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We all know that the holiday season, as beautiful and exciting as it is, is also one of the most commercial times of the year. From Black Friday on until right before Christmas Day, it kind of feels like every single brand on the planet tries to get our attention and make us buy their products rather than the next ones - and it can be overwhelming.

Bloggers are no exception to the rule, and since many of us make a living from working with brands on promoting their latest products, I wanted to take the time, during this busy month, to explain a bit how it works and tell you about how I personally proceed when it comes to working with a brand.

– selection process –

So how does it work exactly? It's actually quite simple. When a brand is interested in working with me, they usually send me an email with a few lines about the project they have in mind, and what they would expect from me. And this is when the selection process begins for us. I say us, because Luca does pretty much all the management – but of course we discuss every project together before accepting or rejecting it.

So we receive a lot of emails like this every day, and after carefully reading through them (and sometimes testing the product, if it needs to be tested), I decide whether it is a fit or not. If I do not genuinely believe in it, if I do not see myself going out and actually buying it, then I reject the offer. This is a highly important step for me – I make sure I sincerely love everything I tell you guys about. Because of that, we reject about 80% of the projects we are offered to work on. For me, honesty and integrity are more important than money.

– negotiations –

Once a project is accepted, Luca takes over and negotiates the terms with the brand. That's when we determine how many publications there will be, on which channels, and how much we will get paid. And then, once everyone is happy with the terms, we start brainstorming with Luca and then creating the "content". I don't really like the word content, it makes it all feel a bit too industrial in my opinion (kind of like the word "influencer", which I also hate) – but that's how it's called in the business. Meaning we start shooting the pictures, recording the videos, writing the texts and captions.

– creating and sharing content –

We always try to present products in a way that fits our vision – I talk about the features that I love most about it, from my own point of view, and we always strive for creative content, no matter what. We try to differ from traditional advertising by making it personal and unique, and relevant to you guys. I try to share with you things that I believe you guys would love and find exciting as well.

Sometimes brands want to put the focus on a few specific features of their product, or they want to see the content we created before we publish it. That's fine for us, and we sometimes accept minor changes (such as wording for example, as giving the exact name of a product is quite important) but I never let anyone put words in my mouth and I always have the final say.

And then we deliver everything we have created to you guys! Sometimes it's a lot of pressure, we can spend weeks working on something and we never know for sure if you will love it or not. But it's also what makes our job beautiful and exciting day after day.

– transparency –

I also always let you guys know when a post is sponsored – I know not all bloggers do this, but I personally think it is important to be transparent about which publications are sponsored. It doesn't mean I love the products any less than other ones, but I think it's fair to be honest about it.

I hope this somehow helped you guys to understand how we work. If you have any questions, please ask! My point with this article is to be as transparent as possible about the behind the scenes, because without you guys this whole thing would not exist. So thank you for always being there, and I am looking forward to many more beautiful years together!

Hope you liked this post guys :)
Lots of love x