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Approaching Celebrities

by bigmoneyilikeit
21 replies
I've been prospecting for celebrities to utilize their brand to basically affiliate market. I've emailed a few of the contact email addresses they have publicly but no luck. I'm almost positive it's my approach so I'm hoping to get some suggestions.

I've gotten a few offline clients from email marketing but I'm positive my conversion rate could be a lot better. While approaching celebrities I attempt to build rapport by stating I'm a fan of a project of theirs and then I branch off to how I own a marketing agency and would like to work with them to drive more sales to their product.

Does anyone have any insight on what I should do or how I should structure the email to get people replying

Thanks
#approaching #celebrities
  • Profile picture of the author MichaelWinicki
    I think you'd have a better chance with using ink on paper... maybe even going with 3D mail of some sort.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheWriteOne
    It would be hard to contact them if you are not really friends with one of their friends. Why not try their managers? Or maybe you could find a common friend that could set you up with a meeting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Seymour
    Just personalize it a bit more and the offer clearly shouldnt be about the money unless it's millions upfront.

    IT must be beneficial for them and what they are doing. That works often for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidAllenNeron
    1) Do your research:
    Approach Celebrities that have publicly professed their use of whatever you want them to endorse, or something that's similar (but not a competitor, unless the competitor is substantially better)

    What kind of a person are you talking to? watch some of their interviews... have a dialogue before you start pitching them, meet them on a human level, don't look at them like their a giant dollar sign.

    Find alternative methods of getting their attention, make a YouTube video and tweet it to them if they are avid twitter users.. stuff like that.

    Try (1) and then report back and let us know if any of it worked and if it did and you want more tips, I'll whip up (2)
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  • Profile picture of the author bigmoneyilikeit
    Thanks everyone for your advice, I appreciate it.

    I have also tried the managers of the ones who left managers info but to no avail as well.

    Originally Posted by DavidAllenNeron View Post

    1) Do your research:
    Approach Celebrities that have publicly professed their use of whatever you want them to endorse, or something that's similar (but not a competitor, unless the competitor is substantially better)

    What kind of a person are you talking to? watch some of their interviews... have a dialogue before you start pitching them, meet them on a human level, don't look at them like their a giant dollar sign.

    Find alternative methods of getting their attention, make a YouTube video and tweet it to them if they are avid twitter users.. stuff like that.

    Try (1) and then report back and let us know if any of it worked and if it did and you want more tips, I'll whip up (2)
    I'm putting this to work right now David. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author GforceSage
    Many celebrities have a 3 tiered support system, which includes an agent, a PR person, and a personal assistant.

    Search out contacts for the celebrity in the above mentioned areas and have a professional looking/sounding pitch ready to go. The appropriate guild in Hollywood may have generic contact info for you to reach someone who can better help you. Keep in mind that many celebrities receive so many requests that they make it very difficult to get through to them. If you get through to a gatekeeper like a secretary, be sure and mention that you have a business proposition so you get the email address that gets read quickly and not the fan email that often goes nowhere.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelWinicki
    If you target what Dan Kennedy calls "Loveboat" (meaning those that are known, but no longer in the public eye) celebrities, they can many times be accessed much easier.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    You said you want to drive "more sales to their product".

    Most times it's a product they simply endorse.

    So, you'd need to get in touch with the product makers marketing and publicity teams.

    Again, social media, direct mail, and phone, are likely avenues.
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    "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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  • Profile picture of the author DavidAllenNeron
    I suppose I must add that I speak to at least 3-4 'celebrities' a month, albeit they are the same 3-4 'celebrities', I still talk to them
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    • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
      Originally Posted by DavidAllenNeron View Post

      I suppose I must add that I speak to at least 3-4 'celebrities' a month, albeit they are the same 3-4 'celebrities', I still talk to them
      If one happens to be Taylor Swift, please let me know.
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      "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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      • Profile picture of the author DavidAllenNeron
        Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

        If one happens to be Taylor Swift, please let me know.
        Absolutely not.
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        • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
          Originally Posted by DavidAllenNeron View Post

          Absolutely not.
          Good of you to protect your friends' privacy.

          When it comes to Taylor, I have a tremendous amount of respect for her
          story, character, integrity, and properness.

          Dan
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          "If you think you're the smartest person in the room, then you're probably in the wrong room."

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  • Profile picture of the author RecessionPROOF
    This would be next to impossible in my opinion. They all have layers of insulation from public, so an email is never going to get read. Make an entertaining Youtube video raving about your target celebs and if you get traffic, you will get their attention. Find out what their passions are, hobbies, etc, then try to build a relationship with them based on hobbie or whatever.

    Years ago I got to be friends with Paul Newman and his wife having helped out on his pet charity helping bring kids from city to his Hole in the Wall country camp. Never pumped him on anything, but we also had same passion for racing, so ended up with being a sponsor and got tons of prospects for my company at the time, so those days are long gone, as he is, times change, but email is not your venue for serious relationships to be built.

    Success to all,
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    • Profile picture of the author DavidAllenNeron
      Originally Posted by RecessionPROOF View Post

      This would be next to impossible in my opinion. They all have layers of insulation from public, so an email is never going to get read. Make an entertaining Youtube video raving about your target celebs and if you get traffic, you will get their attention. Find out what their passions are, hobbies, etc, then try to build a relationship with them based on hobbie or whatever.

      Years ago I got to be friends with Paul Newman and his wife having helped out on his pet charity helping bring kids from city to his Hole in the Wall country camp. Never pumped him on anything, but we also had same passion for racing, so ended up with being a sponsor and got tons of prospects for my company at the time, so those days are long gone, as he is, times change, but email is not your venue for serious relationships to be built.

      Success to all,
      They're all human. Layers or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    I once sold a website to a major celebrity modeling manager... but I had to do one for him for free first, and he liked it , appreciated it, and then let me have 5 of his top models website jobs, one of them was Kim Smith, the famous Guess Jeans, then Victoria Secrets model.


    Later on he endorsed one of my sites.


    My advice? If you care to hear it...


    I would offer them something highly valuable for free, even if it costs you to have only the finest designers to do it... If you ingratiate them it can pay off like you wouldn't imagine.


    My two cents.


    Oh wait! How did I get to him? By accident.


    I was just calling what I thought was a list of small time modeling agencies, and he happened to answer the phone that day. A multi million dollar manager. He also managed Anna Kournikova and a few others you might know. In any event, when I started talking to him I didn't know who he was and found out later.


    Funny things happen sometimes, when you are dialing hundreds of numbers per day.
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    • Profile picture of the author Freebiequeen1999
      It seems you want to promote a product they already promote..

      I think a lot of the times these "celebs" do not really design or create their products

      their agents set them up , they accept an offer from a company

      sure the "celeb" will say "yeah I like that perfume best" etc

      but ultimately the marketing is done by the company who makes the product - perfume,
      weight loss shake, clothing line whatever

      you might try to get to the company?
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  • Profile picture of the author Slade556
    You would have to be very persistent if you really want to get in touch with celebrities (or, their managers, you'll probably never get in touch directly with celebrities). If you manage to get lucky, please, do share with us how you did it!
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  • Profile picture of the author bigmoneyilikeit
    I'm putting some things to work. Will update with any successes.
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