It's amazing how much the industry, and the way we form blogging partnerships with brands has completely transformed during my six years of blogging. When I was just starting out, there were very few bloggers out there – and only a few well established ones. These days it can feel like everyone has a blog and it's much more difficult to shine in your field. However, as the industry develops further and brands realise the true value and marketing potential in blogs and social media channels. It provides a host of new opportunities that simply didn't exist five years ago. It's a double-edged sword, while the competition may be fierce, there is also more opportunity available than ever before.
How can brands work with travel bloggers?
There are so many ways to work with travel bloggers. It's easy to get caught up in the semantics of blogging partnerships, collaborations, advertisements. But it all essentially boils down to the same key ways we have of working together:
- Creating long-form sponsored content for blogs/Youtube
- Designing short-form sponsored content for social media
- Producing content for the brand's website and social media channels
- Affiliate partnerships
- Press trips
- Gifted partnerships
- Brand ambassadorships
- e-Commerce or joint creation of products
- Cross-promotion across channels
Often partnerships will combine multiple of these options and can even lead to longer-term blogging partnerships. I still work on an ongoing basis with some of the first brands I formed collaborations with. There is so much more to be gained from these ongoing collaborations for both the brand and for travel bloggers UK. The audience engages so much more with the product and advertisement when they know it is a brand the blogger truly endorses. As a brand, it's worth looking at the influencers who are happily promoting and shouting about your brand even without payment. They already have an established audience who is engaged with what they are saying. It's just one small step forward to start selling the product.
How to get the most out of blogging partnerships?
Brands who are looking to work with bloggers should ensure they research before reaching out to bloggers. Remember – it's not just about the value the blogger can provide you with – it works both ways. The key to successful collaborations with travel bloggers is all about the preparation. Focus on these key details:
- Target audience – does the brand's align with the bloggers'?
- Engagement – does the travel blogger have high numbers, or a genuinely engaged audience?
- Goal – what are you aiming to achieve with the collaboration?
Depending on whether your goal is to raise awareness of the brand, to launch a new product, to increase the brand's DA and statistics through link partnerships or to attract new customers. For each of these goals you would reach out to different types of influencers within the niche, you would also form different types of partnerships. One great way to cut out the need for masses of research is to partner with the Get Blogged Marketplace which does a lot of the legwork for brands. With an already established client-base of bloggers from all niches, including UK travel bloggers, it makes it easy to reach out and connect with the right person for the job.
By speeding up the process of gaining backlinks to your site, it provides steady organic traffic by revolutionising your search rankings. The Get Blogged team organise everything through their easy-to-use platform which allows you to focus on your business. As a blogger who has worked with Get Blogged on multiple projects, I find the platform super easy to navigate and the messaging really clear. Also the service/payments are some of the most efficient I've experienced as a freelancer.
Five travel blogs you should be working with
There are so many amazing travel blogs out there, so it can be easy to feel overwhelmed when choosing who to form blogging partnerships with. But don't let too much choice stand in your way of advertising your business and maximising your earnings. Always consider the type of bloggers you are working with – within your niche there are several smaller niches. For example, this blog focuses on solo female adventure travel, while other travel blogs may focus on couples travel, luxury travel, student travel or even budget travel. It's also important to ensure you are promoting diversity and inclusivity by working with a range of bloggers including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, plus size bloggers, disabled bloggers and people from all backgrounds.
- Travelling Tuesdays – for the Generation Z traveller and newbie travellers
- Where Goes Rose? – solo female travel
- Kirsty Leanne Travels – plus size travel
- Mama Ayla Adventures – mother-daughter travel
- Fresh & Fearless – luxury travel
Don't forget, this solo female travel blog is always looking for new clients and businesses to form partnerships with. You can find out further information by viewing my media kit here. Or feel free to contact me to discuss working together.
