Everything I'm sharing here is based on my personal experience and perspective. These views are mine alone and do not represent any current, former, or future employers.
My intention and hope in writing this is to offer a more thoughtful perspective than can fit in an unpaid short form post from somebody who has been on nearly all sides of the sponsorship conversation, including the creator side. This post is the culmination of 10 years in the creator space, more than half of it on the industry side.
The post ahead was too long for a single post (over 10,000 words), so I've split it into two parts. I recommend reading both in order. Part One covers brands and partnerships, while Part Two focuses on improving your sponsorship odds and working with talent agents:
Part One:
Brands – How they come to make decisions, budgets, types of ROI, and how they leverage agencies
Types of Partnerships – Tackling the myth that a partnership is only real if you're paid, different types of partnerships, and the benefits of each type
Part Two:
Improving Sponsorship Odds – Creating brand ready content, building out case studies, content bundling, communications, and some unfortunate realities
Talent Agents – What they're for, their goals, why you'd want one, the pitfalls you might experience, and an alternative that might work for some creators
There is surely something you will disagree with in this post and I want to be clear that this represents a singular perspective: mine. And if I could be so bold to offer you some instruction: simply take this post for what it is (my perspective) and leverage it against your own experience, knowledge, and opinions.
I've put up a subscribe with email to read further because I want this information to reach people who are genuinely interested in learning about the business side of creator partnerships. I don't post frequently to this blog and I'm not trying to monetize anything – feel free to unsubscribe after you read. I ask that you do not repost or repackage this content into other formats.