Creating a pitch UGC: 4 steps to get it right

Creating a pitch UGC: 4 steps to get it right

The effectiveness of user generated content (UGC) cannot be overstated for any brand’s marketing strategy in 2024, and this comes as no surprise when considering the authenticity and social proof that comes with UGC ads. On Instagram specifically, UGC posts have 70% more engagement than traditional paid ads.

However, despite the clear value proposition, creators who want to offer their UGC services to brands still struggle to stand out in a crowded market. It’s not for a lack of demand, but for a lack of effectiveness in communicating this value in their pitch to brands.

In this article we’ll go over 4 clear, actionable steps to properly pitch to brands and make their UGC for them.

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Step 1: Positioning Yourself as a UGC Creator

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Positioning is the first thing we want to clarify. Identifying and articulating what sets you apart from other creators is difficult but there are ways we can tackle this.

Firstly, think about what niche experiences, expertise, or individual content styles you have. This is a good start to begin refining your own unique angle. It’s also worthwhile to source some clarity by analysing competitors’s positioning to find any gaps in their approach and what works for them. It’s not about copying them though it’s about understanding the landscape you’re in.

Let’s take a hypothetical positioning example: health conscious foodie.

Shorts and reels for food are booming and its an evergreen niche. Imagine you’re a creator with specific knowledge in nutrition and a broad interest in healthy living. You could position yourself as a fitness enthusiast for healthy food brands.

The unique angle can be showing how to make quick, tasty meals that fit into an intense fitness lifestyle. This positioning can help you land UGC deals as the go-to creator for brands that provide protein powders, healthy snacks, or even kitchen appliances without harsh chemicals, all through leveraging your personal niche experience or expertise by targeting the health conscious consumer like yourself.

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Step 2: Identifying the Brand Persona and Needs

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Once you’re clear on your positioning, it helps narrow down relevant brands to target. But it’s not just the brand itself we need to identify, it’s what resonates with a specific brand’s audience. Our understanding of their audience’s needs is what shapes the perception of whether our UGC will be effective when reaching out to them with our proposal.

We’ll look at two perspectives: the brand, and the brand’s audience.

1. What is the target brand’s core values, mission, and messaging tone? It’s important to understand and ensure alignment with these to make a convincing case when reaching out to them.
2. Look into their audience - social media following, engagement rates on different posts, top selling products, previous UGC content (if any), simple social listening tools help investigate and gather insights on trends within their audience we can leverage.

It’s really important to tailor each pitch based on the brand’s specific target audience and their needs. What are their pain points? What content resonates with them? Answering simple questions like these help align both your UGC and your pitch to these brands.

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Step 3: Crafting a Compelling Business Case

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The business case is arguably the most important step. This is where you show the brand why they need you. So focus on the ROI you can bring and back it up with compelling reasoning.

This will vary from creator to creator, but how will you improve engagement rates, conversions, and brand awareness with your approach and understanding from the previous steps? These are the metrics that really matter.

If you have past success stories, push these to bolster credibility. Use data from these campaigns to reinforce any of your claims and show the potential impact you can make.

It’s ok if you haven’t got any case studies or previous results to showcase, everyone starts somewhere - this is where enthusiasm for the brand and demonstrable skillsets have to come through.

Everyone knows you provide the best work when you enjoy what you do, so here are ways you can make a business case without any experience:

• Mention some relevant cross transferrable skills from other experiences such as storytelling, editing, and content creation.
• You can also proactively share some ideas for UGC and give reasoning for them based on your research.
• Provide upfront value. Include mockups or examples of UGC in your pitch, this gives brands a tangible idea of what you’re offering.
• Anticipate and address objections proactively. For example, if you think your target brand might have budget concerns, demonstrate how UGC can be more cost effective than traditional ads.

The point here is it’s not all reliant on past success, you can make a compelling case no matter your circumstances. Proactivity and enthusiasm show you care about the brand and you put thought into your approach.

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Step 4: Writing Effective LinkedIn and Email Outbound Messages

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The final step is simply reaching out to your target brands, but this is easier said than done. For effectiveness in your outreach we’ll need to at least cover a few points to maximise our response rate:

Your subject line should be compelling. These people are busy so something like “Plan to increase engagement by 30% with UGC” is far more likely to be opened than a generic “UGC creator available”.

Extra effort into personalising the outreach, keep it concise, and include a clear call to action. If you don’t hear back, have a follow up strategy. A polite reminder can often do the trick.

Bonus points if you can reference anything about their current or previous marketing campaigns to show you’ve done your research. It also provides a professional touch that helps you be taken more seriously.

But the main thing is to convey your value proposition and doing it quickly. What helps a lot as we’ve mentioned already is work upfront so these brands can see something straight away. This might seem tedious based on the volume required with cold outreach but that’s why you should leverage tools like Argil’s UGC generator. That way you can feed it your ideas and generate UGC to showcase without investing hours into each potential outreach.

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How Argil.ai Can Elevate Your UGC Creation

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Let me ask you a question first. If you could record a video just once and that was enough to accurately create an AI clone of you for all your UGC videos, would you take 2 minutes to do it?

That’s the promise of our AI UGC generator. But before any skepticism creeps in, you should know three things:

1. Proof of concept already exists. AI influencers like Lil Miquela have over 20 million followers and regularly work with brands.
2. The output mimics natural body language and voice intonation to keep authenticity
3. Argil finally creates the ability for studio quality UGC content at scale

This doesn’t just mean you can provide upfront UGC examples in a few minutes to any brand you reach out to… it opens up a scalable business model for your UGC services.

You are no longer limited by your time, you can have far more UGC clients than you could ever manage with traditional means. Think in terms of making a month’s worth of UGC in one day, or even selling brands access to use your AI avatar and its audience for a certain time.

By democratising video production the only variable is your own ideas and approach.

For more on how Argil’s AI UGC video generator works and how it’s a real game changer, read our previous article here.

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Recap: Effective Brand Outreach for UGC

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So to sum up we have 4 key points to a successful approach:

1. Competitive positioning based on your experiences and skillsets
2. Understanding the brand and their audience
3. Crafting a compelling business case
4. And writing outbound messages that get opened

While these points inform your strategy it’s still reliant on volume. The more you reach out, the more likely you are to start landing clients. This is where tools like Argil can really help you do this effectively at scale.

Upfront UGC examples for every outbound message in minutes is undeniable leverage. Couple that with a far more scalable business model it provides, you’re looking at a real competitive advantage.

If you’re looking to start providing UGC services to brands, skip our waitlist and try Argil’s UGC generator for yourself by signing up here.

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