The Real Deal on Influencer Brand Deals with Chris Ledford (husband of YouTuber Serein Wu): The YouTube Power Hour Podcast 320
“Know your worth. It’s ok to walk away. It’s ok to say no.”
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With over 2 decades of experience in talent representation, Chris is a true industry veteran. Chris began his career as an agent intern at a well known talent agency in Beverly Hills. From there he went on to become an agent in the commercials department then in the TV and Film department followed by a promotion to department head before finally becoming a partner at the firm. Realizing the future of entertainment would be in social media Chris decided to focus his attention on clients that produced their own content. Today, Chris represents a handful of diverse creators that he helps grow their social reach while driving advertising revenue to their platforms.
You may know Chris Ledford’s wife, YouTuber Serein Wu. As her YouTube channel grew and she started getting brand deals, Chris started looking over her contracts. At the time, social media was still relatively new and he noticed that the deals she was being offered weren’t very well thought-out, So he started representing her and a couple other clients, and as his client list grew, he started noticing patterns across the industry that really needed to be addressed. Chris’s current list of clients he represents feature athletes and MMA competitors to food bloggers to people in the beauty space. Really, his only criteria for clients is that they have an online presence, even if that’s just an instagram account!
Every brand is different and every client is different. Some brands, for example, prefer really artistic content and some only care about reach and numbers. For Chris, as a rep, his main job is to figure out what the brand is interested in… and sometimes, the brands don’t even know!
“The negotiation process is a dance.”
Are affiliate links the way to go?
Not always! Sometimes affiliate links aren’t necessarily a good metric to determine the success of a campaign. If the company provides you with a link to Amazon, for example, but a viewer sees your youtube video but buys it at Sephora, and then recommends it to a friend who buys it from Ulta, the brand can’t possibly know where that sale came from, especially when a product is being sold in multiple places. When multiple influencers have affiliate links for the same brand, a viewer might watch a video from one creator, then watch a similar video with the same brand featured by a different creator, they might use their link instead.
How should you negotiate with brands?
Chris’s best advice: start high. Outprice yourself and see how it goes. If you know that your rate is higher than someone is going to pay, start there so you and the brand can meet in the middle if they start low. Often, creators get so worried about losing the deal that they underprice themselves, and in the long run, this will hurt the industry as a whole.
At what point should you start working with brands?
As a content creator, you should start working with brands when you feel like you have something to contribute, and it’s not always about numbers. Even if you only have a couple thousand followers, but you create really interesting content, that’s something that a brand has to pay for one way or the other. Whether they’re paying a freelancer to do it or they’re paying you to do it, the advertising has to be created and paid for somehow.
How do you know how much to charge?
This is a super common question, and it’s important to know that it’s not about how many followers you have, it’s who is following you. For example, someone with 10k subscribers, the majority of whom are 12-17 may not be as lucrative as someone with 2k subscribers in the 25-30 age bracket, who are more likely to have the disposable income to buy a product. Remember: anything extra (monetization turned off, exclusivity, view guarantees, etc.) costs extra, so charge for it!
When do brands start being interested in influencers?
Typically, brands start being interested in a creator when they have around 10k followers, which is not to say that it doesn’t happen to people with less than 10k, because it does.
Final thoughts
When negotiating with brands, stand your ground. Be pleasant, nobody wants to work with a jerk, but know your worth. It’s ok to say no, because when you tell someone no, they might want it even more, and just because you say no now doesn’t mean it can’t be a yes in the future. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and get creative with what you can offer to a brand!
Think you’re ready for representation or need someone to point you in the right direction? Contact Chris at chris@ninja.social!
“My advice to micro influencers or creators who are young in their process, be relentless in pursuing what you want to do, because the only way for you to do this full time is to create content. That’s what you do.”
Connect with Chris:
Email Chris: chris@ninja.social
Resources
Add your name to the Zero to Influence YouTube Bootcamp waitlist so you are notified when space becomes available!
Watch my replay of my FREE Zero to 100k Subscribers Masterclass
FREE GUIDES:
Creating Content During Crisis: How to Create Impactful Content During COVID-19 Pandemic
Getting Started on YouTube: YouTube Niche Workbook
How to get onto PR lists and receive a TON of free product even if you have a small following: PR List
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Course Creation: Looking to create a course? Kajabi is the BEST platform hands down. I use this for my course after extensive research on all the other platforms.
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Webinars and Live calls: I use Zoom.us for my group coaching calls in my private membership group for female YouTube creators. It’s also the software I use to record my Road to 100k YouTube Subscribers Masterclass!
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After interviewing HUNDREDS of successful YouTube creators, these are the pieces of equipment that hands down get mentioned time and time again. You can’t go wrong with anything on this list!
- 4k Camera: Great for starting out and vlogging
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- Inexpensive Lighting Kit: Need to pick up some lights but don’t want to spend a ton? This is a great set that will get you started and help improve the look of your videos.
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