- Small creators can still get sponsored by brands
- Brands may be attracted to small creators for unique campaigns
- Brands value expertise and credibility, not just audience size
- Niche down to make your value proposition clear to brands
- Reach out to brands with a compelling pitch about how you can help them
- Use email, LinkedIn, and Twitter to connect with brands
- Reply quickly to brand emails and interact with them on Twitter
- Follow up with brands after partnerships and cold pitches
- Keep chugging and don't give up after a few emails

In this video I’m going to tell you why it’s not only possible to get sponsored as a small creator, but why you might actually be MORE attractive to some brands when you have 1,000 followers or less.

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What's Creator Wizard all about? 
Justin Moore is a Sponsorship Coach & the founder of @CreatorWizard, a school & community that teaches you how to find & negotiate your dream brand deals so that you stop leaving thousands on the table.

Along with his wife April, he has been a full-time creator for over 8 years and has personally made over $4M working with brands. He also ran an influencer marketing agency for over 6 years that helped other creators earn an additional $3M.

Justin brings a very unique perspective because not only has he been a creator in the trenches doing sponsorships for years but by running an agency, he has insider knowledge behind how big brands choose which influencers to partner with and why they pass on others. Justin's mission is to enable creators big and small to land 1 million paid brand partnerships by 2032.

00:00 How to get PAID Sponsorships
00:32 What do brands want from creators?
02:18 Be crystal clear on your value proposition
04:04 Why sponsorships don't usually fall in your lap
04:51 What do you say to brands and how do you reach out?
07:11 The fortune is in the follow-up

In this video, I'm going to tell you why it's not only possible to get sponsored as a small creator, but why you might actually be more attractive to some brands when you have a thousand followers or less.

I don't remember inviting you limiting beliefs.

Why would a brand want to partner with a creator who's only able to connect them with a thousand people?

That's not a smart decision for them, right?

But your value is not limited to the size of your audience.

First off, what does a brand actually want from you as a small creator?

So a few years back, the card game UNO hired my agency to run a very unique campaign.

The brand wanted to create something called the Draw 4 Challenge where creators with unique talents would enhance what they're known for by 4X.

So for example, a nail artist might paint nails 4 times as colorful, or a stuntman might attempt 4 times as many flips as usual, or a pancake artist might make a pancake in the style of a draw 4 card.

In this scenario, UNO didn't care about whether the creator had an audience of 1,000 or 1,000,000.

They just wanted a variety of skills to make the campaign as interesting as possible.

Brands are not necessarily expecting your Instagram posts to go viral or your YouTube video to blow up.

What they get from you is an asset that they can use on their own platforms.

It's your experience and your credibility that counts.

And that's not tied to the size of your audience.

You have experience crafting compelling content.

You understand the differences between the platforms.

Brands won't think about you creating tailor-made vertical assets for TikTok or creating content specifically for Instagram's one-to-one ratio.

Not only are you creating high quality assets for them, but you're showing them the best ways to distribute those assets across their platforms.

It's that expertise, not always the size of your audience that brands will pay for.

But getting noticed by a brand is another thing.

This is why you need to be crystal clear about your value proposition.

When a brand lands on your YouTube channel, or your podcast, or your community, or your TikTok, they need to know who you are in the first 15 seconds.

They are not gonna watch 20 of your videos or read a bunch of your newsletters to figure out who you are.

They might look at your bio or scroll your feed or look at your website for literally 5 seconds.

You need to leave them in absolute no doubt that when they have that next campaign that rolls around, they're going to think we got to hire that person.

And you might think that this makes you less likely to get sponsored, but that is 1 of the biggest myths.

By niching down, you make your value proposition 100% clear.

Any brand that lands on your profile now knows exactly who you are and whether you align.

For example, I recently did a few one-on-one coaching calls with a creator named Paul, who runs the Green Industry Podcast.

Paul has a daily podcast for people who run lawn care and landscaping businesses, and brands are beating down his door to sponsor him because there just simply aren't that many other people out there like him.

They are literally searching for videos on YouTube to try and find the next creator that they should partner up with.

So imagine the types of videos they'll be searching for, right?

So remember, get in their shoes, wiggle your toes around a little bit and optimize your posts and your platforms accordingly so they'll be driven right to you.

Having said that, sponsorships aren't just gonna fall in your lap.

Sure, it might happen, but the easiest way for a brand to realize that they should sponsor you is for you to tell them.

If you can go to a brand with a compelling pitch about how you can help them achieve their business objectives, they're going to jump at the chance to work with you.

This can be especially effective with brands that don't have a consistent online presence.

A lot of brands want to post more consistently but they either lack the time or the expertise to do it well and that's where you come in.

So when you approach a brand you're not pricing yourself based on your number of followers.

You're pricing yourself based on the value of the assets that you can create for them or the strategy that you're going to help them with.

But what do you say to them and how do you reach out?

Well, in my opinion, the best ways to reach out are email, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Your first task is to try and figure out who is in charge of their brand partnerships on LinkedIn.

This might be their influencer marketing manager or their digital marketing manager or their partnerships team.

Hey, brand partnership manager, I noticed that you're looking to achieve X.

I am also passionate about X and you know what?

Here's a post I recently made where everyone went crazy for X.

I will help you achieve X by creating more content talking about X.

By the way, I also helped this other brand achieve X and I can send you the results.

If a brand receives an email like this, they are going to salivate.

And make sure you A, B test your email subject lines too to figure out what makes brands actually open your emails.

And remember, brands will love you if you actually reply to emails quickly.

I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of brands and trust me, they always prefer to partner up with a smaller responsive creator over some million follower hotshot who's impossible to get ahold of.

And that's why you as a small creator have an advantage.

You're probably not getting flooded with sponsorship offers yet, right?

There's no personal assistant picking and choosing which of your emails to delete.

You can make a hundred percent sure that when a brand gets in touch, you're going to be the creator that replies right away.

Twitter is a seriously underrated way of connecting with brands, right?

If you spend a few weeks interacting with the marketing managers tweets, who probably has less than a thousand followers as well, by the way, and then you show them that you're interested in their mission and then you DM them, your name is already going to be a little familiar and they'll know that you have a genuine interest in the brand.

So as for what to charge them, well, I go into pricing strategy in extreme detail in week 2 of my course Brand Deal Wizard.

So if you need some help on that front, just go to BrandDealWizard.com or click the link down below to learn more.

So what's great about all of this is that once you have worked with 1 brand, it is so much easier to get others interested because now you can say, hey, I just finished a fantastic partnership with this brand.

Once the ball starts rolling, things get easier.

And 1 of the most critical things to remember is that the fortune is in the Follow up.

You should always follow up with the brand, especially after a successful partnership because you literally just showed them how awesome it was to work with you.

So this is the perfect time to pitch them on your next idea.

But for a cold pitch to a brand that you've never worked with, following up is especially important if you've not heard anything from a brand since your first message.

My rule of thumb is a minimum of 4 emails.

That's the initial pitch plus 3 follow-ups.

Keep in mind, these brands are busy just like you, and you know how easy it is to let emails slip by.

You are not annoying brands by offering to help them.

Okay, so you have to keep chugging because you never know how many thousands of dollars you are leaving on the table just by giving up after your first or second email.

Watch this video if a brand just got back to you and you're about to enter your first ever sponsorship negotiation.

Oh boy, I sure wouldn't want to go into that discussion without these tips.


Speaker 0: In this video, I'm going to tell you why it's not only possible to get sponsored as a small creator, but why you might actually be more attractive to some brands when you have a thousand followers or less. Come on, Justin. That's ridiculous. I don't remember inviting you limiting beliefs. Why would a brand want to partner with a creator who's only able to connect them with a thousand people?

That's not a smart decision for them, right? But your value is not limited to the size of your audience. Here's why. First off, what does a brand actually want from you as a small creator? Well, let's look at an example.

So a few years back, the card game UNO hired my agency to run a very unique campaign. The brand wanted to create something called the Draw 4 Challenge where creators with unique talents would enhance what they're known for by 4X. So for example, a nail artist might paint nails 4 times as colorful, or a stuntman might attempt 4 times as many flips as usual, or a pancake artist might make a pancake in the style of a draw 4 card. In this scenario, UNO didn't care about whether the creator had an audience of 1,000 or 1,000,000. They just wanted a variety of skills to make the campaign as interesting as possible.

It's not all about your reach. Brands are not necessarily expecting your Instagram posts to go viral or your YouTube video to blow up. What they get from you is an asset that they can use on their own platforms. It's your experience and your credibility that counts. And that's not tied to the size of your audience.

You have experience crafting compelling content. You know what makes an engaging video. You understand the differences between the platforms. Brands won't think about you creating tailor-made vertical assets for TikTok or creating content specifically for Instagram's one-to-one ratio. Not only are you creating high quality assets for them, but you're showing them the best ways to distribute those assets across their platforms.

It's that expertise, not always the size of your audience that brands will pay for. But getting noticed by a brand is another thing. This is why you need to be crystal clear about your value proposition. When a brand lands on your YouTube channel, or your podcast, or your community, or your TikTok, they need to know who you are in the first 15 seconds. Yeah, that's not for me.

They are going to make a snap judgment. They are not gonna watch 20 of your videos or read a bunch of your newsletters to figure out who you are. They might look at your bio or scroll your feed or look at your website for literally 5 seconds. But that is it. You need to leave them in absolute no doubt that when they have that next campaign that rolls around, they're going to think we got to hire that person.

And what is the easiest way to do this? You probably guessed it. Niching down. And you might think that this makes you less likely to get sponsored, but that is 1 of the biggest myths. By niching down, you make your value proposition 100% clear.

Any brand that lands on your profile now knows exactly who you are and whether you align. For example, I recently did a few one-on-one coaching calls with a creator named Paul, who runs the Green Industry Podcast. Paul has a daily podcast for people who run lawn care and landscaping businesses, and brands are beating down his door to sponsor him because there just simply aren't that many other people out there like him. Put yourself in the mind of the brand. They are literally searching for videos on YouTube to try and find the next creator that they should partner up with.

So imagine the types of videos they'll be searching for, right? What keywords will they be using? So remember, get in their shoes, wiggle your toes around a little bit and optimize your posts and your platforms accordingly so they'll be driven right to you. Having said that, sponsorships aren't just gonna fall in your lap. Sure, it might happen, but the easiest way for a brand to realize that they should sponsor you is for you to tell them.

That's right, You can reach out to them. If you can go to a brand with a compelling pitch about how you can help them achieve their business objectives, they're going to jump at the chance to work with you. This can be especially effective with brands that don't have a consistent online presence. A lot of brands want to post more consistently but they either lack the time or the expertise to do it well and that's where you come in. So when you approach a brand you're not pricing yourself based on your number of followers.

You're pricing yourself based on the value of the assets that you can create for them or the strategy that you're going to help them with. But what do you say to them and how do you reach out? Well, in my opinion, the best ways to reach out are email, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Your first task is to try and figure out who is in charge of their brand partnerships on LinkedIn. This might be their influencer marketing manager or their digital marketing manager or their partnerships team.

And then you write something like this. Hey, brand partnership manager, I noticed that you're looking to achieve X. I am also passionate about X and you know what? So is my audience. Here's a post I recently made where everyone went crazy for X.

I will help you achieve X by creating more content talking about X. By the way, I also helped this other brand achieve X and I can send you the results. Are you free on Tuesday at 10 a.m. To talk about it? If a brand receives an email like this, they are going to salivate.

And make sure you A, B test your email subject lines too to figure out what makes brands actually open your emails. And remember, brands will love you if you actually reply to emails quickly. I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of brands and trust me, they always prefer to partner up with a smaller responsive creator over some million follower hotshot who's impossible to get ahold of. And that's why you as a small creator have an advantage. You're probably not getting flooded with sponsorship offers yet, right?

There's no personal assistant picking and choosing which of your emails to delete. You can make a hundred percent sure that when a brand gets in touch, you're going to be the creator that replies right away. But you can also use Twitter. Twitter is a seriously underrated way of connecting with brands, right? Especially smaller ones.

If you spend a few weeks interacting with the marketing managers tweets, who probably has less than a thousand followers as well, by the way, and then you show them that you're interested in their mission and then you DM them, your name is already going to be a little familiar and they'll know that you have a genuine interest in the brand. So as for what to charge them, well, I go into pricing strategy in extreme detail in week 2 of my course Brand Deal Wizard. So if you need some help on that front, just go to BrandDealWizard.com or click the link down below to learn more. So what's great about all of this is that once you have worked with 1 brand, it is so much easier to get others interested because now you can say, hey, I just finished a fantastic partnership with this brand. Now I'd love to work with you.

Once the ball starts rolling, things get easier. And 1 of the most critical things to remember is that the fortune is in the Follow up. You should always follow up with the brand, especially after a successful partnership because you literally just showed them how awesome it was to work with you. So this is the perfect time to pitch them on your next idea. But for a cold pitch to a brand that you've never worked with, following up is especially important if you've not heard anything from a brand since your first message.

My rule of thumb is a minimum of 4 emails. That's the initial pitch plus 3 follow-ups. Keep in mind, these brands are busy just like you, and you know how easy it is to let emails slip by. You are not annoying brands by offering to help them. Okay, so you have to keep chugging because you never know how many thousands of dollars you are leaving on the table just by giving up after your first or second email.

So look, we're not done. Watch this video if a brand just got back to you and you're about to enter your first ever sponsorship negotiation. Oh boy, I sure wouldn't want to go into that discussion without these tips.

See all Creator Wizard transcripts on Youtube

How to get PAID Sponsorships (For SMALL Creators)