How to Pitch Directly to Brands with Nikki Miller-Ka

Nikki Miller-Ka is a nationally recognized food blogger who has worked with brands all over and has the inside track on how to work with brands directly instead of the hassle of working with influencer agencies. 

In this episode, Nikki talks about some of her favorite projects in the past, (hello beer and potatoes!!), and how you can set yourself up as an influencer to make more money with your content working as an "independent agent"!

You can follow Nikki in the following places:

Web
LinkedIn
YouTube
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Did you miss the Content Creators Conference Virtual Summit? You can still get access to Nikki's session, as well as the others by visiting here: https://contentcreatorsconference.com/

Transcript

Welcome to the content creators chat, the show where we invite you to join us in a chat about content creation and influencer marketing. My name is Kristen Daukas and this week I'm flying solo because my co-host Rob Ainbinder is spending some time with his family. So excited today to welcome one of my very dear friends, miss Nikki Miller-Ka to the content creators chat. Nikki is a nationally recognized food blogger and culinary executive, as well as an influencer. Who's going to shower us with her. Wow. Isms. Hey Nikki. Hey, I'm so happy to be here. I'm so excited to share and just be, and all of those things. Well, like I mentioned, I really have not formulated, I did not type down any questions because I have certain questions that I want to ask you as we go through this conversation, but why don't you take a couple of seconds and give everyone all of your accreditations?

So people always say that I have like a thousand jobs and that's not true. I only have one job and basically one, well, it's not really a job. It's a career. And there's a difference between a career and a job. And I definitely have a career and everything I have done since college has been to further my career. So I just recently actually graduated from East Carolina university with a master's in English with a concentration in technical and communication, technical and professional communication, which by the way, you need to update your site, your bio to say that because you have a boring old B a on there. No, I feel like I did that today. I think I did that today actually made no I didn't. No. Well, just because I checked right before we jumped on, but it's this wild, crazy story about how, you know, if it doesn't matter how long it takes you to do something, if you know, slow and steady really does win the race.

And that's exactly what had happened to me. So I also have yeah bachelor's in English from East Carolina as well. And I have a degree in culinary arts from Madonna blue college of culinary arts in Miami. So when I graduated from school, I thought I was going to do technical writing, which is actually really boring, who wants to write a manual. I am a very vibrant and loud person. No technical writing would have anything to do. I just would have been bored out of my mind. So I was like, well, I could do technical writing, but in a different way. And I saw this job post rate food stylist on a food network website. And I was, I could do that. I don't know anything about food. And so I was like, I'm just going to go to culinary school.

And so I thought it was like a whim. And when I talked it over with my parents, I thought they were going to say, Oh, what are you doing? You need to start your life, your job, your career. And they were like, Oh, we're so excited. This is great. And it really was great. It was like probably the greatest move in my life. And the reason really why I went to culinary schools, because there are people who know how to cook and there's people who know about food, the two are mutually exclusive. He know how to cook. Does it mean, you know, anything about food and just because you know about food, like, you know, how to bout about it, poetically doesn't mean, you know, how to cook? Well, I'm one of the fortunate few that have both in the same little cookie tin.

And so, and culinary school helped do that. So currently I am the food editor for a triad city, B alternative weekly newspaper, which is based in Greensboro, North Carolina. I'm also a food critic for Greensboro news and record. And I've been doing that for five, almost six years now. And for the past 13, almost 14 years, I have been the owner and chief marketer of knick-knacks online.com, which is my blog. So day-to-day my real job if you will, is to be a recipe developer. So I develop recipes for brands all across the United States, big brands, little brands I do work with the department of agriculture of them were Mart Palm. Wonderful. let's see, what else? The national onion association

Don't forget the potatoes. Yes.

And Idaho potatoes. They actually sent me to Idaho so I could help or anything. I helped myself to some potatoes, but to see the potato harvest and learn about potatoes. And by the time I got home, I had 50 pounds of potatoes waiting for me. And my, what did you

Do with 50 pounds of potatoes? 

I had  potato party, so I set uåp a little potato bar. I invited nine of my closest friends and I told everyone to help themselves to potato. Was that the one that we just did? Yes.

Oh, see, I was thinking that you meant you went when, after your trip to Idaho. Yeah. No, I know what you did with those potatoes.

No, no, no, no. So they actually, I don't hope potato actually came back to me and were like, Oh look, we, so potato harvest wasn't they weren't able to do it this year because of COVID. So they asked past buyers who had gone on previous potato harvest to do a couple of posts and social media things. And I was like, okay. And then yeah, and they sent me double the amount of potatoes that they were going to because I planned out this whole week of like potato stuff. And because number, I love potatoes and, and I feel, I still feel so honored that they asked me to go to Idaho. I mean, they paid for everything. That's like one of the best things they're called fam trips or relationships. And, you know, it blows my mind sometimes how brands really go all out and then it also blows our minds and brands really don't do anything. Yeah.

I've got a girlfriend actually. You know, her Michelle Nahum, she is a brand ambassador for one of the, the, one of the sour cream companies up in the Northeast. So she actually does it not let me rephrase that. What is it? The sour cream or just the dairy.

It might be both. Most are cream companies are dairy companies.

Yeah. So it was part of the, one of the dairy associations out there. And they do the same thing once a year. They bring all of the influencers in for you know, a fan trip. So let's talk a little bit about that. So one of the, your topic at the conference in January is on pitching. So some influencers use agencies, some influencers haven't gotten that far. Some use a hybrid. I've always tried to encourage anyone who's in influencer who is an influencer that financially it makes more sense for them to pitch companies because taking out the middleman that agency has to make their money and the amount of money they don't want to say whole back because obviously they have overhead and, you know, things that they have to pay for. It's amazing. I mean, I think I saw a statistic once statistic once that if a brand's budget is say a thousand dollars, if they go through an agency what they actually look, what they actually end up getting is like 20% of that 20 or 25%, some very small. So let's talk about a little bit about, no, I'm talking about the blogger. The influencer only gets like 20 to 25% of whatever the set budget is. I mean, so it definitely is more beneficial for them to work directly with brands and companies than go through an agency. Not saying the agencies don't have their use. They definitely do. But what was the, do you remember what the first endorsed or first influencer thing that you did the first campaign? And

I think the first campaign that I did was for a salad express, you know, those you know, salad in a bag. So basically they sent me coupons to get free salad and I was supposed to make a salad and also offer a little link to, for my readers to click on so they could get a coupon too. And I think I made a bond meat salad. I can't believe I can remember this. I haven't thought about the salad in years. And I remember I use mini pepperoni. Instead for the work for Bob, Lisa bought me has like had pork and care daikon. I don't know what else I can't think, but yeah, I remember using the mini pepperoni's on that salad and I think they paid me a hundred or $150. Well, what did they paid you? Which is true.

And a lot, a lot of brands, they try to escape by, by not paying you, but the FTC stepped in some years ago now. And if you receive any compensation, whether that's product or money or anything at all, you have to disclose that. And when I first started that wasn't a thing. People were just putting stuff on their blog because they felt like it it was usually a family recipe or maybe they were a former chef or maybe they just really enjoy entertaining and they wanted to share their recipe. And then one day, I don't know when that switch was one day there was a switch and people started making money and it just snowballed from there. And it's evolved so much since then. I feel, I mean, I can't believe I've been there since literally beginning people were doing everything for free.

And a lot of times it was companies that were reaching out to us and nowadays companies are not, companies are reaching out to us. And then the third wall broke and we had access to these company events agency, and it became this like whole storm. I mean, there's whole companies. And literally all they do is influencer marketing and that's it. And by that, they are the go-between between the brand and influencers and bloggers, et cetera. And they present opportunities and PA and you have to compete with hundreds, if not thousands of other people to get the brass ring of that project. I'm not a snob. I am not rude. I will never look a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm never doing that again. I don't do that. I don't do it now. And I am in a position that I'm able to not have to go through the middleman.

And I go to brands directly. That is if a brand doesn't come to me and there's a myriad of ways you can do that. Number one is social media. Social media really is saving a lot of lives right now. I know what saving my life. At the beginning of the year, literally every project, everything I had shut down, nothing went through no payments, no PayPal look bad. Like it was, it was really awful. And I didn't know what I was going to do. Now. Things are starting to come back up. Brands are reassessing their budgets and all those things, and there is a finite way to pitch to brands. But if that actually is not finite, there's a whole different, like, I'm sure there's a book out there, but I haven't read it yeah. Of how to pitch the brands to get what you need so that you can become the influencer that you are. But social media really is saving lives. And if you're not, you don't have to have a ton of followers and buy a ton. You, you know, you don't have to have six and seven digits at all. Now there's tiers and layers. So there's, you know, nano micro influencers, nano influencers, micro influencers. And then after that, it goes like big, big and gigantic.

I don't know, dif I don't know, did you, by chance, listen to the podcast that we did with Jason falls, you should go and listen to that. Jason's like the godfather of influencer marketing. And he is as far as like teaching it, and one of the comments that he made, he's like I would, he would, and I think this is the consensus for those of us that are in the business, which is, I would rather have somebody with less followers and higher quality. He goes, because I can take that smaller person. And you know, that, that smaller audience and put money behind boosting the posts and get better reach. Then these macro, these huge influencers that they're just doing it for. They're not doing it. Yeah, sure. They're doing it for the money. But at that level, you start dealing with some major egos. And

At that level, the engagement isn't as high it's in the tank, the actual engagement, let's say example an influencer has a million followers, right. And they, and their average post has, I don't know, 200,000 likes. I'm really terrible at math, but I do believe that's like barely 1%. And on top of that, and they might have, you know, multiple comments and whatnot, but yeah, it's a comment, but are they really engaging? Like what does that community, what does that really look? And there are some influencers out there that do have large followings like that, that are engaged and their followers are engaged too, but it's honestly, it's really rare. And it's, you know, micro influencers like me that are the driving force behind a lot of projects and, and, and brands and whatnot. Like I read a report some years ago, it said that brands like a influencer to have at least 3% engagement. And I was like 3%. That's nuts. That's nothing. Well, I'm happy to say I have 4.5% engagement.

However, you know, one of the things that I've always loved about you and is that you're so relatable. And I think when you're a micro influencer, you can still be relatable. You know, you get up into the, I can't even pull one out of my tail without it being like a star. But when you get up into those big influencers, they're not relatable. There's actually, I'm not going to say the name, but there's actually an influencer here in Winston. And I and she's got a huge, she's like in the seven figures, right on Insta. And she's not relatable. I look at her and I'm like, I mean, she might be relatable to somebody else, but I'm not the country club, millennial person. I'm not even a gen X. I know exactly who you're talking about. I'm not naming names, but

Not naming names. So actually met this influencer in person once random meeting, random coffee shop. And when, and I went up to her because obviously she's not going to know

We had this discussion. That's right. We had this discussion because we're both like, how do you not know who I am?

But on that note, you know when I met her, I literally just introduced, she was talking to someone and I just introduced herself to me and whatnot. And I honestly didn't think anything of it. Well, we follow each other now. And we caught me off. We comment on each other's posts and I mean, and she's a genuinely, I do believe she's a really nice person. I'm sure she is, but I know I personally really can't relate to her and her lifestyle, but she reminds me of so many women that I went to high school with that, you know, it's kinda like being them through this.

Yeah. So, yeah. So, but I mean, to me, you're relatable to everybody,

You

Know, and you, and you're very successful at it. So if you're just joining in, I am having a nice little fireside chat without the fire with my friend, Nicki Miller, who's a nationalized nationalized, you're nationalized, you're nationally recognized food blogger. What have been some of your favorite projects that you what's, do you have a favorite project that you've done?

Let's see. So we mentioned the Idaho potatoes earlier. That was definitely a favorite. Probably because they treated me so well. But I really have enjoyed working with the North Carolina department of ag. So they are new ish into dealing with influencer marketing. Meaning every project that we do is new and they've never done it before and that's good and bad. It's good because we get to be creative and do pretty much anything. All we have to do is just promote I E post about whatever the commodity is, whether it's a chicken or fish or shrimp, a sweet potato, whatever it is. But then also they don't know what they're looking for. And it's up to we influencers and bloggers to tell them which to be in that position is actually a lot of fun. I actually have a new client that I'm working with now and they are a national brand, but they have never worked with influencers before. And I'm shocked and through emails with them they reveal that they were new to this and they were, and they wanted to force this relationship so that we can have a long-term relationship, which is, which is actually your goal, your goal. Isn't just to have like one, like a one-time thing. You want a long-term relationship with these brands, especially brands that you like and enjoy

Well, and brands need to remember that, that if they're going to get so much more out of that relationship, if it's a longterm, it's like life, it's a, if it's a long-term relationship, it's just going to be more mutually beneficial for both, because that is what makes people believe that you Nikki truly do like those Idaho potatoes, because you have been talking about them for a year.

Let's see another project actually to date my absolute favorite project. It was a North Carolina beard month project and I worked on it with visit Winston-Salem and loath foods. And there were a couple of breweries involved as well. And that was my favorite project because I got, it was over the course of a month and a half. And I got to travel to different Lowe's foods and do demos and beer and food. And you know, those little recipe cards that you can get at the store while there's a whole bunch of recipe cards with recipes of mine on them. And I love the project because I got to combine everything. I got to write. I got to do a little video. I got to, and this was actually a little bit before Instagram really like started snapping and taking off.

So this was 2015. So we did projects in 2014, 15 and 16 and 20. 14 is kind of when, you know, Instagram became on the map, but now if we were to do that project, it would probably, you know, be better, really enjoy that project because I got to meet a lot of people and I basically got to do what I do best, which is make good food, take beautiful pictures and promote it on social media. And I got to do it, you know, in locally. So it was for local folks, but then it was for local folks, but I have a wide reach. So people in other States, they, you know, wanted to know about North Carolina Bureau. We love North Carolina. We love traveling there. We've never been there. Let's go now. And basically that was the whole goal and premise, unbeknownst to me, they didn't tell me the goal until afterwards, which sometimes you don't know what a goal is and a brand just tells you, this is what we want.

And sometimes it's easier to do your job better if you know what the goal is. So their goal was basically to, well, number one, get email addresses and contact information from people, but also they wanted a wider reach, you know, they wanted to survey people you know, will you be traveling to North Carolina? Have you ever been to North Carolina? Have you heard of Winston-Salem would you like to go on our Moravian cake trail? How about the Ash County cheese trip? It was a whole thing and it was pro yeah. And it was probably my favorite project because it was a long-term project over the course of three years. So,

So I was a little surprised honestly, to hear in that you're just now starting to get busier again because influencer marketing definitely. The use of influencers has increased and w is increasing still because people are stuck at home and they're on their devices. They're consuming more content. One of the things that you did this year that I loved, and it has been seemingly very, very popular for you, as you're saying Korea, Saturday city series. And I was so proud of you for doing that. And I don't think speaking of goals, I don't think you had any goal other than, I think you originally got an, a, like an original shipment and you're like, what am I going to do with this stuff? And it, it, I don't, how many do you have?

Let's see, 30 or 40 now this week, I think of number 39.

I mean, I love it and I hope you continue that

I plan to it might look different in 24 months. It might, it might look different. Yeah.

Or it may not be sangria. It could be something, but I like the fact that, you know, it was something that it was you, it was creative and it was something that any of us could do at home. I know. I, and then you made the one customized for the mermaid lounge, but I made that a, the fall sangria.

Yeah. So since I started that, so when did I start that in may? March? Was it, it was like

April, because

It's been about nine months. It's my baby. So when I started it, it was just, honestly, it was on a whim. It wasn't I do it at my dining room table. And I haven't changed that at all. I try to be creative every week, do something new and different. Most of the sangrias, they are not sangria, actually sangria is their wine cocktail because they don't have branding in them. Technically, but honestly, no one, actually I think one person, one person has said these aren't really fun, but everyone, you know, no one really cares about that. They just, you know, the reason

Just give us our booze. It's 2020. Exactly. I know. I don't want to hear boos. I want to hear your booze. But

The one thing that really kept me continuing to do it is people commented and said that they look forward to them every week and that they made them, they, that each video made them so happy. And I couldn't in my right mind take that away from people, whether they commented or not. I've gotten so many emails and messages from people saying that how much they've loved the same is even people who don't drink alcohol. People who have don't, you know, they might be alcoholics or former alcoholics, or they just don't, you know, if they're not their lifestyle, they love watching these videos. And so occasionally I try to add in zero proof alternatives for each week just, you know, to add, to not alienate. My audience know is out there

Well, and mocktails or mocktails are very trendy right now. Anyhow,

They really are. It's like prohibition all over again. And so, I mean, it, I'm not going to stop doing sangria, but, and I'm not one to add to the series either. I'm not going to like, make an offshoot of it and do only you know, zero proof or mocktail thing. I'm not, I'm not doing that. But there are so many different ideas and things that you can do. But also I found that there are two types of people when it comes to recipes. And I say recipes because recipes are literally Olin guidelines, they're suggestions for things you can always, there's literally, you can substitute everything in a recipe to make it your own. But a little note of advice, if you are actually writing a recipe for yourself, recipes cannot be copy written. So if someone ever says, Oh, they stole my recipe, that's a lie, what they can steal or the instruction. So if you put in, you know, two teaspoons of baking powder and one tablespoon of sugar, and let's say that's a recipe and someone says, you stole my recipe. No, you didn't steal the recipe because you can't copyright that. That's not yours, but the instructions of how you do it, you can copyright that. So, yeah,

'Cause, it's it's

Something about the intellectual property. I'm not really sure exactly. I don't remember. Interesting. I didn't know that, but yeah. So when you print out that one,

Maybe that would be copyright, maybe that's copyright infringement because that's actually written. Yeah,

Because it's because it's intellectual property and list of ingredients. You can't copyright that because that's literally just, that's like saying I'm co writing this grocery list. I'm going to Harris Teeter and this is mine. No one else can have it. That sounds well, first of all, it sounds really stupid, but, but if you write a recipe for your grocery list, I eat a pathway, let's say instructions on how to get each item and which I also go down and which you know, which brand or which shelf and all that stuff, you can copyright that, but you can't compress your list of groceries.

Very interesting. We got school today. Y'all so we've got a couple more minutes left and I will put all of your links in the show notes on the podcast. But if you want to give everybody your website address now, feel free to do so.

So my blog is at nix snacks, online.com and that's an R K snacks online.com. And you can find me on all the social media properties, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik TOK, Snapchat. Am I missing?

No, but, but you're missing doing more stuff on Tik TOK.

It's Nick's next. And I case net on all of those properties and you were a hundred percent, right? I was actually thinking about that. Definitely two days ago, but I am a cottage industry is just me and I am focusing on not Tik TOK right now, but the one cool thing about Tik TOK is video or reels or whatnot that I've put on Instagram. I can migrate over to check top.

Actually I have heard, but you're a creator. So you can use the music. The what works really well is when you upload your tic tox into Breo.

Okay. I guess I'll do it the other way now

For there's something, there's something about the algorithm. I don't know what it is, but I was doing some research because if you're a business and you try and use reels it, you don't have access to the music. So what I did some digging and some research is now as a creator, you have access and as an individual, you have access. But what I have when I am I digging around, what I found is that videos tech talks, uploaded to reels for some reason, got more eyeballs on them. I don't know. I don't know why I just trust it. And I go with it. I like tick-tock, I don't play with it as much as I should, but I, I really see you have a special, you have a specialty. The only thing I have a specialty on is being spread too thin.

I mean, you know, I don't, I, you know, I, I, there are tons of people on there that are doing marketing tips and marketing tech talks and social media tech talks. That's just not something exciting to me that I think would make a difference. I, I don't know. So I enjoy watching them. I enjoy playing around with them. Typically, when I'm doing a tick talk, I'm doing it to test a method like I've done a transition one and I've done, you know a side-by-side one. So, you know, I'm just usually just doing one to play with it, play around with it, actually one,

Which is why I got take talks so I could like try it out. And then I'll probably going to make a new account, like a real account. And like, that's probably what I'm going to do.

However, you know, that's why, you know, you need to be doing the reels because that, you know, they give it's it's. That is a known fact that when they roll out new not services, but features, thank you, new features, they give more, they push it out more. So you're going to get more eyeballs on it. So

You have new features. Instagram now has a guide now, and you can make a guide like your, it runs the gamut, your favorite influencers, your favorite brands. I recently did a Thanksgiving guide because I have a lot of Thanksgiving content. It's probably the only holiday that I actually care about. And actually yesterday I posted a 20, 20 local foodie holiday guide. I saw that. Yeah. So there's a guide on triad city beat, and literally it's the same guide on my Instagram. Only different pictures. And honestly you can click on each account Instagram. So that's a plus.

So I love watching new creators. One of the young ladies that works in my office space, in my office building, she started a new Instagram. It's not new new spot. We'd been doing it for a few months called explore Winston, Salem, and Christy is the cue. You'll have to go follow her. It's explore underscore Winston-Salem. So but she's doing a really good job of all things Winston, so, and she's, so she flatters Maisha. Like I learned something we remember when you told me to go do this or do that and this, that, and she'd see did her first, she's the one her first giveaway right now, you know, with a gift, one of the gift cards from one of the local coffee shops, she's just so cute. And she's so excited about it. So, you know, she, she will get tips. She's tiptoeing into reels now as well.

Yeah. I don't really do giveaways much anymore. I mean, they're nice and all, but I don't. Yeah. Not, not, not, not that it's beneath me in any way, shape or form. I, there are a lot of work. They are a lot of work. Even if the brand does everything like collect the address and send out whatever it is. It's still a lot of work because you've got to promoted and well, you don't have to, but

I want to work with them again. You do,

You know, you've got to promote it and then, you know, answer any questions and tally it up unless you use a raffle copter. And even then that interface is weird and it's, it's a, it is a lot of work.

And I haven't found that there's a, there's not a lot of juice for the squeeze.

No, I think the last giveaway I did was last year it was East coast wings. They were doing a a thing, like if you bought a gift card or something after really don't remember what it was. They were going to donate $5 a second harvest food bank, which was a big draw for me because anything second harvest food bank. I'm in whenever anybody mentions, Oh, this is going to go to second harvest. I always say, okay. So just FYI,

One more question for you. And then we were gonna what's what's that's what it was. So what does your big forecast for 2021 for you? What do you think? What are you focusing on? What, what's your, what's your brass ring for next year?

I'm still working on that and I probably won't figure that out until February ish, but I definitely want to keep doing what I'm doing. I want to work with more brands, bigger brains, make more money so that I can invest it in myself and in my business, I'm trying to set myself up for a good year, as much as possible. And I want to make so much money that I have to stuff it in the mattress.

That's where all smart people should be stuffing their money right now. Yeah, unfortunately I have a feeling that the first quarter is going to look just like this entire year and we hopefully will be able to inspire ourselves to be more creative and produce more content we'll sell. See though. All right.

Yeah. So again, miss Nikki will be presenting at the content creators conference, which is on January, and she will be telling, teaching you, telling you she'll be teaching you how to pitch brands on your own. Without going through an agency, tickets are still available and you can get those@thecontentcreatorsconference.com. And thank you, Nikki. I appreciate you spending a good chunk of your afternoon with us, with me, not us. Well, Rob's here in spirit. Rob's here in spirit, right? Rob here in spirit, but what kind of spirit knowing Rob? It's probably a nice dark brew. Okay. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. Make sure you check out the content creators conference. And until next time everybody keep creating that magical, beautiful content.

[Inaudible].