7 sponsorship "conversion" tactics (so brands hire you again)

"Only a few people clicked on your link and no one purchased the product."

*Cue stomach drop and existential dread*

Have you ever gotten a message like that from a brand after doing a sponsorship?

What on earth do you say back to something like that?

Whether you have a podcast, a YouTube channel, a TikTok or you create on any other platform, one of your top priorities when doing a partnership should be ensuring that you're able to drive results for the brand (so they wanna hire you again)!

But...how?

Let's first talk about airplanes.

1/ Setting the right course

Imagine this:

A pilot from San Francisco sits down in the flight deck. She takes off and sets a course for Washington D.C.

6 hours later, she lands safely in the capital.

Now imagine she made this same flight again.

But, this time, she miscalculates her initial trajectory by just 1 degree.

Now, 6 hours later, she finds herself in Baltimore, more than 40 miles away from D.C.

The point is, a small miscalculation can result in a significant gulf.

Which brings me back to sponsorships, and the importance of who you choose to partner up with.

Because even a slight misalignment here means you, the brand and your audience are gonna be at odds down the line.

No matter how much you try and apply the other 6 steps we're gonna talk about, there's still gonna be that chasm.

So the best way to ensure you'll arrive at the right destination is to consider your audience’s psychographics.

Because once you understand what motivates them, you can ensure that your ad integration speaks directly to the outcome they want.

Remember, you’re selling a transformation, not a list of features.

"But Justin, I'm just talking about a natural deodorant brand on my Instagram. WTF does this have to do with me?"

Well, whether they realize it or not, your smelly-pitted audience needs to feel "seen" through...

2/ The Hero's Journey

You might be familiar with this concept (and you’ll definitely have seen it in movies).

It's a common storytelling technique where we see the transformation of a character as they undergo every stage of this wheel.

As a result, we feel closer to them and start to put ourselves in their shoes.

Their success becomes ours.

And that brings me back to your sponsorship.

It's far easier for your audience to envision the transformation that the brand is offering when you include a case study.

Check out this example in a recent issue of The Publish Press:

It’s kinda crazy to me that brands don't always offer these up, because they're a guaranteed conversion booster for your integration.

So you need to proactively ask if there are any case studies you can include, and explain why you believe it'll boost the campaign’s effectiveness.

Now for this next strategy, I wanna talk about...

3/ Black Friday

This is FOMO, personified 

Why, in a nutshell, do people behave like this on Black Friday?

Perceived Value x Time Sensitivity

They know a bunch of stuff they want is available on discount, but only if they act NOW.

But why is this relevant?

Because you wanna create that same sense of urgency in your next sponsorship.

When your audience is feeling FOMO, they’re more likely to take action.

So if the brand hasn’t already provided you with a discount code, explain why this is likely to improve the performance of the campaign.

That’s exactly why in my recent podcast integrations with ConvertKit, I highlight the discounted rate and specifically mention that “tickets are going fast”.

4/ The Subtle Strategy

Now, we don’t want our integration to come off like a giant sales pitch, right?

So what if you could create an ad that didn’t feel like an ad?

I give you: Ryan Trahan.

His most recent video is an awesome example of seamlessly integrating product and content:

Sure, he tells us the video is sponsored.

But the fact that he’s literally using the product he’s promoting to shoot the video demonstrates that he legitimately uses it.

It won’t always be possible to make it this streamlined.

But if you can organically relate the ad read to the content you’re already writing/shooting, your audience is gonna be more receptive to buying/signing up.

By the way, before we go any further...

5/ Don't forget to do all of these things

Could I ask you to subscribe to my YouTube channel?

And to check out my podcast if you haven’t already.

I also offer 1-1 coaching btw, so make sure to check---

Ok whoops...

Not only was that a terribly non-seamless way of integrating an ad into a piece of content, but it also highlights an even more important lesson:

Choose ONE call-to-action.

If you bombard your audience with 5 different choices, decision fatigue means they’ll do nothing.

If the brand suggests having multiple CTAs, educate them about why this is gonna reduce the campaign’s effectiveness.

6/ Be honest

Glowing, super positive testimonials are great but the moment your audience sees #ad in that caption or hears you say "Thanks to ACME for sponsoring this video..."

...They're gonna naturally be more skeptical!

They're gonna think, "does this creator actually like the brand or are they just saying that because they're getting paid?"

So, a great way to counterbalance that skepticism is by including neutral and even potential negatives of the brand/product/service.

Now, I'm not saying you need to roast the product (and be advised some brands might freak out at this suggestion) BUT...

Think back to the last time YOU were reading reviews. Weren't you looking for both pros and cons so you could make a more informed decision?

Explaining this logic to brands often leads to really constructive improvements to how you actually execute the partnership.

And since we're on the subject of addressing skepticism, there's one last thing you need to do...

7/ Remove your hat

Yep, you heard me.

Because this whole time, you’ve been wearing your “creator hat”.

You've been figuring out how you, as the conduit between brand and audience, can make the integration as appealing as possible.

But the most effective way to do this is actually to remove your creator hat completely, and look at the integration as a consumer.

What would make YOU take action?

By working backwards, it's easier to spot the objections you would actually have and consciously address them in the integration.

Then, you can reverse engineer it from your audience’s perspective.

✌️-Justin

P.S. if you wanna get paid sponsorship opportunities sent to your inbox every Thursday, join 22K+ creators getting my full newsletter here.