Changing the Office Situation

First, we got to change up our office situation. I’m trying to challenge myself this summer to spend less time in the office and more time outdoors because soon it’s going to be fall and winter and there’s going to be more than enough time to be in that cozy little office.

On top of changing locations to work, I’ve also been changing up my whole work schedule and rhythm. Usually I’m working at like 9:00 to 4:00 p.m., but now because we have second kid, I’ve been waking up at 5:00 a.m. and finishing my day at noon, so then I can be at home more with the kids. I kind of like it though because it means I’m out filming during sunrise and this golden hour light rather than the ugliest part of the day.

Filming by the River

Made it to my remote office of the day. Why choose to work in an office when you could be right by the river doing some script writing and emails? I much rather work outside.

Why Brands Aren’t Paying You

I think one of the biggest challenges of being a content creator is figuring out how do you actually go from just maybe getting free product for companies to actually want to pay you and sponsor videos or buy user generated content from yourself.

I think we’ve all as creators fall into those different categories. And today, I want to encourage you guys to say that the real reason why companies aren’t paying you is not because you’re not talented enough or you don’t have a big enough following size, but the real reason is that you, as a creator, don’t fully understand your true value.

The Four Steps to Getting Paid by Brands

Understand Your Value

You see, traditionally, if a business wanted to market their product or service, first they would have to go and hire a creative agency or a marketing agency, and then that marketing agency would come up with a plan for the content, and then they would most likely hire a production company to actually film and edit that piece of content. That process alone already costs a whole lot of money, and you as the creator can do it by yourself.

It was a huge waste of money in my opinion for that company to pay for us because sure, we were able to make a great piece of content, but they didn’t have the distributing service in order to get the eyes on that.

And nowadays with social media, companies and brands are not only having to pay money to create the content but as well they’re having to boost that content in order to get eyes on it. And we as creators are not only the production company who makes the content but as well we have the distribution service. We have an audience to show that content to. And not only is it just getting a whole bunch of random people to see that piece of content, they’re actually people that are warm leads, people that follow you because they trust you, they’re interested in the content that you’re creating.

And because you’re talking about that product or service, they’re going to be much more likely to be interested and to buy in. So understanding that as a creator, you are the triple threat: you are the production company, you are the distributing service, and as well you have warm leads with your audience.

Exploring New Locations

Dang, what a location this is. This is like the perfect cool leading line spot to do some talking head shots. It pays off to go out and explore and shoot different locations. Suggest it. Get out of the studio. Go and explore more.

Finding Brands That Align With You

Once you’ve understood your value as a creator, step number two is finding brands that align with who you are. . So for example, myself as a photographer, filmmaker, content creator, there’s so many different brands that I could line with. First, I could work with camera brands. That could be mirrorless cameras, action camera companies, drone companies. Then from there I could work with lens companies, backpack companies, different accessories like tripod companies, microphone companies.

From the gear then I could transition to working with software companies. There’s a whole bunch of different softwares that I’m working with as a creator. I’m using different editing programs, different programs for productivity and organizing. There’s stock footage, there’s music licensing

. Literally, there’s just so many different brands out there that I as a content creator could work with in the photography and film making niche.

Even though my channel is about photography and film making, I love clothing too, and most likely a lot of you guys do.

. I find that the more time that you take to brainstorm, the more you’re going to figure out what kind of companies would best align with the brand that you’ve created.

Do make sure that you do spend a lot of time thinking about what brands would actually align with who you are, because you also can do a lot of damage to your brand by working with the wrong companies. It’s like right now if all of a sudden I popped out a milk jug and said, “This video was sponsored by this milk company.” Right away you guys would be like, “Oh, what a sellout.” He’s just trying to sell whatever products on his channel in order to make money.

There’s certain products that just do more damage than good, even if you are getting paid for it. It’s very short-term thinking rather than long-term thinking. You want to make sure that you keep the trust with your audience and choose brands that you align with and believe in yourself and use on a daily basis, because then it’s very natural and organic to talk about them to your audience.

Step 3: Finding the Right Contact

Once you’ve understood your value as a creator and figured out what kind of brands you want to align with, step number three is finding the right contact. You don’t want to go the lazy way and just write to that company’s Instagram and say “collab.” Most likely it’s not going to be seen and you’re not going to stand out from the thousands of other people doing that.

What you want to do is actually find the contact information for the person in charge of deciding about brand deals and marketing. And the way I go about that is I do a little bit of detective work. So what I do is I will often write into LinkedIn that brand’s company name plus “marketing manager.” So let’s say DJI marketing manager or social media. And most likely you’re going to find the person’s name on LinkedIn who’s in charge of that.

And then you can try to Google that person’s name and see if their email contact is on the internet somehow. But a lot of times it’s not. So then you got to do stage two of detective work. Often then I’ll just go to that company’s website and try to find their contact email, which is something like at dji.com. Let’s for example say DJI, and then what we can try to do is first name dot last name at dji.com, and most likely you’ll have the right email for that person.

The odds of you landing a brand deal are going to go way up when you actually take the time to figure out the right person to contact, because then you know what you want to say is going to land in the right lap.

Step 4: Creating a Value-Driven Pitch

Step number four, the last step, is creating a value-driven pitch. As a creator, when you’re writing your pitch to a brand, you want to put yourself in the shoes of a marketing manager. Think what their needs are, what they struggle with, and try to figure out how you, as a creator, can help them win. Because ultimately, the easier you make their job, the more happy they are going to be to work with you.

Right away, a few things that come to mind is that a company might have a great product, but they need to get eyes on it. As a creator, you have an audience, so you can get eyes on their product. Another thing that they might struggle with is just coming up with content ideas. Their full-time job is not to come up with cool different kinds of content, but you as a creator, it’s in your mind all the time. You’re always thinking about how you could make great engaging content for that specific brand.

You as the creator can come up with ideas, you can get eyes on their product, and ultimately you can help them with their needs. So when you’re writing your pitch, figure out how you could provide value to them and how you can offer solutions to their problems. I’d bet the brand is going to be way more likely to work with you with that approach rather than just trying to figure out what you can get out of the deal.

The Pitch Formula

My pitch formula when reaching out to brands starts with a hook. I want to reference something specific and personable about the brand so that they know that I’m actually interested in who they are and what they do. It can be as simple as, “Hey team, I really love the product that you guys just released. I think this is going to be a huge help for creators out there and the struggles that they’re going through.”

And then follow by just saying, I’d love to get word about it and get more eyes on this product. Then you can go more into a bit about yourself, who you are, where you’re from, what you do, what kind of audience size you have, and what they’re all about, because then they can figure out, are you a good match?

Then I would go into the offer, and it could look something as simple as, “Hey, I would love to create a dedicated video about this product. And as well, I know it’s so important for you guys to have fresh new content always, so I’d love to create some UGC content for you guys to use as well.” And then at the end, I always want to have a call to action. It can be something as simple as, “Hey, if my offer interests you, let’s jump on a call. If I don’t hear back, I’m going to reach out again on Monday.”

Saying that at the end always puts a little bit of fire under their butt to reach out back to you because they know, hey, he’s going to actually follow up on this, so I want to make sure I respond to this email.

Final Challenge

That, my friends, is how you go from being a creator who just gets free products to actually getting paid. You got to first understand your value. You got to figure out what brands would align with you. Find the right contacts and then create a great value-driven offer. And when you follow that four-step plan, I believe you guys are going to be landing brand deals and getting paid for the amazing content that you’re creating. Brands might not have paid you in the past, but now you can show the value that you provide.

I want to challenge you guys. Figure out what brands would align with you. Reach out to three of them and see what they say. If you get all no’s, that’s okay. Don’t consider it a defeat or rejection. Rather, use those as clues to figure out what you need to do better in order for them to say yes. And then reach out to three more, and another three more, and another three more, until you get a yes. Because I want you guys as creators to get paid and to be able to pay the bills for doing what you love.