Don’t pitch random brands; ask your audience.

Many first float into sponsorships because it seems the easiest and most obvious way to fund their creations and monetize their influence.

They usually start by direct messaging or emailing brands they already love:

“I’ve been using your product for three years and it’d be great to collaborate!”

Not only is that a terrible pitch (we’ll get to why in Chapter 1), but it completely ignores the most important thing:

It’s not about you.

Brands don’t care how much you love them. That’s table stakes.

Spamming their direct messages with heart emojis won’t cut it.

And no, the emoji with the money tongue won’t work either (put your phone down).

They care about finding more customers (psst: that’s your audience).

Even if you have brands pitching you regularly, it’s a big problem if your only criteria for taking a deal is whether you use their product or service.

This is why partnerships often underperform; just because you think a brand is cool doesn’t mean your audience will.

A better approach is to open a proactive dialogue to learn more about them and the types of brands they’d be into.

Here’s a simple exercise.

Create the following survey form and send it to your audience:

Hey [name]!

I want to learn more about you! I’m planning my next series of [videos/posts/podcasts/events, etc.], and I want to ensure they serve you. It would mean a lot to me if you took a second to answer a few questions.

• What type of job do you have?

• Do you have a partner?

• Do you have kids?

• How and when do you typically interact with my [videos/posts/podcasts/events, etc]?

  • Is it in line at the coffee shop for two minutes?

  • Or do you sit down every weekend and catch up on my most recent [videos/posts/podcasts, etc.]?

• What problems do you have, and what keeps you up at night?

• Is there any type of product or service that you wished I offered that I don’t, and why?

• What types of brands/products/services are you using or interested in right now and why?

• Are there other people you’d like to see me collaborate with? Why?

  
  

Thanks!

[Your name]

If you feel intimidated by doing a full-blown survey or think your audience won’t be into that, you can ask these questions casually during in-person conversations or one at a time on social media.

One of my students, Christian Taylor, felt constrained by the limited number of brands he could partner with in his online security niche.

However, after surveying his audience he discovered 70% were interested in home security as well.

He was shocked and immediately crafted a pitch to a large residential alarm company.

It was instantly clear to him how he could integrate a brand like that into his videos in a way that felt authentic and audience-first.

The goal is to stop operating in an echo chamber and better understand what makes your audience tick.

Armed with robust psychographic data, your pitch shifts from “I love you, please pay me” to “Here’s proof that a bunch of people in my audience want to hear about your brand.”