Creators come to ConvertKit with dreams of doing what they love for a living. That usually means sacrificing 9-5s for passion and creativity. But often creators forget that a lifestyle doing what you love only comes when you learn to monetize that passion and think like a businessperson. While skills like negotiation rarely come naturally, all it takes is a little education to increase your income and experience real creative freedom.
Sponsorship Coach and Founder of Creator Wizard Justin Moore is an expert at helping creators navigate sponsorships and earn a living doing what they love, in the most literal sense. From living without a paycheck gap, navigating paid sponsorships, and negotiating rates, to simply having the confidence to initiate a brand deal, Justin helps people take the leap from aspiring creator to full-time, successful entrepreneur.
In this episode, Charli, Miguel, and Justin discuss the biggest mistakes creators make when it comes to brand sponsorships, what an ideal sponsorship looks like, how to win brands over with confidence, and why you’re never too small to add value and earn money working with the brands you love.
Key Takeaways
- [00:58] - Have you heard?
- [01:05] - Snapchat is introducing revenue sharing on ads in creator stories.
- [04:47] - IZEA released their State of 2022 Influencer Earnings. YouTube and TikTok were the top-earning platforms.
- [06:51] - ConvertKit is conducting a survey about the creator economy. Here’s a sneak peek at early survey results!
- [07:55] - Today’s main topic: How can creators run successful sponsorships?
- [08:08] - Always ask the brand what the goal of the campaign is. Your pricing should change based on the brand’s goal.
- [08:55] - Brands have three main campaign goals: conversion focused, content repurposing focused, and brand awareness focused. You can charge the most for brand awareness campaigns.
- [14:11] - Creators often negotiate against themselves. Rather than overexplaining your rate, lean into the silence and let brands respond.
- [16:38] - Don’t be reactive with your negotiations. You’re not beholden to the brand’s proposal. You can create your own “packages” with different content and pricing options.
- [21:54] - Be honest with yourself about which sponsorships are a good fit for your audience, be responsive with brands from the beginning, and be flexible if brands occasionally request things outside your contract.
- [28:51] - You have to engage brands at every stage of the creator pipeline. Otherwise, you may go months and months without receiving a paycheck.
- [30:51] - Don’t wait to initiate sponsorships! You have incredibly unique value regardless of your follower count.
- [34:41] - When it comes to working with brands, confidence is key.
- [36:59] - Listener shoutout! Krystal Proffitt recently hit 4,000 subscribers on YouTube and got to speak at Podcast Movement University.
- [37:40] - A sneak peek at next week’s episode.
Quotes
[13:56] - “There is so much value in the content that you’re creating for brands and you should not just be giving the kitchen sink away for free.” ~ @justinmoorefam
[22:23] - “It’s very very critical that you are honest with yourself that this is going to be a good fit for your audience. If you have a fast money mindset when it comes to working with brands and sponsors and things like that, it’s going to be very difficult for you to maintain an intimate connection with your audience as well as one with brands.” ~ @justinmoorefam
[31:48] - “What I’m here to say to you is that it does not matter how many followers you have for you to actually start working with brands. Because there are so many different ways that you can bring value to those brands.” ~ @justinmoorefam
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