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4 Creative Examples of Successful Sponsored Posts

IFB » Making Money, Working With Brands » 4 Creative Examples of Successful Sponsored Posts

After affiliate links & advertising, sponsored posts are the third tier in monetizing your blog. But how do you present these without them seeming like adverts in the midst of your otherwise heartfelt content? They key is making them either quite useful or highly entertaining for your readers. Here’s four examples of bloggers who’ve done them well:

Style & Pepper with Bailey’s Alcohol:

Many bloggers did Oscar wrap-up posts sponsored by Bailey’s but Jessie kept hers delightfully on brand. Instead of just covering her favorite red carpet looks, she created fashion cocktails out of each & specifically used her signature pepper shaker to make sure each graphic felt S&P appropriate.

A Girl, A Style with Carphone Warehouse:

On first glance one would think there’s no way Briony’s aspirational London/Paris style could play well with an electronics shop. However, B told me that she often gets asked technical questions from readers about how she puts posts together. So this post was incredibly helpful to her readers, while providing links to the tech products she truly uses daily.

DesignLoveFest with West Elm:

Bri’s blog crosses over to style & home, so she could easily have done shots of her gorgeous home with West Elm products. Instead, she created a DIY that could be duplicated even if you have a smaller space or budget, making it not just aspirational but attainable. It was floral, perfect for springtime & just as lovely as all the other posts she produces.

The Girls With Glasses with Method Cleaner:

Brooke & Summer went above & beyond not only writing a song about their love affair with Method cleaning supplies {the girls have a long partnership with them}, but filming a music video to go along with it. Blatant advertising? Yes. But it’s so charming, catchy & utterly them that I don’t see it as salesy, just marvelously creative & fun.

It can be tempting whenever you’re offered money, to say you’ll lower your standards just this once. But truly all we have as bloggers is the integrity of our taste — that’s why your readers keep coming back. So the next time you’re approached for a sponsored post, be sure you’re thinking of your reader first: what can you share that will educate or delight them? That’s the perfect equation to a successful blog.

How have you gotten creative with sponsored posts? Which bloggers have you seen do it well? Or did this give you an idea of a brand you could reach out to & pitch a sponsored post with?

[Image credit: A Girl, A Style]

7 Responses

A Girl, A Style April 24, 2013

Thank you for this excellent post, and the lovely mention.

Trust between the blogger and reader is so important, and it can be so hard to get that back once the reader starts to question the blogger’s integrity. I know from experience as a reader, it is SO important to get this right; I have been turned off many of my favourite blogs precisely because there were one too many posts that felt blatantly ‘salesy’.

When it comes to my own blog, I’m offered a sponsored post, link or other commercial collaboration at least once per day; at most I say yes to one per month, which means I turn down at least 35 others because they’re not a good fit for my blog. Really, there’s only one question I need to ask myself: ‘would I write about this even if I weren’t getting paid?’ (or, in the case of my Carphone Warehouse post, the topic I came up with hadn’t occured to me before, but which gadgets and apps I use is a question I’m asked daily by my readers, so it made perfect sense once I thought about it). If the answer is ‘no’, then it’s simply not worth lowering your integrity as a writer and author for the sake of the fee (which is never very high to begin with).

Briony xx

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- Hilary Rushford | Dean Street Society April 25, 2013
  
  B that is so well put! And also fabulous insight into how often you say “no”. When you’re just starting out & not getting many offers it can feel like you should say “yes” to everything. But you’ve built such a strong brand that’s opened so many doors for you, & I think others should look to you in that way if they want to build something as large & long-lasting as A Girl, A Style.
  
  I’ve done the same with Dean Street Society – walking away from lucrative collaborations because if I looked 3-5 years down the road I felt like I would be disappointed in myself that I did it. I knew in the long run it wouldn’t feel like much money & I would regret chipping away at my brand.
  
  with grace & gumption, Hilary
  
  Reply
Gabrielle April 24, 2013

The Photogramps (Ashley) did an AMAZING job with her Charlotte Rousse dresses.

She step by step explained how to make a simple dress more interesting, and really went above and beyond in terms of adding a creative twist to a sponsored post.

http://thephotogramps.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-simple-dress-more-unique.html

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The Science of Happy April 24, 2013

I haven’t had the privilege of working for a good brand yet, or any brand!

For those interested, my MAC giveaway is still going!

http://thescienceofhappy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/mac-prize-release-birthday-giveaway.html

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Elena April 24, 2013

I treat all my sponsored posts as something unique and I want my readers to be interested in these posts as well that’s why I started creating fashion or children illustrations related to the theme. Every day I see hundreds sponsored articles and I personally forget about them very quickly until it is unique and colorful.
http://dcinstyle.com

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Margot Potter April 24, 2013

As a DIY Blogger, I have been doing this for several years on my former site The Impatient Crafter. I am integrating it into the mix on the new site. Most of my sponsored posts are DIY projects> Sometimes I make a teaser pic, add some information/color commentary on my site and a link to the project on theirs. Sometimes I’ll post the DIY on my site as a photo or video tutorial with a link to the client. Sometimes it’s a product review. I work with a variety of clients including Swarovski and iLoveToCreate, that are all companies who make products I already use and love. Since I have professional relationships with them, it’s a connect for my readers. I ALWAYS disclose clearly in every post.

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Clever Little Buttons April 26, 2013

Great post! I am starting to make some money through my blog, although I a cautious as to the type of brands I am writing for. This is really helpful.

Thanks
C

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