Have you ever wanted to make money by partnering with brands? We see it all over YouTube/Instagram/Tiktok. But the question is HOW? How do you get these deals? How do you even get a brand’s attention?? And how do you know how much to charge?!

On this week’s podcast, I talked with Justin Moore about his experience in working with brands. He has helped himself and many other creators make millions of dollars from brand deals. He shares his process for reaching out to brands, pricing, and making money with sponsorships on YouTube, Instagram and even Tiktok.

First of all, I have to mention that Justin & I worked really hard to make a free course for you guys in the : 14 Brand Deal Secrets. So if you want to go more in-depth and learn about how to make a media kit, how to pitch professionally, how to get money instead of products, how much to charge, what you need to know about the legal side of things, etc, etc. Go register for a 30 day free trial of the Video Creators Academy & check out all the other courses available to you as well.

 

Justin first got started in 2009 with his wife’s YouTube channel. He was in business school and she started a beauty channel. Brands started approaching her because they quickly realized that if they sent her free products, she would review them. And if they got a good review, people would buy them. With his business degree fresh in hand, Justin knew there was something that could be done here. In 2015, Justin started a Network Marketing Agency. He wanted to help bridge the gap between creators and brands.

After doing this for many years, Justin saw soooo many mistakes being made and wanted to help. So he started making YouTube channels on what to do and not to do with sponsorships. He wished someone would have done this for him, so he decided to do it for others. People kept asking for more and more help and now he is a sponsorship coach.

Justin encourages every creator, big or small, to have a Sponsorship Pipeline. You are a business. You can’t just wait for brands to knock on your door. You must be having steps to work towards these if you want to have consistent income.

Step 1: Start talking about brands organically. Then, reach out to them! You can tag the brand on instagram while you do a story or in your YouTube Video. If they don’t respond, go find their influencer coordinator on LinkedIn. Just say, “Hey! I made this video for you. I just wanted you to know I’m a big fan.” That’s it! The goal of you reaching out should not be to make a deal. It’s to establish the relationship. You want to be on their radar for when they’re ready to work with creators.

Step 2: Pitch. You will need to pitch eventually, but don’t be self-focused. “I do this, just like this, for this much money.” Lead with a researched-based assumption of what you think their marketing objective is. How? Look at the other partnerships they have done and make a guess of what their goal is. How can you help them accomplish a very specific sale on this specific product for this season? Tell them! See what they think.

But, maybe you don’t know know. Maybe they don’t do a lot of partnerships. Then, ask them! Ask to hop on a zoom call and let them talk. Ask them what their goals are? What are their hesitations? Listen and see how you can help.

Step 3: Figure out the pricing. This is the tricky part. It’s important to figure out the price-drivers. Justin does this with the “DUE Rule.”

  • D: Deliverables – What exactly do they want you to do? How many posts? What format, etc? Determine the specifics.
  • U: Usage Rights. What do they want to do with your content? Are they just reposting it to instagram or are they going to cut it into a 30 second ad that they’ll run indefinitely? This makes a difference.
  • E: Exclusivity. Are they requiring that you don’t work with their competitors for a certain duration? That’s a big deal. There’s an opportunity cost with that.

It’s more than how many viewers you have. Consider how specifically aligned their target audience is to your audience. Do you have a specific creed that aligns perfectly with their brand? That makes your voice more valuable.

Need more specifics? Justin offers some calculators to help you figure that out in . Unfortunately, it’s not cut and dry and some education is required to really do this properly. But, knowing just these factors can really help you see your value.

Power Tip: Go to the YouTube “About” section and write a sentence or 2 about how brands can work with you. Advertise it! Make it as easy as possible for brands to get ahold of you. And if you have a blog/website, don’t just have a “Contact Me” page, which is geared towards your followers, Have a “Work With Me” page, as well. Explain the services you do, who you’ve worked with, and why they should hire you. Make working with you super easy for brands. It’ll only help.

I hope you guys enjoyed this topic. If you have any specific follow up questions, please ! Or if you have any topics you want us to talk about, we want to hear that too!

I hope you have a great week!

Keep changing lives!

Tim Schmoyer