5 Reasons Brands Turn You Down
5 Reasons Brands Turn You Down
Welcome to our newsletter, Karat Weekly. In this edition: 1) Why you aren’t landing more brand deals, 2) Quick link highlight: $8k/mo UGC opportunity, and 3) Creator Studio: How to create man on the street content
Reasons More Brands Aren’t Working with You
1️⃣ Your Email Isn’t in Your Bio
This might sound obvious, but it still needs to be said. Your email needs to be in your bio. Front and center. Not a button.
Why? Most people sourcing talent are searching on web. Email buttons (like on IG) aren’t visible on web.
Remember, there’s an endless amount of creators. If it’s difficult for a brand or agency to find your contact information, they’re going to move onto the next creator.
2️⃣ You’re Not Showing Your Life or Personality Enough
Brands need to be able to:
1. See themselves in your content
2. Understand why you are the person to promote their product
As a creator myself, this is an issue I recently ran into. This is how my management team and I started to solve it. (Alexander echoed this sentiment.) ⤵️
Issue #1: If you’re never mentioning or showing product/services, it’s difficult for a brand to know how they could fit in organically.
This isn’t to say every video needs to feature a product/service, but it’s a good reminder to make sure you’re doing it often enough.
Here are a few examples based on niche:
• Lifestyle → Show the laundry products you’re using.
• Finance → Mention the bank you used in saving for your vacation.
• Gaming → Show the desk chair you’re sitting in.
Remember to talk about the types of products you would want to work with. (e.g., If you want to work with home products, show parts of your home. If you want to work with financial products, mention financial products you already love.)
Issue #2: In a sea of creators, what’s your unique edge? Why would a brand hire you over anyone else? Alexander emphasized humor on our chat, saying:
Humor sells really well with brands.
3️⃣ You’re Not Mentioning Brands Organically
This one’s similar to #2 but slightly different…stick with me. 🤞🏻
One of Alexander’s biggest tips for landing brand deals was this [paraphrased]:
“Brands want to see mentions in stories and past posts. I have some creators who will tag the brand and if the brand comments, now we know that’s a brand we should outreach to.
We can use the analytics of that specific post to say, “Here are the results we got, we’d love to work with you on a paid basis long-term.”
Why is this so important? Brands want a warm audience.
This makes a ton of sense if we think about the standard sales funnel.
A warm audience already has a level of trust in you, and they’re beginning to explore their options before making a purchase. It is much easier to convince them to purchase something at this stage than if they were a cold lead.
And remember: It takes people seeing something an average of 7 times before making a purchase. Brands don’t want to be the first time, but they might pay you to be the 5th, 6th, or 7th exposure.
4️⃣ You’re Not Posting Frequently Enough
Alexander says posting frequency can correlate with work ethic. This isn’t to say you have to post every single day of your life, but posting once a week might give the wrong signal to brands.
Brands want to see that you’re professional and consistent. Are you treating your page like a business that you show up for often? Or just a hobby?
5️⃣ You Need to Beef Up Your Scripts and Editing
Your scriptwriting and editing skills are important. Even if your views aren’t as strong, Alexander shared that these skills indicate “there’s a lot to work with.”
An agency like DULCEDO can help you make changes to the content to get more views, but it’s harder to teach you how to write a creative script or build a signature editing style.
What about your scripts makes you stand out? Where can you infuse more of your personality or brand? How is your editing standing out in the feed?
💡 Bonus Tip: Post Cross-Platform
Alexander shared that cross-platform syndication is huge right now. Creators aren’t taking advantage of Facebook and Snapchat enough. 👀 In fact, some creators are making a decent bit reposting to Facebook.
Quick Links
🏦 Get your creator banking set up in 5 mins
📆 A smart way to get on brands’ radars for holiday campaigns.
🌎 $8k/month UGC opportunity.
📸 A hook format to try in your content.
This Week in Creator Studio
This Thursday at 1 PM PT/4PM ET we’re chatting with Eric Suerez in Creator Studio. Eric has perfected the “man on the street” content formula, using it to grow to over 5M followers across platforms.
Apply HERE to Join These Calls Live
Eric will be teaching us how to create bingeable man on the street content that can take your platform from 0 to 1 million.
This is especially important for content creators who may face potential legal risks related to copyright infringement, defamation, or other intellectual property claims.
Are There Disadvantages of S Corps for Creators?
Designating yourself as an S corps can save you thousands of dollars in taxes—but there are a few tradeoffs to be aware of:
- An S corp typically costs more money to set up compared to a regular LLC
- You’ll have to fill out a good amount of paperwork to designate your S corp
- Since you’ll be receiving a salary, you have to set up and run payroll (or have a professional service manage payroll for you)
- S corps require you to file a separate business tax return (Form 1120-S)
Overall, the tax savings from electing S corp status outweigh the extra paperwork, especially if you work with a tax professional who can take some of that paperwork off your plate.
S Corp Eligibility Requirements