So how do you get sponsorships and brand deals for your Youtube channel?
We're gonna talk about that in this video.
Hey what's up? Sean here.
Benji here! - And this is Video Influencers, helping you build your influence
And your income with online video. And today we're talking about sponsorships
And brand deals for your Youtube channel, whether you're big or small,
So you and Judy are doing larger brand deals and sponsorships, you have
A huge influence, lots of subscribers, but we'll also even share some of the
Tips that I've been able to do with even under ten thousand subscribers
And getting sponsorships, brand deals at different levels, so tips for people
Wherever you're at with your Youtube channel. - And let's be real, that is
Probably one of the leading reasons why you're even watching this channel,
Because you wanna optimize your channel, you wanna create better content
For the purpose of making more money with your online business,
With your business in general or as a Youtuber right? Whether you've got
Ten thousand subscribers or a million subscribers, it's all about how to
Make more money for the effort that I'm putting out, so this is a video
That I've been wanting to do for a long time because it's one of the
Questions that don't get asked, but people want to ask. 'Cause people
Are so shy about this, they're so coy, they're so beating around the bush
About it, because there definitely is a stigma about making money
On Youtube. Let's just be clear, Judy and I, we do this as a career,
We do this as a business, but we're also very passionate about it
And we try to do the best job possible to entertain, to inform and
To bring value with all our videos. - Absolutely and yeah, so don't be
Afraid, I think that it is okay to pursue turning your creativity into a
Career or pursue supplemental or siding cover, passive income and
Sponsorship and brand deals are a great way to do that. -Turning
Your influence into income. - Boom! So what's the first tip, Benji?
Build your channel, better content. So a lot of people think Well
How to make money? Well the first thing you need to do before
You actually make the money or go pursue getting sponsorships
Is deliver value through the content, whether you're a comedy
Channel, whether you're like a tech channel, or a daily vlogger
Just entertaining and connecting with people, always raising the
Value of your channel by getting more subscribers, you know
Specific types of subscribers, or getting more views, right?
Because trust me, the more subscribers you get, the more views
You get on your channel, the sponsorship opportunities, the
Brand deals will come to you. The opportunities to make
Money will come to you because this is the thing, business,
They know the value that you have when you have so much
Exposure, so it's not gonna be hard for you to put the e-mail
In your info box and get inquires to be able to do that. But it
All starts with great content. I think that's something a lot of people
Forget about. - Absolutely, build your channel first, build great
Content first, and niche is better. - Niche. - And so a great example
Is the first sponsorship brand deal that I did was related to my
Media channel, ThinkMediaTV, Shameless Plug, I'll link it up here
On the screen, where I do video gear reviews and video equipment
Reviews and so it was natural to have a relationship, in this case there
was no money involved, just gear to review it and use it which
Is huge when you're trying to build your, you know, even just the cost
Of that and so having a channel that does video gear reviews was
A natural relationship with that sponsor or a creator with that
Type of a thing. Judy has a beauty channel, thus the relationship
Opportunities are focused, some people, their channel is general,
And if your channel is general, it's gonna be harder to get a
Relationship with a sponsor or brand deal, but if you have focus
And they can see that your audience and your channel and those
That are watching you are focused, it's gonna be a lot easier,
Even if you don't have that many subscribers and views.
Consider from the brand or business's stand point. If not
Only your audience's niche is looking for what the brand or
Company is trying to sell, but you as a content creator understand
That audience and the products or the brand that you would be
Pitching or integrating into your video, you're gonna be able to
Deliver a call to action that's stronger that the person that's just
Like trying to do a sponsor based on a fee that they get paid
To make money. You know you are passionate about that. So for
Example say you're a gardener, right? And you know gardening
Left and right and you just know how to grow the best tomatoes,
A dirt fertilizer company is gonna much rather you talk about their
Product, even if you have a tenth of the views of someone else
Who doesn't understand gardening at all, okay? - Right.
Now there's literally millions of examples, but that's just a
Really simplified quick version. What do you think about that?
I think that's great. And you mentioned it, but just a few other
Notes under building your channel. Don't seek sponsorships too
Soon. I think if you can hold off the longer, the better. To build
Your content, get your focus, get momentum, because it takes
A lot of work so you wanna consider if it's worth it. Even just
Having done some of those initial things, I kind of was like
You know Yeah, make videos, I'll do all this kind of stuff for
You if you would send me some gear, we were working out the
Details, then I kind of realized it might have been just better
To just, you know, I was waiting tables at the time, to just
Buy the equipment, I was like man, this is a ton of work, like
And so you kind of wanna consider if it's worth it which leads us
Into number two. - Number two, take less, get more. What I mean
By this, just like what Sean said, pick and choose these sponsorships
Or the opportunities you take so that you can focus on doing a
Better job for those brands, for those companies, those businesses
Right? So that in the future you build your value. And what I mean by
That is okay, you might charge so much because you're getting
Things left and right and you're just getting them all over the
Place, but when you're very specific on what type of content
You're delivering and your audience is a niche audience and
You're doing less so you're more exclusive, you're gonna be able
To charge more, potentially for less work, better work. And you
Raise your value. And I think overall your channel would be
Better because even when you do a sponsored deal or you're
Integrating some kind of brand, you're doing it in a way where
You still keep your integrity, people aren't pissed that you're
Trying to make money, you know, just make a quick buck
Because it's available, you're still doing something and delivering
Value to the viewers who make up what your channel is.
So good. And then the next one, which is a big question,
How do you actually go about getting those first brand deals,
Getting those sponsorships and cultivating those and what
We would say initially is just reach out. - E-mail. - Just e-mail
Them, Tweet them. - Call them. - Just ask, yeah, call them,
Knock on a door, a few practical things is just this week I was
Curious about doing something with Aces or Asus computers and
So I just Tweeted them, they replied right back with here's the
e-mail and the form to fill out. Canon cameras, exact same thing.
Just by sending them a Tweet. And I like that, 'cause you said take
Less, give more. Work with less sponsors or brands, but more
That you're passionate about. I a lot of times pursue what I'm
Passionate about. Like it's not just this channel, but express your
Passion, like I really love your stuff, like I wanna work together.
This is who I am and I wanna share this and so just reach out.
And on that note, keep your mind that you don't have to be
Afraid of the bigger brands too, like the ones that are, that you
Think are untouchable or they don't need you. Realize that these
Brands have whole departments around considering what kind
Of content to create, you know what kind of marketing campaigns
To have to be able to deliver their products or to sell their products
Or their services. So if you as a passionate content creator in the
Niche that they're in or the industry that they're in, deliver a
Literally a story board of how to sell their product or sell their
Service, and you tell them I'm gonna do it. That's a huge deal.
And now it's not gonna happen every single time, you might have
To pitch to ten, twenty, thirty to get one deal, but when you
Get that one deal and it hits, realize the marketing budgets
Are much bigger than you would ever realize, because they
Have so much overhead. That's one of the things that I think
That we should always remember and you know, we forget.
But you are this content creating machine, you are a one man
Band and I used to call Sean the backpack producer and
That's powerful because a lot of businesses, they have literally
Hundreds of people to do what sometimes you can do all
By yourself. - So practically, e-mail the person, go to the
Website, look for the media inquiry section or the media contact
e-mail address, just Tweet them and say Hey, what's the best way
about going up, I have a video idea. - Social media. - Social media.
Knock on the door, you could work and do brand deals with local
Businesses. - Totally. - Talk about that. - Yeah, so especially if you
Are like a newer channel and you don't have as many followers,
You don't have to look for the feed based method, you could go
For an exchange of resources, say you only have a few thousand
Subscribers, but again, they're a niche audience looking to
You for like travel tips. You could reach out to a few hotels in
The city that you're gonna travel to and see if you could give them
A little bit of advertisement, on your platforms, for exchange of
Maybe a free room, even a discounted room - so smart - I've had so many Youtube
Friends that have had way less followers that I did that
Were able to get free rooms, connections to other opportunities,
Whether there in the city or somewhere else, so don't discount
The power of just asking. - I love it. If you have a beauty channel,
You could go to a local salon and say I have a video idea,
Would you do some free stuff and lets create a video. You're
Gonna get experience, that first deal might not be like huge,
You're gonna have to do work creating the video, they do some
Stuff, makeup or beauty, but now you have something as an
Example or a case study, you say Hey next brand, I've worked
With this salon locally, here's an example of a video we
Created, so just getting creative to reach out digitally, knock on
A door physically, and then the last one would be middle men.
Which middle men would be networks, big or small, there's
A place called Fame Bit and make sure to check out the
Youtube description, we'll link up some options, the whole
Purpose of Fame Bit is to link creators with brands and so
One thousand subscribers I think is the minimum to
Get started and so you can start reaching out and
They curate the deals, all kinds of, either big Youtube
Networks or even smaller Youtube networks or ones
That let smaller channels, they connect the dots between
Creators and brands and sponsors. Now we're gonna be
Going into more depth on that and you don't wanna just jump
In with any network and sign your channel of immediately or
Whatever. That's got some pitfalls, but that's another
Way to find those connections, by working with somebody that
Will introduce brands and sponsors to creators. - Now with that
Being said, we do have some disclosures about how to go about
Doing a sponsor video, especially for those people that it's new for
Them because I see a lot of mistakes being made. What you
Don't even wanna do is endanger your channel, endanger your
Integrity, so the number one thing is always have integrity, okay?
Do things that you're proud of, okay? Back up brands and products
And services that you personally have or use or would use
If you needed them, right? Anything else that you'd say?
Yeah, 100 per cent, don't, if you love Coca Cola classic, but Pepsi
Offers you a lot of money, be honest to yourself, you're like
I love Pepsi. No, you don't, like you love Coke, but like when I
Think, I love Canon cameras, that happens to be who I have a
Relationship with and so we stay congruent and so I will
Promote brands I'm passionate about all day long, but you
Wanna make sure you stay in integrity. The second thing is
You gotta disclose. - Disclose, be honest. - And some people
Are not understanding that actually legally, you need to disclose,
Affiliate partnerships, brand deals, sponsorships, make sure you
Do your diligence. - FTC guidelines. - FTC guidelines, you don't want
To just pretend and like Hey, look at this you know shirt that's from
Whatever store and I love it and it's a sponsorship deal and so
You just gotta disclose it, there's no harm in disclosing it. - No.
You just wanna be honest and. - In fact, people will appreciate that,
It's when you're not and they find out you weren't that they will start
Hating on you and that's a whole other video, but being honest
Is really important. I see a lot of creators, like a lot of Youtubers,
They're actually like very, very honest, like from the get go.
Hey you guys, I don't usually do sponsor videos, but these guys told
Me that they wanna pay me and I love their products, right? - Yeah.
And people really appreciate that, you can even put a comedic
Spin on it, right? - And then lastly, always create value with
Sponsorships, so when you do that, when you do a brand deal
Or a sponsorship deal, you know always make sure that you
Tie it in creatively. - Yes. - To add value to your audience.
Coming full circle to what our first tip was building good
Content for your channel and I think you and I have a lot
Of experience with this with Judy, right? How many times
Have I come to you with a sponsorship opportunity that
Was presented to us and I'm like Sean how can we make
Something fun? - Yes. - You know? - Fun, creative, entertaining
And still add value and relationship to this brand. - So it's a win-win-win,
And what I mean by win-win-win, win for the audience
Because they got something of value, whether it's entertaining
Or you know informative, the brand, it's a win for them because
They get exposure and they get what they want and a win
For me, I'm making money as well being able to deliver
Good content to my audience. So there you go, the three wins.
So hey, thanks so much for checking out this video. In
The comments we wanna hear from you, what are
Your specific questions or challenges, because this is
A big topic when it comes to sponsorships, brand deals,
Practical situations your facing or any other questions,
Let us know in the comments below and make sure to
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And your income with online video. - Audio is good on that? No!
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