Feeling Sponsorship Guilt?
When I spoke at Vidfest earlier this summer, a creator asked me a pretty surprising question...
"How do I know if I'm doing too many sponsorships?"
My answer?
"It doesn't matter how many sponsorships you're doing. You could literally 2x or 3x that number, and you'd still have nothing to worry about."
Today, I want to talk about why.
"Selling Out"
Have you ever accepted a sponsorship, only to feel like your audience is totally gonna think you’ve sold out?
Even when you’re promoting a brand you genuinely love, you still sit there asking yourself:
“What’s my audience gonna think of me?!”
It’s all too easy to go down that rabbit hole.
But you’re not being fair to yourself and it’s going to wear you out.
It’s time to reframe how you think about sponsorships.
1-1 Coaching to help you dial in your sponsorship strategy, work through a complex negotiation, overall audience monetization, or other creator business challenges
Everybody Wins
Let’s get something straight here.
You should not feel guilty for getting paid to connect your audience with a great brand.
The most important thing to remember here is that you are not the only person who gets something out of a sponsorship deal.
In fact, this is a win-win-win for your sponsor, you, and for your audience.
Let’s break it down:
The sponsor gets their product or service in front of your audience.
You receive reasonable payment for facilitating this exchange of value between your audience and your sponsor.
Your audience gets access to a product or service they will benefit from (usually at a discounted price)
When you sign a sponsorship deal, everybody wins.
Mindset Shift
How about this?
Rather than thinking:
❌ “What’s my audience going to think of me?!”
…ask yourself:
✅ “How can I provide my audience with a product or service they’ll benefit from?”
If you can do that, the way you feel about your next sponsorship will change from:
❌ “My audience is going to hate me”
…to:
✅ “My audience is going to love me!”
Let's Go!
Choose your sponsorships with integrity and you have nothing to worry about.
You deserve to get paid.
When you realize that a sponsorship is a win for everyone, your life as a creator is going to change.
What's more - I'll bet 90%+ of the content you produce is NOT sponsored anyway.
So even if you 2x or 3x your sponsorship frequency, the majority of your free content is STILL totally organic.
So get out there and sign some more deals!
Thanks to George Blackman for contributing to this piece.