If you’ve ever had a company offer to sponsor your content, or if you’ve ever thought about getting sponsored by a brand or company, here’s something to consider: brands and companies WANT to work with creators because it benefits them too.
In fact, the company likely benefits from your sponsorship as much as (if not more than) you do. Here are some of the ways that companies benefit from sponsoring content creators:
1. Companies wouldn’t look into creators for brand deals if they weren’t profitable or effective
Companies want to make money, and they do that by selling stuff. They know that people will only buy things if they are aware of the product and brand. The best way to achieve this awareness is through advertising, which can take many forms: television commercials, billboards, social media posts and influencer marketing campaigns.
These are all examples of how companies try to get their products in front of consumers’ eyes. In other words, creators present the latest and, in some cases, most effective method of advertising
As a sponsored creator making promotional posts for brands on TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, or YouTube, you’re essentially acting as the middleman between your audience and advertisers by giving advertisers access to your audience and your audience recommendations to relevant products. Of course, don’t scam your audience or share completely irrelevant products with them (that’s not effective advertising), but companies wouldn’t sponsor creators if it weren’t effective advertising, whether that be direct profitability or to grow brand awareness.
2. Companies can find an engaged audience within a specific niche to have high-impact advertising, much better than traditional wide-spread means
Let’s say you’re a creator who reviews keyboards. You already have an audience who is looking for content about keyboards. You’d probably be a perfect fit for a company to send a keyboard to review to develop product awareness. Furthermore, if it’s a keyboard you would recommend, you might be a perfect fit for that same company to sponsor to promote in other content.
The point is simple: if your audience is the niche the company wants to reach, you’ve already gathered them all in one place through your content and community. It makes sense for the company to want to advertise to them through you. While some brand deals aren’t exactly relevant to a niche (but aren’t entirely irrelevant to the audience), functioning more like billboards or TV ads (IE. mobile games, VPNs, male hygiene), it’s still more effective than traditional advertising in many cases because a creator is a person.
3. Creators add a FACE to ads – audience wants to support creators more than a faceless corporation
In today’s digital world, there are a lot of faceless corporations trying to sell you things. However, audiences want to support creators more than any faceless corporation ever could. It’s much easier for people to relate and connect with other people than it is for them to relate and connect with a faceless corporation (which is why companies sponsor content).
When people feel like they know someone, they’re more likely to trust that person; this goes especially true when those individuals are endorsing products or services (like how advertising works). As you make content and build your community, this makes your audience feel as though they know more about who you are as an individual—which then creates loyalty toward you. Don’t exploit this loyalty (IE, don’t scam your audience, and maintain your integrity), but your audience will trust a face they trust more than corporate ads—it’s simple word-of-mouth marketing.
4. Word-of-mouth is arguably the most effective form of marketing, and creator brand deals are word-of-mouth at scale
Word-of-mouth is arguably the most effective form of marketing, and creator brand deals are one way that companies can make it happen. You’re more likely to act on a recommendation from a friend you trust than an advertisement, and creators can be that friend you trust on a global scale.
Since most content creators are themselves part of a community and have an established following, they can serve as a gateway between brands they’d recommend and their followers for word-of-mouth recommendations. On top of that, a lot of people only trust word-of-mouth and completely reject traditional advertising.
In most cases, audiences trust creators’ recommendations, and creators can have huge audiences. This is word-of-mouth marketing at a scale gigantically larger than what was possible before social media. While sponsored segments are a gray area, as the audience trusts the creator but will usually recognize the recommendation is paid for. However, if you are choosy with the deals you take and maintain integrity in your recommendations, your audience will respect your integrity and likely support recommendations you make, even if they’re sponsored.
5. Community good will – good companies who support creators, especially for charitable causes, get a lot of brand equity via giving back to the community that buys their stuff. This makes people more loyal and more likely to buy MORE stuff
You may have heard about community good will, but what does it mean for a company?
By getting involved with creators and supporting them in ways that give back to the community that buys their stuff, companies can garner significant public support. And being seen as a good company means more loyalty from customers (which leads to more sales). It’s basic marketing: if people believe you care about them, they’ll be loyal to you.
Not all companies actually care, of course (most don’t), but whether or not they truly care, a company giving back to the community still benefits the community. When creators make content about charitable acts, they’re still performing charitable acts. The same goes for companies—the intention doesn’t have to be pure for the result to help.
6. Creators make unique content for companies – This can add distinct variety to otherwise generic corporate marketing
When a creator is sponsored by a company, they can add their own unique spin on the brand’s existing content. Creators often have their own unique style, and they’re more likely to inject it into their sponsored videos than content made by a company, which often has extremely strict standards for presentation, language, etc.
For many creators, the ad segment can be an additional piece of entertaining content (look at Daniel Thrasher’s “sketch after the sketch” technique). Furthermore, companies that give creative freedom in their ads often get better ads and better recommendations. Many creators would happily recommend a company simply because they were fun to work with and paid reasonable well. If the content is good and the ad is also worthwhile content, it’ll likely perform better for everyone involved—maybe evening going viral.
7. You might make an ad for a company go viral because your CONTENT goes viral
For companies, sponsoring creators can be a gamble—what if the video doesn’t get many views or engagements and the company loses money on that ad? The opposite is also true—what if a company drives exponentially more sales than expected because content goes viral?
You can’t predict viral content, but if content containing any ad goes viral, so does the ad. A lot of brand deals aren’t immediately profitable for companies (note that brand awareness might be a goal more than immediate profitability), so if content goes viral, the company sponsoring it benefits dramatically.
Conclusion
Brand deals and sponsorships are beneficial for companies as much as they are beneficial to creators. They’re scalable word-of-mouth marketing within an engaged niche, which is more effective than most other forms of advertising. Companies can build strong relationships with communities, support creators, and gain unique advertising content through brand deals, all while driving sales. Companies help creators succeed financially, and creators help companies succeed financially.
It can be jading to know why companies sponsor creators and that it’s primarily financially driven, but just like when a company gives to charity, the recipient benefits no matter the intention. Your sponsorship will help you be more free financially, even if the company wants a slice of your success. Also remember that many companies do legitimately care, or at least have employees who do (I was certainly one of those employees at my previous role)! As you #GetSponsored, remember this: companies benefit from sponsorships too—know your worth!
Andy Cormier 