7 Aha! Ways to Extend and Increase Your Sponsored Content Earnings
^^ Save that baby right there! Print it and use it!! ^^
Just like when you create a product or service tier and have multiple price points from which your customer can choose from, hoping to scoop them up at whatever point in their budget might be, you should be doing the same with pitches and negotiations to brands.
Similar to creating pricing tiers for your products or services for your customers to select based on their budget, you should also take the same approach when pitching to and negotiating with brands.
So often, bloggers head into a contract or partnership without any negotiation or attempt to extend or improve the opportunity they have. BIG mistake.
As in any other business, bloggers should look at these opportunities with a business mindset and desire to strengthen the relationship. Earning more sales, extending the length of the contract, and increasing the profitability of contracts are smart business choices, and smart choices for bloggers.
There are some simple ways you can increase the profitability of your contracts, extend the relationship, or even make a bit of money on what may have been a no. Try some of these ideas and see if something works for you.
Upsell
Try adding additional large ticket items to the contract. Like a video, FB live, event attendance, or other item that you can charge hundreds or thousands for. Often brands don’t even realize you might offer it, or to ask for it.Downsell
On the same token, offering to add on additional social media shares for a small charge, or rights to an image, or other small add-on is a great way to add to the amount you can make while giving the brand additional value.
NOTE: this is also a great avenue if you get turned down by a brand. You can go back and ask for something smaller, at a lower budget. Perhaps a few social media shares for a product will be a yes but a full post will be a no.Bundle
A MUST! Never pitch a single service. Instead, offer a series or bundle of services at a discounted rate of what they would be if individually paid for. A brand can always come back and ask for that single service but, chances are, if they are interested in you they will bite for the bundled contract.Circle back
This is another trick I rarely hear bloggers using and they should! Not only should you return back to a brand you worked with a year or two ago and re-pitch for a new contract, you should re-visit a brand a few months after a good contract has ended and offer rights to images, additional social media, or other offerings they didn’t get in the first round. Additionally, if you want to update an older piece of sponsored content, reach out to the brand and ask them if they would like to sponsor an update and a discounted rate. After all, a good chunk of effort went into pitching and finding contacts for those brands. Use them!Get sponsors for past content
This is one of my favorites! If you have been blogging for any length of time, you have a crazy large post count! Chances are, you need to update a good amount of content. Why not offer some of that to a brand? They can already see the content, the social proof, and all of it. It is low risk for them. Ask for their sponsorship at a lower rate in exchange for updating the post with some of their messaging and branding. This is money for work you are already needing to do.
I hope some of these tips got your brain working on how you might be able to extend your work. Work smarter, not harder!! Sponsored content and brand partnerships is a great place to do that!
~Janel
