfaces.
Replica Surfaces and the accompanying Studio make it so I can take beautiful photos while in my less than *aesthetic* home. It also helps that the founder, Mandy Gleason, also has a photography course that I’ve been working my way through. Learning staging and lighting from a pro has been a game changer!
Leave a Comment