The Sponsorship Balancing Act: Audience vs. Brand Satisfaction

You don't have to do too many sponsorships before noticing your audience's response to them can be…fickle.

Less engagement. Less views. More snark.

Whether consciously or subconsciously, many creators begin producing work that mentions or features the product as briefly as they can get away with.

But put yourself in the brand's shoes. Maybe they're paying you $1,000 for a short-form video or $100,000 to be the presenting sponsor of your event.

It's reasonable for them to expect you'll give their product adequate "airtime."

By over-indexing on your audience's satisfaction, you run the risk of fracturing your relationship with your sponsor.

Now, I'm not saying you need to transform into a late-night "infomercial" host, but it's critical to remember why the brand hired you.

While some of your sponsored work may underperform, it will also allow you to reinvest back into your business. Maybe pay your rent or mortgage? Pay for a trip to the tropics? Is that such a bad thing?

As with everything, it's a balancing act.

Just don't forget to be pragmatic.