Unlocking Paid Opportunities: A Creator’s Guide to Getting on PR Lists and Gifting

Let’s talk about getting free PR. As a content creator, I get this question a lot on here. I’m Allie. I’m a talent manager. I started a business in the creator economy 10 years ago. I help creators monetize their social media. And guess what? Getting on gifting a PR list is step one in becoming a paid content creator. So you are smart to be curious as to how you get on PR list and how you get gifting. So let’s get into it. Most brands are willing to gift and they also gift micro creators. It is expensive to create content as a brand. You have to do photoshoot, models and all the things. Can you create content around this type of brand or industry? They’re probably gonna wanna gift you and potentially wanna pay you in the future if you can prove that the content you create moves the needle. So let’s talk about how you move the needle and how you get gifting.

Okay, so first of all, obviously gifted product is not going to pay the bills. But what it does do is it gives you a one on one dialogue and communication with a brand that could potentially hire you as a content creator. So if you’re gifted from a brand, the best thing to do is then post about that brand. So create content around it, put something on your stories, reels, whatever makes sense, and then follow back up with that brand with the analytics and data around the content that you shared.

I actually been really wanting to try this. It’s like a BD CC cream with sunscreen in it. Super light. Looks like this. Oh my God, I love gross. It’s like the perfect amount of coverage. So basically what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna ask for product. What I would do is if you happen to have a little bit of the product of the brand that you’re wanting to get gifted from. Do an organic share, like share something on your stories, tag them, and then that’ll obviously catch the eye of whoever’s running the content for that brand and just slide into their DMs. Like it is as simple as just like taking the shot, asking, hey, look, I’m a content creator. I’d love to create content around your brand. Do you do gifting to content creators? There are like tons of platforms. So there’s like the lobby, there’s for like, there are plenty. But honestly, I think the best bet is to just slide into the DMS and ask, create organic content around the brand, get on their radar and start there. And the thing is, some brands are gonna be chill and they’re gonna be like, yes, of course, I would love to gift you, but there is a chance that a brand is going to a say no or be you say, sure, I’ll gift you, but I need guaranteed content and you just have to make that decision in it. This is a brand that you want to work with, say yes. Say this is a brand that you really wanna work with. It is worth doing a gifted collaboration initially to basically bridge the gap for working with them on a paid piece of content. So if you’re dying to work with them and they say, hey, look, I’ll gift you, this is gorgeous, but I need a guarantee piece of content. Say, sure. I mean, start small. Say like, hey, look, I’ll do story with a link or something like that or something that actually shows like your value as a content creator. So you can and share that data with them and hopefully turn it into something paid. These brands are literally keeping track. So if they’ve gifted you something and you have not posted or done anything with it, like they’re not gonna work with you on anything in the future. Like that’s just like how it works. I know that a handful of brands start with gifting with creators and then they start working with whoever out of that bunch of gifted creators creates content that’s their next batch of pay creator. And it’s so important after you’ve been gifted to follow up with all the analytics and sentiment. So I’m talking about link clicks that you got. I just literally poked my eye, DMS that you got, basically anything showing sentiment and interest in the brand that you shared. Like sh put a little deck together and share it. Like that is such a good opportunity to get in front of the brand and show your community being interested in this brand and they’ll be so excited by that. And I feel like no content creators do that. So you’ll really like, you’ll really stand out. Okay, I’m really obsessed with this.

This is there do blush. And this is in Cutie love. And then this is the slip tint also love. And I don’t know what color this is. It is of three and a/2. Love gonna try this mascara now. So hopefully that was helpful. And if you need like a template or what to say to these brands, I can do that in another video coming up. But honestly, like, go for it.

Take the shot. I feel like everyone’s like, how do I get gifting? How do I get this? People are aggressive. They’re in the DMs are asking for it. Like you can’t just wait around and think that a brand is going to reach out to you for gifting. Like that’s just not how it works. There’s so many content creators out there. So take your shot, get their DMS outreach for it. And once you get on the gifting list, like share and be active and keep the communication going with the person behind the email or DM is going to help you get a paid partnership from gifting.