How do I get work with brands?

Whether you’re a model, photographer on influencer, making money and getting work through social media is going to be a key aspect of your job. In this day and age, it’s difficult not to! Obviously being an influencer, you’re main income is going to come from collaborations or work for brands. As a model, growing an Instagram account can be really beneficial, and it will help getting work with both photographers and brands. As a photographer, social media is a chance to showcase your talent to a huge audience, and collaborate with brands to earn more money!

Where do I find brands to work with?

Social media. Easy as anything. Personally, I use Instagram and the wonderful world of google to find my brands. I get quite a lot of sponsored posts on my news feed because of the way I use Instagram, which is hugely beneficial to me as it means I don’t need to go searching too far to find brands to contact! From there, I can find more brands on the suggested tabs. If brands follow me, I always email them and usually I get a reply, which is great!

Just searching on google is another great way to find brands. Searching, for example, ‘top 20 UK clothing brands’ and then finding them on Instagram is a really easy way to find more brands.

How do I go about contacting brands?

Email them. You can’t wait for brands to just contact you, because unless you’ve got over 100,000, realistically they’re not going to come looking for you. Most companies have their contact information on their Instagram page, and if not it will be on their website, so it’s more than easy to find out an email address. Just send them an email explaining who you are and what you offer and hopefully they’ll get back to you!

But no one’s responding to me…

It’s not going to work like clockwork. I email so many brands to get work, and only a very small percentage will get back to me, and then an even smaller percentage will actually say they’re willing to pay to work with me. Offering free services to start your collaboration is a great way to create a working relationship that might lead to them paying you for your services further down the line. I always say that even if a brand doesn’t have a social media budget to spend, I will always post stories on my Instagram in return for them sending over products. If your stories get loads of views, this can be really beneficial for them, and then you’ll probably get a paid collaboration with them in the near future.

All in all, you’ve got to put in the work to find the brands to work with. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got 5000 or 50000 followers, you can still find work on social media, you’ve just got to go out and get it! If you’ve got any tips on how to find work on social media, let me know in the comments!

Working with Boomer and Jen Organic Clothing

Recently I did some work for a great clothing company called Boomer and Jen where I went to Abbeyford Woods in Okehampton, and to Exeter to get a set of 10 photos, some of which I would post on my Instagram page. Will Lamerton came on the shoots and took the photos for me, which was lovely of him.

Boomer and Jen is an organic clothing company which focus on sustainable 100% cotton clothing. They’re based in Devon, so the fact that they were local and have a great ethos made me want to work with them. I was so happy when they reached out to me as from a first glance I could tell they were a great brand. Their clothing designs are also great and promote messages of environmental friendliness; they have a range of clothes for men, women and kids, along with some reusable bags as well, which are always useful.

We chose Abbeyford woods for one of the shoot locations, as it links into the sustainable natural side of the brand, and it is just such a beautiful area of Devon. It’s quite a small forest but is perfect for photoshoots seeing as though theres a road nearby, so it is easy to get to, and it is fairly flat ground. The trees are also really tall and look great in the background of pictures. Luckily it wasn’t too cold the day of the shoot, and wasn’t raining like it usually does in the UK!

We chose Exeter as the other location for the photos, specifically Gandy Street due to the colourful buildings and unique shops around. I do a lot of shoots in Gandy Street due to just how different each building is to the next so you can get so many different photos in just one location. This building specifically is a restaurant that has beautiful teal walls and little plant pots in the windows which make for a really nice backdrop.

If you have a chance, you should definitely check out Boomer and Jen on their Instagram (@boomerandjen_organic_clothing) or on their website (www.organiccottonclothing.co.uk). Also, thanks to Will for the photos so check him out on Instagram too (@willlamerton).