(upbeat music)
- Hey, everyone, my name is Nina Zadeh
and I'm director of partnerships at Sidewalker Daily,
and, today, I wanna talk to you
about a secret in the travel blogger, influencer world,
and it's really how they make their money.
I think everyone has this beautiful idea
of what a travel blogger does.
They get paid to travel the world,
and they live these fabulous lives,
but I'm here to tell you that's not always the case.
Sidewalker Daily, we work on the brand side.
We also work with influencers,
but a lot of our income is generated
through working with brands
and building out influencer campaigns,
and we've worked on multiple campaigns
where influencers are not paid by the brands for their work.
Now, before you get all upset and freak out,
we'll spend over $6,000, $7,000 per influencer
on accommodating them throughout a trip.
So, flights for them and their plus one,
all meals, activities, hotels, on a six night trip,
could come out to be easily $15,000.
We do compensate them,
but that's not always how influencers wanna be compensated,
they want that cold, hard, cash,
and I totally understand that.
I've worked on campaigns
where we've paid them as well,
but I think a really big secret
in the travel blogging industry is that influencers
are not always making
their money through brand partnerships.
Now, whether you may see our favorite influencer traveling
to a destination, that doesn't mean
they're getting paid by that destination to go there,
and, I think you guys need to also understand
that people are creative in this space,
and, when they're creative, they're not
just creative with their content that they're taking.
They're creative with their money that they're making,
and how they're doing so.
I know Instagram influencers
who are killing it by their presets.
They are selling their presets.
I know influencers who are
killing it by selling courses.
I know influencers who are
killing it by having social media jobs
where they do food photography for restaurants
and are getting $3K a client.
Let's say you have three social media clients
that you're posting on their social for,
that's $9,000 a month, not too shabby,
for posting on other people's social
because they understand social.
I think people aren't always up front
because money is a weird topic.
People aren't always up front about their partnerships
and whether or not they were paid or not,
and I think that's also totally normal, and, also, fine.
I've done tons of work that hasn't been paid
because I wanted to work with a certain brand,
and I've done tons of work
that I've been overpaid for probably.
I think it's all about positioning yourself
and taking risk or chances,
and also understanding that
just because you see your favorite travel blogger
posting that they're in Iceland,
doesn't mean that Iceland's paid them
tons of money to go there.
Now, watch for this.
Maybe your favorite travel blogger is in Iceland,
and the tourism board is hosting them.
By the way, I'm making this up as an example.
I have no idea how Iceland
runs their influencer marketing campaigns.
I do not work with the country yet,
but, the point I'm trying to say is that,
let's say this influencer goes to Iceland
and does an amazing, shoots all these photos
and is tagging, "Visit Iceland, visit Iceland,"
and, then, a few weeks, after the trip is done,
you start seeing some Iceland photos with boots,
and you see hunter boots as being tagged
or you're seeing them do some raincoats
and tagging anthropology,
but, it's shot in Iceland.
Now, you're like, "Wait a second.
"They probably, while they were on their press trip,
"their expense paid trip where they got everything covered,
"we're able to monetize by taking
"these brands along with them and creating content
"for them while they were abroad,"
and now they're posting that content
after the campaign is over of different
products in Iceland.
That's probably how they're monetizing
is on the product side, not the tourism board side.
You also don't know how people,
what they need to live,
their marital situations.
I also know travel bloggers
who don't really need to work.
They're supported by their spouse.
That's cool too,
and I love the people that are really open about that.
Some of them will straight up
be like, "This is just fun for me.
"Travel's a part of our lifestyle, and that's cool."
I think, in terms of how you monetize,
there's many different ways.
I think if you are going on a trip,
let's say, and you're a travel blogger and influencer,
and you're already visiting a destination,
you could potentially be a copywriter.
So, you could potentially write
for other people's magazines,
or other people's blogs,
and create content that's paid that way.
I've seen travel bloggers be retreat leaders
where they have hosted retreats
and they're getting paid by the retreat company
or the trip planning company to organize and host a trip.
I've seen travel bloggers be paid in travel agent capacity.
Some of them have started off as travel agents,
and now they're getting a percentage
of all the bookings that they're
able to make for their travel agent client.
I've seen travel bloggers make money through photography
and freelance consulting.
I've seen travel bloggers work on PR campaigns,
and, kind of like on my side, they start doing consulting
on the marketing side because they know how to work.
I've seen travel bloggers be booked
both on camera and off camera,
and, now they're coming into a brand,
and they're like, "Hey, we have
"this artistic, creative vision.
"Let us be your art director.
"Let us be your creative director."
I've seen travel bloggers make books
and different tangible products.
Maybe different swimsuits or clothing,
things that you can actually purchase.
So, just know, that big,
I don't wanna call it a secret,
but everyone is not just making money off partnerships.
It's just not happening.
I know you think it is, but it's not.
People are hustling behind the curtain
to make sure that they're monetizing
to live the life that they wanna live,
and I just wanted to share that with you guys
because I think it can take that pressure off
of, "I just need to work with brands to make money."
It's just not consistent.
Brands are a great way for some people to do it,
but there's also alternative ways.
So, you've gotta get creative
because you are a creative person,
you're in this space, so just get creative
on how you hustle as well.
Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this video
on different jobs in the travel influence space
and different jobs that you can apply
for as a travel blogger.
It doesn't mean that you need to be corporate nine to five,
but that you can have different jobs
and different opportunities along the way.
Make sure you subscribe to our channel
for all things influencer, and marketing,
travel blogging, and all that good stuff,
and I will see you in the next video.
(upbeat music)