How to Tell Brands Their Strategy Sucks (Without Offending Them)

Once you have a clear understanding of the brand's objectives and major deal points, you must decide how to help them accomplish them.

And the tricky part?

You may have to tell the brand that their strategy sucks.

OK, you're not going to say it sucks; you have to do it gracefully.

Even if the brand came inbound asking whether you could make a video to post on your platform, if you know that will not help them accomplish the objectives they outlined…

You have to propose a better strategy.

For example, pretend you ask that same brand,

"What would a win look like for you?"

and they say…

"Well, after you post your video, we want to cut the footage down to a thirty-second asset that we can use to run paid advertising."

You should immediately be thinking…

"Sure sounds like a repurposing campaign!"

So when they ask how much you charge, instead of saying,

"Here's my rate for one video post,"

you're going to say…

"Knowing that your primary objective is using my video for paid advertising, I can actually make you five videos I don't even post.

I can vary the hook, the key messages, and the Calls to Action at the end of each video.

You can then try running all of them as ads and see which performs best."

Want to know the beautiful part of this pivot?

How much you charge is completely detached from your audience size or viewership.