Content creators and influencers earn money by posting content. One way they get paid is through brand partnerships.
Brands collaborate with influencers to gain access to an influencer’s reach to drive sales and reach marketing goals.
In paid partnerships, brands give influencers free products to review.
Brand partnerships may also be in the form of new product launches as a collaboration of the brand with the influencer.
Here, let’s talk about how to get brand deals as a content creator and the red flags you need to be wary of.
Tips on How to Get Brand Deals as a Content Creator
For businesses looking to hire top B2B content creators, understanding their significance in marketing can drive engagement effectively.
Here are tips on how you can get brand deals, such as product launches and advertising, as a content creator:
Build a Strong Personal Brand
To set yourself apart from other content creators, having a strong personal brand is essential, as it is the foundation of your career.
To build a strong personal brand, you must carve out a niche that aligns with your passions and expertise.
For example, YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss creates videos reviewing the newest tech, which is his specific niche.
He started his YouTube channel in 2011, and his channel has grown to 20.8 million subscribers.
Mrwhosetheboss has undoubtedly become one of the most popular and trusted tech reviewers.
Cultivating a unique and consistent voice is also essential to building a strong personal brand. Your authenticity will build trust, making your recommendations more trustworthy.
Creating high-quality content will help build your personal brand. You must invest in good-quality equipment for production and carve a cohesive aesthetic across various marketing channels.
Sharing behind-the-scenes insights, tutorials, and industry news will help position you as a go-to expert, strengthening your personal brand.
Grow Your Audience Authentically
Although follower count is one of the considerations brands have when reaching out for a brand deal, they prioritize engagement rates and audience quality.
In fact, some brands specifically reach out to small creators, like micro-influencers, with a small, dedicated community instead of larger creators for brand deals.
To grow your audience authentically, you must optimize your content for engagement.
You can use interactive stories, Q&A sessions, and polls to foster two-way conversations with your audience.
In addition, you can leverage performance analytics to reveal demographics, peak activity times of your followers, and top-performing content.
These metrics will help you tailor your strategy to what resonates with your audience.
You must also avoid inauthentic growth tactics, as potential partners can detect fake metrics, which may damage the relationship between you and the brands.
Create a Compelling Media Kit
As a content creator or influencer, a media kit is your professional portfolio. It shows your value to potential brand partners.
Here are the essential components of a media kit:
- Bio
- Audience demographics
- Performance metrics
- Past paid partnerships
- Services and rates
- Designs
Start Pitching
Although you can wait for brands to contact you, it is a passive way of pursuing brand partnerships.
A proactive approach can open doors you may not have known possible if you did not reach out first.
To start pitching, you start with researching brands that align with your audience and values. This way, you can choose the right brands to make sure you are a perfect match.
You can survey Instagram Creator Marketplace to keep up-to-date with what’s happening in your niche.
Then, follow these brands, engage with their videos, and study their campaigns. You can also study successful brand deals and find brands that might be a good fit for you.
Then, you can start making a pitch by sending them a message or email.
Make sure to create a personalized pitch for each brand to highlight why you admire the brand and propose ideas for collaboration.
After making your pitch, follow up strategically by sending a polite reminder if you have not heard anything from them within a week.
Aim to Have Long-Term Relationships with Brands
Compared to a one-off collaboration, lasting partnerships can be much more profitable.
Long-term partnerships are built upon consistent value delivery and trust, both of which take time to establish.
However, once you have proven your ethics and value as a content creator, it will bring rewards in terms of stable and frequent work opportunities with the brand.
To foster a long-term relationship with brands, you must deliver your promises and exceed their expectations.
Surprise brand partners with exceptional numbers and a relevant shout-out. This will help you solidify your reputation as a reliable influencer partner.
Staying connected and engaged with brand partners can also go a long way.
Do not just disappear after the brand deal. Regular communication and engagement can deepen the relationship between you and the brands you work with, which may transform into a valuable partnership.
Lastly, you can foster a long-term collaboration by giving incentives, such as discounts and preferential access to your content or product launches. It can create an irresistible proposition for repeat collaboration instead of looking for other influencers.
You can also seek feedback from brand partners after the collaboration that you can use as testimonials and growth points for future projects.
Red Flags in Content Creator Brand Deals
Here are some of the red flags to look out for in any branded content:
Unwilling to Sign a Contract
It is a major red flag if a brand makes promises verbally but does not want to put them in writing or puts everything in emails without a formal agreement.
Although emails can be binding, they lack the rights you need to protect yourself, such as:
- Deadlines for the brand to approve your content and provide feedback
- Your right to creative freedom
- The rights the brand has
- The limitations on what the brand can and cannot do with your content
- How and when you will receive payment
Remember that a verbal agreement cannot be legally enforced, and informal emails may not provide you sufficient protection in case problems arise.
Does Not Negotiate the Contract Terms
Another red flag is the brand’s refusal to negotiate the terms of the brand deal.
Some brands refuse to sign a contract, but some are also unwilling to discuss the terms with the content creator.
Hence, make sure to request the brand to make changes or make the changes yourself.
However, if those options do not work, you can counter the contract provided by the brand with a different contract.
Unclear Deliverables
It is a red flag if the brand is not clear on what you are supposed to deliver according to the brand deal.
One of the vaguest instructions a brand can give is to make content for social media platforms without any information about the platform, length, format, number of content pieces, and type of content.
Hence, make sure that the brief states the content format, platform, number of content pieces, video length, what products should be included, and what they don’t want you to include in the content.
No Creative Freedom
It is a red flag if brands put any restrictions on your creative or artistic freedom and expression.
Here are ways a brand can limit your creativity:
- A brief detailing the exact words, editing style, and visuals
- Gives you no right to deviate from the brief
- Explicit restrictions on your own style, tone, and preferences in your content
- Detailed brand guidelines that limit artistic freeform
- Ability to withhold approval of your content for any reason
- Brand’s freedom to dictate how to create your sponsored posts for the brand deal
Here are some of the protections you can add to your contact:
- Creative freedom disclaimer: Include a disclaimer that you must retain full creative control over the content production, the brand must acknowledge that content creation is inherently subjective, and you disclaim any liability for dissatisfaction with artistic choices.
- Right to deviation: You should include the right to deviate from the brief provided by the brand, along with a clear exclusion of liability if you choose to deviate from the brief.
- Approval limits: You should set a limit on how many revisions a brand can request and retain the right to finalize the content after the last agreed revision without requiring any further approval.
Brand Alignment
Brand alignment is another issue when partnering with a brand.
It is a red flag if the brand’s values and objectives do not align with your own.
This includes when a brand asks you to promote a product or say something about a product that does not align with your experience.
Doing so will result in you losing credibility and authenticity in the eyes of your followers, eventually leading to you losing your audience.
Hence, include a cooperation obligation and authenticity disclaimer in your contract.
Cooperation obligation refers to the brand’s responsibility to provide full cooperation and give you all the necessary information to create the content.
An authenticity disclaimer indicates your right to communicate with your audience genuinely and affirms that you will not make statements that contradict your values, experiences, and personal beliefs.
How to Navigate Brand Deals for Content Creators
Now that we know the red flags to look out for, let’s talk about how to negotiate with brands.
Here are four tips on how to negotiate brand deals for content creators:
1. Know Your Value
Content creators and influencers are a practical resource for brands.
Although companies are taking advantage of the marketing trend, some also try to lowball their offers to get the most out of an influencer for less compensation.
Hence, you should know your worth and what you can offer.
Price your services according to the current industry benchmarks, and do not lowball yourself. You can have a flat rate for all brand partnerships that you can refer to.
Be confident in what you can bring to the table and support it with data from your media kit.
2. Agree on the Deliverables
Deliverables refer to what you need to deliver for the brand deal. Brands and creators should approve of the deliverables.
You, as a content creator, can ensure clarity of deliverables by asking questions such as:
- What are the expected deliverables?
- How many TikTok posts, Instagram Reels, or Instagram Stories do they want you to post your content on?
- What other platforms do they want you to utilize as part of the brand deal?
Do not undersell yourself when talking about the brand’s expectations. Make sure that the offer aligns with the effort and reach you will provide them.
You can also ask a follow-up question: “What flexibility do you have as brand regarding the budget or deliverables?”
If they want a faster turnaround time, you can ask for an influencer rush fee.
3. Negotiate Usage Rights
Influencer brand partnerships often overlook usage rights.
Usage rights refer to how and where a brand can use the sponsored content you create for them as a part of the brand deal.
Moreover, you must clarify the duration when negotiating usage rights.
Lastly, negotiate exclusivity. Make sure you are not tied down from collaboration with other brands after the brand deal.
If the brand is on a tight budget, you may narrow the usage scope to specific platforms or only for a limited time.
Prepare Yourself to Justify Your Rate
During brand collaboration negotiations, you should be able to justify your rates.
Present hard numbers and engagement metrics to help the brand decide whether your reach and engagement align with their needs and goals for the brand deal.
You can also include the following information in your media kit:
- The growth rate of your account and followers
- Number of videos you post on a weekly basis
- Average number of comments and likes on your videos
- Previous brand deals for reference
You can create case studies of your previous collaborations, including how long the campaign was, stats before and after the campaign, and data on how your content helped the company meet its established goal for the brand deal.
The Bottomline
In today’s digital world, influencers and content creators are a great way to market a product or service due to their reach.
Getting brand deals is not just about having a considerable follower count. What matters more is content strategy, professionalism, and authenticity.
Hence, to get brand deals, start by cultivating a strong personal brand, engaging with your audience regularly, creating a standout media kit, and actively pursuing opportunities.
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