This panel is on Building a business with your blog. The panel included speakers Adam Rich, Cofounder of Thrillist.com, Stephanie/Erin of The Coveteur, Lisa, Head of Marketing for Express, Rodger, President of Rachel Zoe.Lisa of Express says in order to build your business - you need to be true to yourself. Even though it's hard sometimes, especially when everyone has to pay bills. You have to be strategic enough to realize that whatever you do today will affect how big you will be in the future. It's really important to stay true to who you are. As bloggers, we are going to partner with brands and we will have an opinion. Lisa believes we need to be strategic in communication. Don't boast about a brand you don't believe in, but do be careful how you approach it. It's a pretty "small" industry. Be true to who you are, but be careful. You don't want to bash a company, because other companies might see that and be afraid to work with you.
Stephanie and Erin originally started as a site, a place to come, a museum, a website only for viewing. They started realizing they wanted to make money by selling clothes... so they launched e-commerce so you could shop looks and get the exact item of clothing or something similar that you see. They were very hesitant to post ads on their site at first. They wanted to keep their website clean and aesthetically pleasing. They were looking for other ways to integrate advertising rather than banner ads... which is definitely appealing to some. They were trying to figure out alternate ways of creating a revenue. You can be a little sneaky with advertising without selling out. Although you don't want to trick anyone, you do want to make a good business.How do you keep track of books and taxes? Erin and Stephanie recommend outsourcing! They had their mom help. It's okay to work out of your apartment, to get help from your parents, to hire someone to help you. You don't have to be superwoman. It's okay to be humble. It's okay to work out of a space that might not be your dream office! Starting out... expect to be at the bottom and be humble about it.
Lisa believes we own content. We all have our own original content. Lisa from Express is always looking for content - as well as many other brands. Partnering together is a way to grow your content. If you're passionate about your business, you need to get really involved. You really need to believe in what you have to say. If this is a business you're looking to grow into - realize it's a small industry and you need to think long term. Especially with the internet, people remember what you say... so many people can read what you have to say. You have a huge reach, so be careful with your words!
Rodger says just because you're out there... doesn't mean you'll look attractive to a brand. Bloggers need to present content to brands and try and think of new ways of collaborating together. Bloggers sometimes get so upset that companies aren't approaching them. You aren't the only blogger out there! You have to be aggressive. Think of all of the go-getters out there who are emailing brands, emailing companies, putting their name out. You can't sit around and wait for brands to approach you. You won't get far!
What makes a good partner? Adam says the the first thing is a likewise audience, not a competitive one. You want to make sure the people you are reaching will like your message. Sometimes you don't want to partner with people who are covering the same exact thing you are covering. You don't want to step on anyone's toes in a partnership. Relationships with brands need to be mutually beneficial.
It is important to partner with people with complementary audiences. That's why networking with other bloggers is so important! We'll be talking more about this in future posts, but this definitely pertains to building your blog as a business! Trade sponsorships or ads with bloggers that have a similar readership to you. It's not fair for you to approach a blogger who has 10,000 followers and you have 100 followers and ask them to trade ad space. But try reaching out to a blogger who has 150 followers and asking to trade ad space. That's a mutually beneficial relationship!
