Hey, guys.
My name is Tim Schmoyer, and I am hanging out
with Rory Haines and Nathan Jordan
from New Media Rockstars.
They work with brands and they work with creators.
Helping merge the two together and they
have a lot of really good advice for you guys
as creators who want to start working with brands
and start landing those deals.
So what advice do you guys have for creators
who are looking to get into that revenue
stream for their videos?
There's two things that I think are really key.
One is it's obviously really important to try and find--
you have to be mindful of your audience.
And so really, try and sort of figure out
what is the most organic way to fit this into what I do.
And I think it's really important to focus that.
It does take a lot of energy, obviously.
Maybe not every brand is the right fit.
Maybe sometimes you're going to have to turn down certain deals
because there's no way to make it organic.
But I think what you don't want to do
is see that potential negative reaction to working
with brands.
But I don't want to scare anybody off,
because I think that when you do tie it in perfectly,
it can really, really work.
The other thing I would say is one thing
to also be mindful of.
I've seen a certain mentality with creators
when they do get brand deals.
As soon as that contract is signed,
they're really thinking about trying
to do as little as possible with the brand.
And I think that's a mistake because one thing--
I mean, obviously, I get it.
The mentality is, oh, I don't want to seem sponsoring.
I'm going to have as little messaging as possible.
But if you can really figure out the right way to do it--
the better you do it for the brand, the more likely
they're going to come back again and say, hey,
thanks for that video.
We want to do another one.
We're going to increase the budget-- you know what I mean?
So it's like that idea of, oh, I'm
going to do as little as possible for this brand
is actually sort of counter intuitive for you
and your channel, and your potential future earnings.
And think about it this way too.
If you have one good branded piece
of content on your channel, that's
an easy way to show other brands that you can do that.
So its potential for more brands to work with.
Brands that creators love anyways and probably
talk about whether they're getting paid for it or not.
You might as well make money off that as well.
And I would say the big thing is to remember that these brands
are finally coming to YouTube.
So we should all be really happy about that.
They're bringing their money to YouTube.
And they haven't worked with creators before.
So just the basic stuff like getting your video in on time,
hitting all the talking points that are in the contract.
Feel free to negotiate whatever you want
before you sign that contract.
If you're like I don't feel comfortable
saying that because it's inorganic.
Just get-- brands will talk to you about that kind of stuff
and make exceptions when you make a good case for it.
Do that all before you sign the contract,
because once you sign the contract
you should fulfill every single point
of that contract in good faith.
One of the questions a lot of creators ask is, well,
how do I go about determining how much my videos should be
worth or my audience is worth?
Should I be charging a $2 CPM or $100
CPM, or how do I-- is it even based on CPMs, you know?
There isn't a secret formula.
Obviously, the truth is something's worth what people
are willing to pay for it.
That's always the truth.
I think it does depend on how integrated the brand is
into the video.
What the deal is.
What you're comfortable with.
I will say that, statistically, whoever names
the first number in a negotiation
is more likely to get a number that is closer to what
they want than vice versa.
So if brands are approaching you saying how much do you want?
I know that you're like, oh, I don't
want to say a number because what if I go way low?
If you don't and they say their number,
and it's half of what you're expecting,
you're negotiating up from there.
So I think a sort of good negotiation tactic
is if you're given the opportunity to pick the number,
just say the number that you want.
And then that's where the negotiation starts,
so you're actually getting closer to where you want.
I say the creators know how much work goes into each video.
And brands are going to ask different sorts of things.
So I would say if it doesn't feel right.
If it feels like you're not making that much
for what you're being asked to do,
then it's probably not right.
It's almost a gut thing.
You know, if it's a custom video-- if it's a super custom
video where they want you to make a specific script
and they're making notes and getting revisions on it,
I would charge more.
You know, I mean for really high-end custom content,
$100 CPM is another question.
But if they're asking you to put a title card on your video
and they're offering you a $20 CPM, hey, you know?
You're going to make $22 CPM on that video instead of $2 CPM.
So it's just what you feel comfortable with, I think,
is a good starting point.
So tell me what you guys think about the formula
I've kind of been using.
I want your feedback, all right?
So what I've been thinking is so you look at the videos
that you posted in the previous month.
You tally up the total number of views
that each of those videos total got,
and then you divide it by that number of videos.
So you get the average views that you got per video you
uploaded in the previous month.
And then you base that off of a CPM
of-- if you have a really targeted specific niche
audience and you know exactly who those people are,
you can maybe charge a higher CPM.
Maybe get closer to like $40 to $60 CPM.
But if it's broad audiences like teens and moms,
then a lot of you are maybe closer to
around the $25, $30 CPM.
And just kind of based on that, figure out this
is the average number of views I got per video.
If it's a single video-- if it's an ongoing sponsor for a month.
You'd still do it after.
Does that sound relatively close to how you might
determine what the value is?
I don't think that's a bad formula at all.
I think that's pretty good.
I've seen some deals that are really intrusive,
but I've also seen other deals where we've actually
been able to work with huge creators
on a way, way lower budget because they love the brand.
And the integration is pretty flexible and something that
they're-- you know what I mean?
So I think that's-- unfortunately,
I don't think there is the simple answer.
That being said, I think your formula is pretty
close to a realistic one.
Brands generally give you about a month to get all your views,
so they'll pay you based on what you can get in a month.
So I would look at actually day 30,
and just keep a running total of that
to get a more accurate idea of where you fall.
And then it depends-- the CPM depends on the integration.
As far as the audience, I mean I think that's important.
But I think the brand wouldn't reach out
to you anyways unless you already had that audience.
So it's less-- I'd say it's a little bit less
of a consideration, but it's still a good guideline
to go by and think about.
One thing that these guys are always asking is, well,
when should I get started with brand deals?
When I have 100 subscribers?
Do I have to wait until I have 1,000 subscribers?
At what level or as a view count-- or what level
can you start thinking about doing brand deals?
I wouldn't necessarily say there's a level.
I think there's a level before it's a type of brand deal.
I mean you're probably not going to really get a flat-fee brand
deal until you're really sort of 15,000,
20,000 views of video and up is really
when you're probably going to be at a level
where you can start talking to brands on a flat-fee basis.
That being said, as many creators know,
if you're doing merchandise deals and so on and so forth,
you can really start that as soon as you create an account.
You can go out there and sign up for a sort of CPA deal
where they're going to pay you per transaction.
So that's something you can start straight
away if you want.
I mean, how profitable it's going to be will really depend
on how far you should grow.
I don't want to discourage anybody from making a profit
and making money, but I do think it's something
in the early stages that you want to consider.
If I'm 100 subscribers in and I'm already
sort of selling products, am I hurting my own audience value
and growth value?
I would advise to, when you get started,
just focus on collaboration mostly and your content.
I'd say when you get to 10,000 subs,
I'd start looking at things like-- Netflix
used to do a code, or spreadsheet, or something
like that.
Just to get your feet wet.
A thing to remember is as you grow your audience too,
your value is going to go up, right?
So, yes, around 20,000 you could be considered--
20,000 views a video, you could be considered for brand deals
probably.
When you start getting to 50,000,
if you're like, a gamer, that's a good number to be at.
But when you start getting up to 100,000, 500,000 views a video,
then you become really valuable because that
becomes rarer and rarer on YouTube as there's
more and more people.
And then you're probably not asking
for advice about branding.
If you do a million views a video,
that's kind of the magic number where your value really
shoots up.
Because that's hard to guarantee a million views on a video on.
That's actually something to add to it.
If you have consistency, that's something
that-- consistency view count-- that's actually really,
really valuable.
Because brands can look at you and be like,
oh, I know exactly what I'm getting.
And you could be sold in that sense.
One thing that I found that could work for a brand of any,
or a channel of any size is if you see a product
that you like that could fit really well with your audience.
Sometimes they'll just be willing to give you
free product.
You know, hey, you really like our granola bars?
Yeah, we'll toss you a bag of granola bars.
You like our peanut butter?
That's one we did on my family's blogging channel,
they sent us a case of peanut butter, you know?
Because we like peanut butter.
Companies are always looking, at least the ones
that work with the influencers and to connect them
with the brands, are always looking
for really professional-- like if you're professional
and great and nice?
Trust me, it goes a long way.
And, you know, if you-- if I'm putting together a brand deal
and there's two guys at the same size,
and I know I can call this guy and get everything on time.
And he's-- work with him and he's a great guy,
I'm going to go to that guy every time.
Thank you, guys.
I appreciate your help and your input and advice
for these awesome creators.
You guys, there's a link to their website
in the description below.
newmediarockstars.com.
You can go read-- I read your guy's site every week.
Every Sunday, actually, in case you
wanted to know when I'm looking at it.
Every Sunday afternoon, evening, I'm
reading through all the stuff I missed for that week.
But definitely go check them out.
And I would love to hear from you guys in the comments below.
About what advice and tips you guys
have as creators who have worked with brands.
What advice would you give to other creators?
You're starting to look in to working with brands
and starting to build that income from that type
of revenue model.
So definitely leave your advice.
And if you are looking to get involved,
read the comments down below.
Always a lot of really good helpful
stuff that people here leave.
And if this is your first time here,
I'd love to have you subscribe.
Every Wednesday we do videos just like this.
Give you guys some YouTube tips, advice, things like that.
Tomorrow on Thursdays, we'll do some YouTube Q and A.
Where I take a question from one of you guys
and do my best to answer it.
And then on Thursday, we'll talk about some of the updates
and the things happening in the online video world,
and what you guys as creators need to know about all that.
And I do all this because I really
believe that a lot you guys have messages that the world needs
to hear, and I will do everything
I can to help you guys grow your audiences and your channels,
and spread your message.
So thanks for hanging out, and we'll see you guys again
tomorrow.
Bye.