Apologies in advance if this has been shared recently. I’ve been painting all day and inhaled some amount of fumes. I’ve re-read this a few times though and it makes sense (to me at least).
I know this method works, as I’ve done it quite a few times already. You’re not going to make a millions off of this method, but it can bring in a nice sum of money that you could then put towards high quality backlinks.
Before you get started, you’re going to need a way to alter photos. I recommend that you use Canva Pro for this since you’ll have access to a whack load of templates. Yes, it costs money to have the Pro account, but there’s a few vendors on here selling accounts so you shouldn’t have a problem with this.
You’ll also need to write a convincing pitch to the companies involved. You could do this over the phone, but then you’d need to follow up as well with images, and it just takes a lot longer getting leads this way. Time is money and all that. Take your time with writing the email to the company. Afterall, you can use it numerous times so it makes sense to perfect it. I’m not being rude, but I won’t be sharing the template that I use to contact companies with the pitch.
Right, enough rambling, onto the method.
This is something that could really fit into any niche around the year. In this example, I’m going to be using Christmas as an example. Basically, you’re going to be altering a template that already exists on Canva so that it contains the information for company X so that they can post it to their Instagram account.
The first step is to search for a five or six companies. Since I’m using the Christmas example, head over to Google and enter the search phrase “ Restaurants in London/Rome/Paris/Hartlepool”
At this time of the year, a lot of restaurants will be taking bookings already for Christmas. The time consuming part here is going through the results in the SERPS to see which sites have an Instagram account.
Once you’ve established which sites to have an IG account, make a list of them, and their contact details. Then, head over to Canva and select one of the Instagram templates which is related to restaurants and Christmas. The beauty of Canva is that you can search for elements on it to add to the template. It will also automatically make the template the default size as an IG post, so you don’t need to bugger around with all of that nonsense.
When I’ve been pitching these designs to customers, I opt for a colour scheme that’s as close as possible to their website, as well as the font. I make the photo look really high class. Generally speaking, this takes me about a half hour. After this, I save the photo, then open it up in Paint and watermark it so the restaurants can’t steal it without paying.
The one’s I’ve been doing have looked great (sorry, I won’t share them as I don’t want to draw attention to the companies I’ve worked with), and the feedback has been spot on with it. If you’ve got a bit of extra time, make a few different posts for them to choose from.
When you email them, let them know you’ve created a bespoke photo to highlight their business at Christmas. It’s at this point I also let them know if they’d like the an unwatermarked copy of it that I will send them the photo upon receipt of payment. With respect to how much you charge, this is really dictated by the area you’re pitching to. For the ones I’ve sold to, I’ve charged £35 per post. Could I have gotten more? Maybe. The way I look at it though, £35 for not a lot of work isn’t too shabby at all.
There is the question of selling to different restaurants in the same city. I do this, but I use a completely different template, as well as changing the colours. That way, each business is getting a genuinely different photo and real value for money. It’s insane how well a high quality photo on IG can explode in popularity. Of course, the right hash tags are always important. If they’re on IG, they already know this.
However, once you’ve decided on each of the different templates you can use, you can then repeat the process using these templates for restaurants in other cities. Rinse and repeat and you’re going to bring in a nice bit of cash.
It really could be an evergreen method. I just used the Christmas example since I know it works well. You could set it up for nurseries, gardeners, car valeters, tradesmen etc. Just think outside the box on what businesses you could appeal to and there’s no limit to the money you could get. Spend a bit of time perfecting the posts. It may take longer in the beginning, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
You might be wondering why I didn’t opt to DM companies on Instagram directly? It’s a good question. I found that the engagement rate of messages on IG to be hit and miss. However, a restaurant will always open up an email since they think it’s a booking. You’re already right in front of them and have their attention. The other fact is that my IG accounts are related to my websites, and I don’t want them knowing too much about me. If they see that I’m making affiliate sites as well, they may assume they can lowball me since I’m already making money from Amazon.
The other question I’m anticipating is why don’t I just sell a template to them and then let the company alter it themselves? The answer to this is that they just don’t have the time to do it. You’re giving them something that’s already made which is a small price compared to the amount of money they’d make in a night.
Anyway, I hope this method will be help others out there make a nice wee bit of money.
