Are you tired of pitching brands and not getting a reply? If you sighed “yes” under your breath, this is for you. The number one mistake UGC creators make when pitching is talking only about themselves.
A cold outreach message should be focused on the brand and the pain points that the creative contractor can resolve. Before reaching out to a potential client and pitching them your services, you should spend at least half an hour conducting a brand audit or market analysis.
Whilst this might sound like unpaid time, it’ll pay back dividends. In this post, I’ll cover how to conduct a brand market analysis, understand your findings and turn them into a cold outreach pitch no brands can say no to. Let’s dive in.
What Is A Brand Market Analysis?
A brand market analysis is a comprehensive evaluation of a brand’s position within its market and its overall performance. Typically, it involves gathering and analyzing data to understand the brand’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in relation to its competitors and the broader industry.
Essentially, it’s a glorified audit. In layman’s terms: you are becoming familiar with the brand before pitching them as a UGC creator. And I promise, it’s worth it.
How To Do A Brand Market Analysis
In the marketing world, conducting a brand market analysis involves a systematic and comprehensive approach to gather and analyze relevant data. In our scenario, where we’re looking to develop a base level of knowledge about a brand before pitching them, we don’t need to cover the entire scope. Instead, we’ll focus on identifying competitors, researching market and industry trends, defining the target market and reviewing existing social media content.
You’re going to want to answer the following questions:
Who Are The Brand's Competitors?
Depending on the brand, you may know who their competitors are already. Another creative way to find the brand’s competitors is by going to Google and searching for the brand’s name, going to the “shopping” tab, and seeing what other suggestions come up. You can also Google the brand’s name, followed by “competitors.” You’ll want to review what the competition is running for ads, as well as, what their socials/site feature.
What Are They Doing Now?
Before you bother drafting the outreach email, you’ll want to know what service you wish to extend to the brand. Are you looking to partner with them for UGC content that will be launched as an ad? Or are you looking to create UGC content that would be posted to the brand’s TikTok or Instagram?
Once you know what you’re looking to offer to the brand as a service, you’ll want to brush up on what UGC the brand is currently using. Say, for example, I want to partner with a brand in a paid media capacity, and I would immediately go to the Meta Ad Library and the TikTok Creative Center to review their current running ads.
Who Is Their Target Demo(s)?
The easiest way to figure this out is by reviewing the brand’s current running ads, social media accounts, and website to see WHO is the face of the brand. Do you see men AND women – or just women? Do you see a specific age group that they focus on, such as women in the 50+ age range? It won’t always be straightforward, but reviewing their online presence should give you a better idea of their target customer(s).
What Are The Brand's Pain Points?
If you’re looking to create UGC ads for the brand you’re doing brand market analysis on, what problems have you seen come up that you, as the creative contractor, could resolve?
In the same way you’d market your clients; you need to market your UGC business and services. Position yourself as the solution to pain points you uncovered during your brand market analysis research and communicate this in your cold outreach email. You’re more likely to get a response when you position yourself as the solution to a problem the person receiving your email may be facing.
When researching the brand’s current running ads, did you notice anything they might be doing wrong or missing? Did you recently do a concept for another client that worked really well that you think you could recreate and tailor to fit the brand you’re sending a cold outreach message to?
I'm Done With Brand Market Analysis... Now What?
Now that you have done the research, it’s time to present your creative strategy to relieve the pain points you plan to mention in your cold outreach message, followed by a brief introduction that includes:
〰️ Your name and how you found them
〰️ Your title and what you specialize in
〰️ A relevant UGC example similar to your creative strategy pitch
〰️ Link to your portfolio & case studies
Cold Outreach Example
My name is Kirk, and I was scrolling through Instagram and was targeted by one of your UGC ads. I noticed the ad featured social proof; however, it didn’t touch on the many unique selling points that set the Mighty Patches apart from the other pimple patches on the market.
Attached is a UGC concept I found on Meta that Rael is currently running (one of my former agency clients). Notice how they featured social proof like your ad but ALSO included the unique selling points that set their patches apart from their competition.
I’m reaching out because I’m a UGC creator with an extensive direct-response marketing background. Most of my former agency clients were beauty and skincare brands, so I’m familiar with what works for this vertical and how best to connect to your target consumer.
If you’re equally as interested in furthering the conversation of working together, I’ve attached my portfolio for your review. I look forward to your reply.
It’s the wild west out there in the world of UGC.
It’s competitive, and you need to find a way to stand out from the crowd. By following these steps and tailoring the cold outreach message to address the brand’s specific needs and challenges, UGC creators can increase their chances of getting a positive response and ultimately establish successful partnerships with brands.
A well-informed and thoughtful approach is more likely to resonate with brands and lead to meaningful collaborations (not firing off four hundred generic pitch emails every day… sorry).
