If you’re new to my website and don’t know much about me - Hi my name is Nancy and I’m a stylist and content creator. I’ve been blogging since 2009 and over the years I’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the UK’s biggest brands via my blog and Instagram. Recently I’ve been getting an awful lot of emails from brands (mainly independent shops and makers) asking if I would promote their products to my audience in exchange for products, and sometimes I even get asked to work for nothing in return.

Today I wanted to talk about my personal philosophy with regards to brand partnerships, to breakdown the ways I am comfortable in working with brands. This post will hopefully be really helpful if you own a brand or if you are looking learn more about having an job as an “influencer”.

My office space which features a chair that was given to me from Cult Furniture

The Rules

I need to start this post with the boring but important bit - the law!

I began blogging whilst I was in university and the landscape of social media and online content creation was in it’s infancy back then. The world of the internet is always changing so it’s good to do as much research as possible before diving in, just in case you put a foot wrong or do something illegal. I’d start with looking up the ASA and CAP, here’s a link to their “ Influencer’s Guide “ which describes how to declare posts as an ad and explains (rather confusingly at times) what the rules actually are. You can’t work with a brand and not declare it - thats illegal.

I highly suggest that you read it if you have the slightest interest in the world of social media. Start with looking at the flow chart - flow charts are fun, right?

And Instagram ad that I created with Valspar - this is an example of a paid post

What is an Influencer?

I’m not a huge Influencer by any means - I don’t really like that term but I’ll use it for the sake of clarity. In the grand scheme of things I’m small fry BUT I’ve had the great pleasure of working with a range of small and large brands. Either a brand approaches me or I email them to see if I can promote their products or services to my Instagram followers for a fee or in return for said product or service.

So what does an Influencer do? We offer the following - styling, photography, photo editing, copywriting, we engage with people (otherwise we’d have no followers) some of us are funny, some of us offer advice, interior design inspiration, delicious recipes or emotional support. We offer all these skills to brands who recognise our talent and the fact that we have a dedicated community of “fans” . We’re an inexpensive way for a brand to get a stylist, photographer, copywriter and ad agency all in one neat little package. Except, unlike most adverts you see on t.v or in magazines most Influencers I know are real, open and relatable.

A photo of me doing my styling thing at one of my events. Photo by Cristina Ilao

How I Work

My general philosophy is this - my day job title is “Stylist and Photographer” so if I work with a brand they’re pretty much guaranteed a beautiful image of their products whilst also gaining access to my followers. That sounds kinda dodgy but I can’t think of a better way to put it! They’re essentially paying for me to put a lovely photo of their product in front of my followers for a very small fee, when compared to how expensive traditional adversing costs.

So whats my philosophy? Like I mentioned before, I take this styling and photo stuff seriously as it’s my real job so I have to make sure that I’m getting fairly compensated. It’s also important to remember that these brands aren’t just getting a photo, they’re getting all those assets that most influencers have.

Most clients require approval of the photo and copy before it’s posted so you may not always have full creative control.

Money - I have a standard fee that I pitch to brands for Instagram posts, Instagram Stories and Blog Posts. I prefer to be paid but sometimes that’s not what happens, sometimes I receive products instead.

Products - When you see the word “gifted” on Instagram it means that I have been given a product but I wasn’t paid. I wouldn’t use that term if I have been paid a fee. More often than not I’m gifted items in exchange for an Instagram post rather than being paid a monetary fee. I’m being offered more paid work these days but it’s hard to find.

If I’m not being paid the important thing for me is that the value of the products should be equal to the value of my work so both parties are benefitting. I will not spend hours researching, styling, shooting, editing, writing and posting for a £10 notebook - that’s just not fair.