Latest / Influencer Confidential / I Managed Brand Budgets. Here's What Creators Get Wrong #314

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I Managed Brand Budgets. Here's What Creators Get Wrong #314 · Influencer Confidential

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
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  Speaker 1: Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
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  Speaker 1: working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
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  Speaker 1: Are you ready to learn what it takes to work
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  Speaker 1: in this influencer industry and see behind the curtain? Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's jump in. I know you're probably really curious what
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  Speaker 1: is going on on the brand side, what brands are thinking,
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  Speaker 1: what they want you to know, what they don't want
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  Speaker 1: you to know. And as you know, I come from
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  Speaker 1: that side, right? I'm the gal that managed all these
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  Speaker 1: budgets and I saw your pitches and I saw your
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  Speaker 1: media kits and I was the one that said yes
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  Speaker 1: or no. And what I want to do is really
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  Speaker 1: share with you guys kind of what is going on
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  Speaker 1: on the brand's perspective and things that they may want
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  Speaker 1: you to know and things that they just may not
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  Speaker 1: want you to know so that you can kind of
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  Speaker 1: make peace with some things, but also have both sides
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  Speaker 1: of the equation when you guys are really deciding who
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  Speaker 1: you want to work with as well. Now, I do
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  Speaker 1: want to quickly state that many of you guys don't
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  Speaker 1: know this, but the way that I kind of got
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  Speaker 1: into creator education is And helping creators with pitching and
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  Speaker 1: brand deals and all of that was because of my
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  Speaker 1: experience on the brand side. I had a negotiation with
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  Speaker 1: a creator. And I remember the price she said was
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  Speaker 1: so very low. And I remember telling my husband that night,
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  Speaker 1: I was like, I can't do it. Like, I want
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  Speaker 1: to help this creator. She's an entrepreneur. She's a business owner.
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  Speaker 1: What I really wanted to do is tell her, you
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  Speaker 1: should charge this. And at the time, it just wasn't
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  Speaker 1: a good move for me to do that. So that's
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  Speaker 1: why my business partner and I, we built Sidewalker Daily.
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  Speaker 1: really to be a creator education platform. But we're not
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  Speaker 1: like influencers teaching you how to be influencers. We're like
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  Speaker 1: brand side geeks. She's a lawyer. I have my MBA.
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  Speaker 1: We're teaching you kind of the brand perspective. And we've
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  Speaker 1: built a course community and a membership community with that
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  Speaker 1: brand perspective always at the center. Now, one thing I
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  Speaker 1: want to say just in general, we can't say brands
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  Speaker 1: and use what I'm about to share for every single
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  Speaker 1: brand in the world. Because if you were to change
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  Speaker 1: the word brand to small businesses, there are millions and
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  Speaker 1: bajillions of businesses that exist. And we can't just all
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  Speaker 1: lump them into, oh, brands like this and brands don't
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  Speaker 1: like that, right? Because there's so much case by case.
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  Speaker 1: But what I will share are some of my learnings
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  Speaker 1: on the brand side of things that creators maybe don't
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  Speaker 1: really think of and don't really understand. And hopefully by
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  Speaker 1: the end of today, you're going to get some clarity.
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  Speaker 1: And make sure you guys stick around to the end
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  Speaker 1: where I'm going to share a tactic that no creators
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  Speaker 1: are doing. but could help you make a ton of money.
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  Speaker 1: It is my last tip and my most favorite. So
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  Speaker 1: let's talk money because I think that's something that people
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  Speaker 1: really want to know when it comes to getting paid
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  Speaker 1: as a creator. When a brand comes to you with
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  Speaker 1: an offer, it doesn't always mean that that is their final. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I can speak to this on my perspective. And I
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  Speaker 1: can also speak to this from seeing a creator who
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  Speaker 1: I literally just worked with. The brand told her that
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  Speaker 1: they had $ 800 for perpetual usage or something crazy. And
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  Speaker 1: she went back and being like, I'll license it to
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  Speaker 1: you for 800 for the year. And they said, sure.
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  Speaker 1: So they went from $ 800 for in perpetuity to paying
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  Speaker 1: her 800 bucks for, you know, licensing one photo for
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  Speaker 1: the year. That's just such a strong signal, right? And
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  Speaker 1: I do think in our industry negotiations is very, very common.
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  Speaker 1: I'll share a story on my side. I remember we
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  Speaker 1: went to a creator that we really wanted to work with.
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  Speaker 1: And we spoke first. We spoke first. She asked us
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  Speaker 1: straight up, like, so what's your budget? And I don't
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  Speaker 1: remember at the time, I think we said $ 3, 000 or $ 4, 000.
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  Speaker 1: And she literally looked at me like I had my
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  Speaker 1: head cut off. And she was like, oh, yeah. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: my minimum starts at $ 10, 000. And I was like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: no worries. Let's just see what we got. And I
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  Speaker 1: have to remind you guys that people on the brand
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  Speaker 1: side that want to work with influencers, specifically influencers, They
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  Speaker 1: feel really connected to you. Like I felt like I
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  Speaker 1: knew this girl. I was like, oh my God, I
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  Speaker 1: love her content. I know she's going to go do
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  Speaker 1: so amazing for this client. And I remember going back
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  Speaker 1: to the client and like rooting for her and being like,
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  Speaker 1: we have to make this budget work, you guys. She
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  Speaker 1: is amazing. She's going to crush it. And we always
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  Speaker 1: talk about this, right? The person you're pitching is just
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  Speaker 1: a human, a normal person, right? So if you do
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  Speaker 1: have like influence and people are watching your content, you
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  Speaker 1: do have a strategic advantage because chances are if the
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  Speaker 1: brand pitched you or you are in conversation with them,
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  Speaker 1: they already like know, love and trust you and they
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  Speaker 1: really want to make it work. So the offer that
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  Speaker 1: they may come to you with is not always the
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  Speaker 1: final offer. And that also goes if you pitch them, right?
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  Speaker 1: If you pitch a brand and they're like, we can
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  Speaker 1: do this, don't be afraid to bring them up. Don't
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  Speaker 1: be afraid to negotiate. The worst case that happens is
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  Speaker 1: they're like, no, we can't do that. And then you're like, okay, well,
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  Speaker 1: what can we do? Or you're like, okay, well, I
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  Speaker 1: can do this as a one-time good faith effort or whatever.
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  Speaker 1: But I always feel like creators fall flat on this.
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  Speaker 1: They're just like, okay, fine, sure, whatever. Instead of really
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  Speaker 1: understanding that that first offer is not the final offer,
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  Speaker 1: it is just a jumping off point to start negotiations.
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  Speaker 1: If you know where that line comes from, drop it
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  Speaker 1: in the comments because it is from a very popular movie.
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  Speaker 1: Also something else I want to share with you in
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  Speaker 1: terms of just like giving you guys perspective. When you
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  Speaker 1: guys go to the mall and you need a pair
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  Speaker 1: of shoes, you really need a pair of shoes, and
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  Speaker 1: you go to the shoe store and you're walking around
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  Speaker 1: and the salesperson comes up to you and they're like, oh, hey,
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  Speaker 1: do you need anything? You may say, yeah, I need shoes.
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  Speaker 1: Or you may be like, no, I'm just looking. Even
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  Speaker 1: though you need shoes, right? It's just easier to say, no,
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  Speaker 1: I'm just looking. We all do this. No one wants
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  Speaker 1: to deal with people, right? So you also have to
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  Speaker 1: understand if a brand comes to you and is like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: we can do gifted, right? And they start with that.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't mean... that the conversation needs to stop at gifted.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that there isn't a workaround. Similarly, if
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  Speaker 1: they say, no, we don't have a budget, it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: mean you shouldn't get on a call with them. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: you're like, okay, well, let's chat anyways. I'd love to
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  Speaker 1: learn more about you. It's finding another way. Now, they
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  Speaker 1: may not have a budget at that moment, but building
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  Speaker 1: a relationship, getting on a call, connecting, vibing, all of
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  Speaker 1: that I have had creators tell me that they don't
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  Speaker 1: have a budget. They're only doing gifted. The creator gets
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  Speaker 1: them on a call. Lo and behold, oh, well, we
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  Speaker 1: do have money for UGC. Oh, well, we do have
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  Speaker 1: money for YouTube or we do have money for this.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes it just pops up. So gifted does not always
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  Speaker 1: mean gifted. Always advocate for paid. And no doesn't always
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  Speaker 1: mean no. It's about finding another backdoor or another entrance point.
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  Speaker 1: Even if it just means connecting with them, building rapport,
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  Speaker 1: being human so that you are top of mind. when
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  Speaker 1: budget does become available. Something a lot of brands won't
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  Speaker 1: probably admit is how often we go to other people
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  Speaker 1: on the brand side for referrals. People are lazy and
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  Speaker 1: this is just human nature. We don't wanna go and
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  Speaker 1: search and do all the things. My friend from a
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  Speaker 1: big PR agency just hit me up the other day, Nina,
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  Speaker 1: I got a 10K budget, I'm looking for this, this, this.
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  Speaker 1: Can you help me? I'm like, sure, here are my people.
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  Speaker 1: She was like, great, done. And it's not because she
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  Speaker 1: doesn't wanna go. She obviously trusts me. But what I'm
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  Speaker 1: trying to share here is that all of us do this. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: do you have a recommendation for a restaurant? Hey, do
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  Speaker 1: you have a this? Hey, do you know this? But
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  Speaker 1: you go to a trusted source. A lot of times
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  Speaker 1: I tell people, creators, do solid work. Prove yourself to
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  Speaker 1: PR agencies. Be a strong, normal person. Don't be a user.
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  Speaker 1: Don't just use someone, get the deal, and never talk
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  Speaker 1: to them again. Go above and beyond. Be a professional.
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  Speaker 1: Be kind. Be human. Write thank you notes. Send a
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  Speaker 1: holiday card. I don't care. Keep in touch because you
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  Speaker 1: never know where that person is going to go. who
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  Speaker 1: they need. Sometimes in the PR world, you're going to
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  Speaker 1: leave an agency and go to another. Another student tell me, Nina,
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  Speaker 1: I got ghosted from a big brand. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: what happened. We were talking. All of a sudden, they
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  Speaker 1: didn't write me back. Turns out that her contact left
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  Speaker 1: the company, went to another brand, came back to her
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  Speaker 1: with budget from this other company, right? So you don't
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  Speaker 1: know what's happening behind the scenes. But I will tell you,
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  Speaker 1: PR people, we bring our contacts with us. They are
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  Speaker 1: our most important asset. And we hold on tight to them.
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  Speaker 1: And we also refer creators out. Like I always refer
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  Speaker 1: certain people that I know are not going to embarrass
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  Speaker 1: me professionally. They're going to go above and beyond. So
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  Speaker 1: you want to build relationships. Relationships are so important. And
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  Speaker 1: the hard part is so many of you guys do
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  Speaker 1: digital work. You don't get to meet people. You don't
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  Speaker 1: get to even talk to them. It's just an email
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  Speaker 1: and an invoice. Take it a step further. Even when
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  Speaker 1: you wrap up the campaign, say, I'd love to grab
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  Speaker 1: a quick call with you and thank you and just
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  Speaker 1: chat with you. Zoom, face-to-face, put in the energy. It
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  Speaker 1: will pay off. I think something that brands may not
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  Speaker 1: want you to know is their total budget, right? Maybe
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  Speaker 1: it's not even your business, to be honest. And maybe
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  Speaker 1: they don't necessarily want to speak first. And that's why
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  Speaker 1: I always tell a creator, if a brand doesn't speak
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  Speaker 1: first and they won't give you that number first, it's
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  Speaker 1: up to you to price anchor. So give them a
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  Speaker 1: number and see their reaction, right? So if you were
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  Speaker 1: to say to a client or a brand on a
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  Speaker 1: phone call, okay, well, I'm going to put together a proposal.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have a budget in mind? And you say,
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  Speaker 1: because I don't want to send you guys an $ 8, 000
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  Speaker 1: proposal like I did a couple of days ago for
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  Speaker 1: someone else, if that's just not in your scope. And
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  Speaker 1: then you see their reaction and they're like, oh yeah, no.
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  Speaker 1: Or they're like, oh yeah, just send whatever you send
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  Speaker 1: everyone else. You will be able to gauge their reaction.
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  Speaker 1: So You know, they may not come forth and tell
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  Speaker 1: you the full budget, but you can definitely gauge more
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  Speaker 1: on a call than you would ever be able to
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  Speaker 1: do via email. Now, if you already have my pitching
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  Speaker 1: program inside of my pitching course, you guys, I know
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  Speaker 1: a lot of you guys already have it. Go to
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the brand call role play. There is a whole section
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  Speaker 1: called brand call role play. And this is where I
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  Speaker 1: am the brand and I role play with creators and
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  Speaker 1: I put them in weird situations that could happen on
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  Speaker 1: a call to make sure you are prepared. So getting
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  Speaker 1: on calls is my biggest test strategy to get the
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  Speaker 1: most amount of money because the call is where we
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  Speaker 1: find out info and we put together proposals, right? So
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: if you guys want to look at the proposal section
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  Speaker 1: to update your proposals and listen to the brand call
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  Speaker 1: role play, we've added fresh ones in there. So I
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  Speaker 1: would strongly suggest you guys go ahead and take a
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  Speaker 1: look before you get on a call with a brand
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  Speaker 1: so that you feel good asking for money. And don't
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  Speaker 1: forget the negotiation section as well. I have all those
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  Speaker 1: scripts with back and forths, how to negotiate, how to
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  Speaker 1: ask for more, how to settle, how to take gifted
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  Speaker 1: to paid, how to tell them that just doesn't work
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  Speaker 1: for you because negotiations is part of the game. Now,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: if you're listening in or watching and you're like, what
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: is she talking about? I don't have any of that.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I want that. Well, go ahead and check out our
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Pitching a Brands Master Course. This is our signature course
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: here at Sidewalker Daily. We don't run any ads. We
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: have thousands of testimonials. People love what we teach because
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: we teach the skills to get paid. We teach you outreach.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: We teach you how to get the brand's contacts. We
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: teach you how to get on calls, follow-ups, proposals, All
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: of it. So if that's something you're interested, go ahead
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and check out our pitching course. You're going to love it.
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  Speaker 1: Now something, I don't know if brands don't want you
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  Speaker 1: guys to know this, but I don't think a lot
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  Speaker 1: of creators are asking. So how about that? We'll make
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  Speaker 1: it a 50-50. I was talking to a UGC creator
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  Speaker 1: the other day and she was like, Nina, this brand
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  Speaker 1: is running, you know, ads using my videos. And I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: how's it doing? She's like, I don't really know. I'm like, well,
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  Speaker 1: why don't you ask? Right? Right. And she ended up
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  Speaker 1: finding out that the video is crushing it. It's getting
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  Speaker 1: like millions of views. It's gotten them all these sales.
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  Speaker 1: And what did we do with that data? We made
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  Speaker 1: it into a case study and we pitched more UGC.
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  Speaker 1: We went back to that company and pitched them again,
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  Speaker 1: something else, right? You have to ask for data, you guys.
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  Speaker 1: You can't just expect the brand to come and tell
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  Speaker 1: you how it's doing or how you did or how
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  Speaker 1: many units you sold or how the video is performing
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  Speaker 1: on meta. You have to ask them. They're not going
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  Speaker 1: to go ahead and just like relinquish that information and
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  Speaker 1: Because they're busy. People are busy, right? So it is
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  Speaker 1: so important that you guys also go in and ask
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  Speaker 1: those questions. Even sometimes having a recap call after a
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  Speaker 1: month out. Hey, I know it's been a month since
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  Speaker 1: we worked together. I wanted to touch base and see
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  Speaker 1: how the content did or whatever. Would love to jump
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: on a quick call and go over it. Or maybe
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you send a form. Here's a quick form, like feedback
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  Speaker 1: for data. And in that form, you also include a
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  Speaker 1: testimonial section, right? You want data because you want this
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  Speaker 1: info for your case studies or you want this info
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  Speaker 1: for your pitches. Imagine you make a UGC ad that
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  Speaker 1: is sold like, I don't know, millions of dollars worth
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  Speaker 1: of product. That would be such helpful information for you
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  Speaker 1: to know, but I don't think the brand is going
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  Speaker 1: to come out and say it, right? So you're going
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  Speaker 1: to have to be responsible to go and ask and
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  Speaker 1: see if you can get this information from them. I
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, make sure
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: to rate, review, and subscribe to our show and visit sidewalkerdaily.com
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: for more resources on all things influencer marketing and social media.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Until next time.