Monetize Your Content Without Brand Deals – #GetSponsored

It’s a lot easier to go full time as a creator the more sources of income your content generates.

Many people pursue sponsorships to supplement that income, but there are many more ways to monetize your content without brand deals.

1. Use Your Platform: Earn YouTube Partnership or Twitch Affiliate

The income from the platform you make content on is the most reliable income as a creator

Aside from work I’m paid to do, like freelance stuff, this is by far my most reliable income from creative work. I average $40-60 per month strictly from YouTube ad revenue as of writing this article

Furthermore, the better established your brand and message, the more effective everything other point becomes—if your audience is more connected with you, they’ll trust your recommendations and products more.

2. Try Affiliate Programs

Many, many, many sites have open affiliate programs. If you talks about products and services people can find on those sites and simply briefly mention these links in your content, you’ll earn a bit more income from your content.

The best affiliate program by far is Amazon Associates—everyone has Amazon, and there’s zero friction in gathering links. I earn $10-20/month from affiliate sales, which at a 3% cut is the equivalent of driving $300-660 in sales

Other programs include the following:

• Ebay
• B&H
• Humble Bundle
• Robinhood (and most investment platforms)
• and much, much more

3. Use What You Already Do: Find Overlaps Between Other Work and Your Content

I started freelance writing role at MakeUseOf writing tutorials, primarily for Apple products, where I get paid per article. The articles I write will very often be related to things I can make content about

Basically, the research and writing I do for MakeUseOf can then be used again for making videos. And while I can’t promote myself in my articles, I can promote the article in my video and earn additional ad revenue from the clicks that generates.

Effectively, I’m getting paid to research and prepare for my own content by doing that research and prep for an employer as well.

If you’re not a tech geek like me, here are additional ideas:

• Love streaming new indie games? See if sites like PC gamer want authors for reviews or guides. Your content will be to stream the game and make videos, but you’ll get paid to write about that experience. This applies to more or less any kind of journalism topics you can simultaneously make your content around.

• Work in computer science? Use what you learn from the job to make content, like tutorials, interview prep, day in the life vlogs, or solutions for specific problems. This framework can apply to any industry.
  
  • This is exactly how I started my #GetSponsored content, as I was the one who organized influencer brand deals (among other things) at my past role with AVerMedia. This made me qualified to speak on such topics!

Do keep in mind any policies the employer might have about owning your work, plagiarism, and things like that. I have written confirmation that what I’m doing is fine my freelance role. As long as I don’t promote myself in my articles, I can make content about the same topics as my articles and am actively encouraged to share said articles in my own content.

4. Sponsor Yourself—Promote Your OWN Products & Services

Sponsorship segments are typically to promote a company’s product or service. But what if you had your own product or service to promote?

Many creators make merch, like clothes, bags, bottles, and the like, but that’s honestly too generic, especially if you’re a leader in a smaller niche. You can make what you do into the product.

Let’s consider a few examples

• If you’re a musician, you might encourage your audience to buy your songs or add them to their Spotify playlists. If you have any concerts, you might promote those as well.

• If you’re an expert in a subject, you might write an ebook or make a (reasonably priced) course on it. Make sure it’s worthwhile for your audience, as influencer books and courses have a mixed reputation. However, if you have the skills and can do it better or differently than what already exists, go for it.
  

• Similarly, if you’re an expert at something, you might open yourself up for paid coaching sessions. You’d be surprised the areas where you can be a mentor. My friends Rickles and Egaz use Metafy, an esports coaching platform, to coach in Super Smash Bros. Whether it’s a game, a sport, an instrument, or any other skill, coaching and teaching are all viable services.
  

• If you’re an artist, sell prints or other pieces and promote them. My friend BigRigCreates made this amazing holographic Spiritomb he’s selling on his Etsy, and the making of was already viral content on his TikTok. 

@bigrigcreates

#answer to @ScaredofSalmon You’ve been waiting, so here it is. #spiritomb #pokemon #craft #tech #3dprinting

♬ original sound – BigRig Creates

The point is, you don’t need to #GetSponsored by a brand to #GetSponsored. You can provide a product or service and promote yourself. Remember, you’re not exploiting your audience if what you’re selling provides genuine value to them and is more than worth the price.

Price higher than you might think you should, but price fairly. You’ll be surprised about the support you’ll earn. Furthermore, a good portion of your audience will want to support you financially!

5. Gather Patrons

On that note of audiences wanting to support creators they follow, sometimes you don’t even need to offer a product or service for your fans to offer patronage—hence why platforms like Patreon exist.

Patreon isn’t the only platform to gather audience support. Here are a few more optons:

• YouTube channel memberships
• Twitch subscriptions
• Super Follows on Twitter
• Numerous other paid membership services like Ko-fi (Ko-fi has ZERO fees!)

While these services are all well and good, you need to uphold the expectations you’ve given your audience related to your content and these platforms.

• Will you be offering any exclusive rewards/content for your patrons/members/Twitch subs/super followers, (IE. Private Discord server, behind the scenes videos, etc)?
  
  • If yes, can you manage that workload consistently?
    • Are the rewards and content worth the price?
    • Is the whole premise of your membership to support you, or is it for the exclusive rewards content?
      
  • If no, is the content you make consistent enough to warrant a paid membership? This is consistency in both quality and frequency.

• Are you comfortable asking your audience for money with little/nothing in return other than supporting you?
  
  • It’s perfectly acceptable to say no and opt only to ask for money when you have something to give in return (IE for a product or service)

• If you have multiple membership platforms (IE. Twitter Super Followers + Patreon), will these groups be treated differently?
  
  • Will they get the same rewards and content?
    
  • Is there an incentive for your followers to pay you on multiple platforms (IE. different rewards for different platforms)?
    • Are these differing incentives worthwhile for your community? It’s not greedy to ask for money, but it can be if a follower needs five separate paid memberships to fully support you.

While your audience might love to financially support you, you need to ensure the expectations they have surrounding that support are clear. If you make a Patreon and offer monthly exclusive content and fail to deliver, your audience might have been happy to support you without that content, but if they expect something that never comes, they’ll be disappointed.

Ask your audience for support. They’ll probably be very open to it as long as the expectations are clear!

Everything You Make Is An Asset

By now, I hope you realize this. Your content isn’t just content—it’s the greatest asset you have in today’s digital world. Sponsorships and other brand deals can help increase the value of these assets, but there are many ways to do so yourself!

Monetize the platform you create on via YouTube Partnership, Twitch Affiliate, or whatever monetization exists for your platform of choice for your content.

Consider affiliate links if you frequently recommend products or services. You don’t even need to mention them in the video—simply add them in the description.

Find overlaps and see how other work you do can be used in generating your content assets (and vice versa). Use the knowledge you’ve gained in your career in your content.

Sponsor yourself by promoting your own products and services. Price them higher than you think you should (but fairly), and make sure the product or service is worthwhile.

Gather patrons to support you and your content. Make sure your audience knows what to expect and that you can live up to those expectations, but you’ll be surprised at how much support you’ll earn from your community.

Notice that every point has one thing in common: your content. Don’t underestimate the value of the content you make for free and the support you can generate from it. It doesn’t take a brand deal to #GetSponsored—it just takes you.

By Andy Cormier—Follow me on Twitter and Twitch, and please Subscribe to my channel on YouTube!

Next up, if you’re a creator seeking to grow your passion into a career, learn about some major factors companies consider when selecting creators for brand deals.