gid you know that you can actually get sponsorships for your YouTube channel, even if you have
less than 1000 subscribers?
Sponsorships are one of the best ways to monetize your YouTube channel.
Even if you don't have 1000 subscribers or you're not even officially monetized.
That's why in today's video, I'm going to be talking all things sponsorships.
We're going to talk about: what our sponsorships, the different types of sponsorships, how to
know you're ready for a sponsorship, then what to charge for that sponsorship, and lastly
pitfalls to avoid for sponsorships.
So if you want to learn all things about sponsorships on YouTube, keep on watching.
My name is Morgan Stradling, and I teach content creators and entrepreneurs how to grow their
business using YouTube.
And sponsorships is a question that I get asked all the time.
People are chomping at the bit for sponsorships because you want to make money on your YouTube
channel.
So first off, what is a sponsorship?
Basically, a sponsorship is where a company is going to pay you to include their product
or their company in your YouTube video.
This is a financial transaction where cash is exchanged.
And the term "sponsorships" can get a little confusing.
#sponsored #ad.
Because what if a company sends you product for free?
Is that a sponsorship?
No.
That is a gift that is a gifted product, or that might be something you receive in a PR
package.
That is again gifted.
What if you're a travel channel and a company hosts you at their resort that isn't technically
a sponsorship.
That's just a hosted event.
Yes, there is some gifting or an exchange happening, but a lot of times that is free.
But specifically in this video, when I'm talking about sponsorships, I'm talking about when
a company pays you to talk about their product or service in your video.
So that leads me into the next topic, which is the different types of sponsorships.
There's lots of different ways that companies can sponsor your video.
Companies can send you their product in exchange for a review, there's affiliate marketing,
where you can talk about different products and you get paid for purchases that people
have.
You can be hosted at the company, for example, an event or a hotel.
And then of course there are paid sponsorships.
For this particular video.
I'm going to be talking only about paid sponsorships.
I personally don't consider affiliate marketing to be a sponsorship, even though there is
a relationship with that brand.
Specifically, when I talk sponsorships, I'm talking about the brand paying you money in
exchange for you doing a video about their product or service.
So that leads me into my next point, which is the different types of sponsorships.
I broken these down into three different types of sponsorships.
And depending on the type of sponsorship you're doing, the amount that you'll charge will
be more or less.
First up is sponsored mentions.
These are very, very common, especially with bigger YouTube channels.
Basically you just do a little blurb saying this video is sponsored by... insert product
here, insert company here.
Depending on the deal, it could be as simple as that.
Or you might go into detail about that company's product or service.
But as far as the content of the video goes for sponsored mentions, it does not necessarily
have to relate to that product or service at all.
So for example, let's say the sponsor is a headphone company and your video is all about
the best places to eat in Maui.
Totally unrelated, but that company has chosen to sponsor your video all about Maui.
The second type of YouTube sponsorship is the fully integrated sponsorships.
Meaning the company will pay you to basically talk about their products for the entirety
of the video.
So for example, if you are a tech channel and you review all sorts of tech gear, a camera
company could send you a camera to basically do a full review and sponsored video all about
their brand new camera.
In these types of videos.
Typically you won't be mentioning any sort of competitors products, or even comparing
them or talking about anything else other than the product or service at hand.
And as far as the third type of YouTube sponsorship, I feel that there is sort of a middle ground,
which is a partially integrated sponsorship.
Basically this is where you make a video on a certain topic, but you only talk about the
sponsors product or service for a few minutes.
For example, I can make a video about five ways to really step up your YouTube videos.
And one of the points can be a stock music company, for example, Epidemic Sound.
And then for that point, I would mention that they are sponsoring this portion of the video.
And then I would go, and I would talk about their product or service a little more.
These types of sponsorships really flow with the video content.
They don't feel like they're coming out of left field, or you're being constantly bombarded
with sponsors.
It's really natural.
There are pros and cons to each one of these, but I wanted to make you aware of the different
types of sponsorships that you can do.
The next question that I get asked all the time is: how do I know I'm ready for a sponsorship?
And really here's the cool thing about sponsorships.
Technically you can get a sponsorship at any time.
You can get a sponsorship, even with zero subscribers.
It's not as common, but it definitely can happen because here's what brands care about.
When they're looking to sponsor a channel or a video, they're looking for the content
quality.
They're looking for the content quantity.
They're looking for the reach of your YouTube videos.
And lastly, they're looking at your contents relevancy.
I had about 500 subscribers when brands started reaching out to me for sponsorships.
Now I will say that some of these sponsorships were just really...bad.
It didn't feel very personal.
And it honestly felt like they were just mass blasting, a whole bunch of YouTube accounts,
hoping that someone would bite.
For me, I said "No way, Jose!" to those because it just wasn't a good fit for my audience.
And it wasn't something that I truly believed in.
However, if I really wanted to have a brand deal at 500 subscribers, I definitely could
have made it possible.
That being said more serious brands are really looking for at least 2000 to 3000 views in
a 30-day period for them to actually consider sponsoring your video.
So even if you are a small YouTuber, you still can get brand deals, even with just 2000 to
3000 views per video (or less!).
So let's say a brand is approaching you.
That leads me into my next point is how much do I charge for a sponsorship?
If you've never done a brand deal before, it can be really overwhelming because you
just don't know what you don't know.
You may not have other people in your industry or other YouTuber friends that you can ask
around so you can kind of get a baseline.
So you're kind of in a bad position when it comes to negotiating with brands.
But luckily for you, I have a tool that is amazing at helping you know,your worth and
know how much you should charge for brand deals and brand sponsorships on YouTube.
So the website is called socialbluebook.com.
And if you know, Kelly Blue Book, it's basically where you can go to determine the price of
used cars.
Social BlueBook has a similar concept where you'll be able to how much you should be charging
for brand deals.
And not only just on YouTube, but your other social media platforms as well, like Instagram
and Tik TOK.
Now full disclosure.
I do know the founders of Social BlueBook, and I have actually advised them onto their
product to help make it better.
But this in no way is a sponsored post though.
I would totally be open to that.
But this is just my thoughts with having used the product.
Social BlueBook is your one-stop shop for all things brand sponsorships.
I think the biggest feature is that you can go in and you can connect your YouTube channel.
It's going to look at your subscribers, your views, your reach, and your engagement.
And it's going to total all of those things up.
And then it's going to populate how much you should be charging for a sponsored YouTube
video.
What I love is that it does give you the suggested price per video, but it also gives you on
the low end and the high end.
So you definitely have a range that you can work with and you can even break down that
price even further, if you're doing a dedicated video or just a mention of the product.
Now, one thing to note with social blue book is that this is just a starting point.
You may want to go lower if you've never had any brand sponsorships and you really want
to get your foot in the door, or since it's a baseline, there may be other things that
you have to add on top.
For example, if you have to rent special equipment or you have to rent a studio space.
All of those things you'll want to consider when you are giving your price to brands.
Now, most people only think of social blue book as the place to "know your worth".
That is their tagline after all, but there is so much more that this platform has.
For example, they have a media kit section.
So you can actually just go and create a media kit right there that you can send a brand.
So you don't have to go into Canva.
You don't have to spend all this time creating one from scratch.
Boom, it's right there for you.
They also have a really cool feature called the brand deal tracker, which as you're growing,
you're going to have more and more brands reaching out to you.
And sometimes those can just get lost in your email.
So it's hard to know where things are in the process, but with this tracker, you can track
all the steps along the way.
So you don't miss anything.
Another really cool feature of social blue book that I love is the SBB academy.
Basically it's a whole bunch of courses on influencer marketing, how to get your first
brand deal, how to get more money out of your brand deals.
If you were to buy these courses independently, you would definitely be spending hundreds
of dollars for each course, but I really love that they want you to be successful, and they
really do want you to get more brand deals.
So they have this whole education portal where you can go and you can learn.
So you really can be a master at brand deals and negotiating brand deals.
They also have a community aspect where you can meet with other influencers and YouTubers.
So that's pretty cool.
And then they have some really cool data on your YouTube channel.
It basically takes everything that SocialBlade has and they put it in one place.
So you don't have to go to SocialBlade to see how much your reach is or how much you're
growing day to day, week over week or month over month, because they do that right here
in the dashboard.
If you're brand new to brand deals on YouTube and sponsorships on YouTube, Social BlueBook
is a must have you need to sign up for it because you might be super confused and not
know where to start.
And this really is going to hold your hand and make sure that you're successful on your
journey.
If you're interested in checking Social BlueBook out, definitely go to MorganStradling.com/sbb.
SBB stands for Social BlueBook, and you can sign up right there.
And of course the link will also be in the description.
So my last point, all about brand deals and sponsorships on YouTube is so important.
You want to make sure that you listen to this!
Because these are pitfalls that you want to avoid when working with brands.
I'm going to do these rapid fire, but don't make the mistakes that I or other people have
done learn from our mistakes.
The first one is pitching too high.
I am totally guilty of this.
I remember going to Social Blue Book, seeing how much it said I should charge.
And then basically doubling that, you know, what happened, crickets, the brand disappeared.
They were not interested.
So definitely when you're looking at social blue book, be realistic.
It's our tendency to think that we are worth so much more than we are, but you want to
really stick with these numbers because these are tried and true.
And just remember, it's a starting place.
You can go up from there, especially as you have more brand deals and more proof to show
to future brands under your belt.
Another thing you want to avoid are companies that will send you their product in exchange
for you doing an entire video, all about their product.
And usually they want you to go and leave a review on Amazon.
These are overseas companies that are kind of shady and there's nothing in it for you.
They are just looking for easy ways to get reviews for their products.
And this can end up hurting your channel in the long run, especially if it's a totally
random product that doesn't relate to your channel or your audience at all.
I know when you get these emails, when you're first starting out, it's super exciting because
someone's finally paying attention.
But most of the time, these are just a mass spam of emails that they're sending to hundreds
of YouTubers.
And they're just hoping that someone will take the bait and do all the hard work for
them.
Another pitfall was sponsorships is doing a sponsorship with a company or a product
that you don't believe in.
Maybe you've never even tested or tried the product out.
They're paying you a ton of money, or you just don't like the product.
You will lose trust with your audience that way, especially if you're doing it over and
over and over again, I'm not telling you what to do, but I kind of am telling you what to
do, but you need to be selective in the products and the brand deals that you do end up choosing.
Another thing to watch out for are brands that want to use your video and your content
in perpetuity.
They want rights to use your video in their ads and for other advertising and other marketing
purposes.
Then that's a totally different fee and conversation than the price that you're going to find in
social blue book.
Typically that will be an additional fee.
So just watch out for that.
So that's where you need to read your contracts.
So that leads me to my next point is have a contract in place.
A lot of first-time you tubers that are having sponsorships.
They're kind of just trusting the brand who do everything for them.
And that's where you can get in a lot of trouble.
That's where you're going to end up where you're not going to get paid.
Where are you going to kind of get screwed over sometimes.
So you absolutely want to avoid that.
And so that's why it's really important that you have your own contracts for sponsorships.
Having a contract will make everything super clear.
The timeline of deliverables when you're going to get paid, who owns what?
So you want to make sure that you have that for every single brand deal.
And I actually use a contract from my lawyer.
So if you want to check out a sponsorship contract, go to morganstradling.com/sponsorshipcontract
or link in description.
And if you use code MorganS15, you can get 15% off.
Do not do not do not go into a brand deal, a contract.
It's just going to be bad news, protect yourself before you even get started.
If you have any other questions about brand deals, let me know in the comments below,
I'm happy to help.
That's all I have for today and I'll see you next time.
Why don't I get my up on that one?
Why is it so hard?
Pitfalls, pitfalls, pitfalls, pitfalls has to basically you just do a little Burt.
I've really hard to say YouTube sponsorship, spectrum, YouTube spot.
I can't even sit there looking to look at the end.