Ask Your Audience THIS To Get More Sponsorships
We’ve talked before about how easy it is to feel guilty when you sign a sponsorship.
The gist was that as long as you’re choosing your partnerships with integrity, you have nothing to worry about.
But here’s the thing…
Many creators actually TURN DOWN perfect sponsorship opportunities because they’re worried it just doesn’t “fit” with their content.
You’re probably thinking:
“But…isn’t that a good thing, Justin?”
Yes…and no.
Finding The Perfect Sponsor...
Figuring out which type of brands you should partner up with is one of the biggest struggles when you’re starting out - especially if your content is niche!
A common mistake creators make is thinking that the only brands that should (or would even want to) partner with them are those offering products and services that directly relate to their content.
For example:
“I write a weekly book review newsletter, therefore I should only ever get sponsored by book subscription services.”
Sure, your audience is full of book lovers, but does that mean the only products they’ll find useful are…more books?
No!
Just because they like books doesn’t mean they sit around reading 24/7. They’re real people with diverse interests.
Many creators get fixated on their audience demographics and while that is important, it’s waaaay more interesting to consider your audience's psychographics.
And no, I’m not talking about Norman Bates.
What Are Psychographics?
Your audience’s “psychographics” are literally their psychological characteristics. It’s about who they are and what they want.
By understanding this aspect of the people who consume your content, you can figure out the different problems they have and tailor your solutions to their needs.
What are their interests? Their hobbies? Do they live on their own or with friends? What types of jobs do they have? What keeps them up at night? Are they watching your content in bed? Reading in line at Starbucks with only a few minutes to spare?
Because once you know your audience’s problems, you can figure out the different brands, products, and services that will provide them with amazing solutions!
I recently spoke with my friend Daniel Batal about the psychographics of people who might watch a YouTube channel that reviews horror movies.
Perhaps, you'd think that the only option a channel like that has is to get sponsored by a movie studio that wants to promote their new horror film, right?
Well sure, but that’s waayyyyy too limited!!
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If you think about the psychographics of the people watching that kind of content, it’s probably safe to say they:
Love movies, love horror, watch films with friends, probably enjoy popcorn or snacks, probably dress up in costumes at Halloween, possibly play horror video games, and maybe have fortified home security systems (kidding…not kidding).
So, don’t you think it’s pretty likely a decent chunk of their audience would love to know about cool brands that make:
Movie merch, popcorn, Snuggies, horror costumes, horror make-up, maybe even horror video games, mobile games, board games, and…SimpliSafe
And no, not EVERY person in your audience will want EVERY single thing I just mentioned, but when you shift your mindset to think about how you can SERVE them…
You’ll start to realize that doing sponsorships is a pretty cool way for everyone to win.
Ok but…what if I’m not sure what problems my audience has?
Well… ask them!
You could ask on Twitter. Or run a poll on your YouTube Community tab. Or send out a survey in your weekly newsletter.
By the way, not only will this data you collect help you figure out what brands to target but it’ll help you create more compelling content!
After all, you’ve literally asked your audience and you now know what’s keeping them up at night.
Wouldn’t it give you a warm and fuzzy feeling to know YOU helped solve their problem with your amazing content AND that you connected them to a great brand?
…I thought so.
Thanks to George Blackman for contributing to this piece.