Sponsored by RockWater

In two decades of this crazy industry, I’ve seen aggregate data for tens of thousands of creators.

My favorite data is always their inbox.

And I currently read about 45 inboxes every day.

You see the best and worst of humanity: fans, stalkers, trolls, big brands, mom and pop companies, and, the worst of the worst, people offering exposure for free work.

But this is a three sided marketplace. Brands need to catch creators’ attention (when I was doing creator outreach for paid deals, my response rate within 48 hours was around 25%), creators need to know how to make decisive decisions, and their reps need to know how to respond to optimize for the best possible working relationship.

I’ll provide advice for all three.

Also in this edition:

• Creators Guild’s protections for content creators and brands

• 71% of Creator-Inspired Purchases are Garbage

• YouTube Search for In-Video Objects

• Job ops from XSET, Little Dot Studios, and Aonic.

• …and a dank creator economy meme by yours truly!

Let’s get into it.

NEWS:

How to Work That Inbox

“Hey Phil! Why do you use all of your best stuff on your LinkedIn page instead of your newsletter? Or vice-versa?”

Yes, I hear that all the time.

After a strong response to my tips on creator inboxes, I figured it was a great time to expound in The Creator Rep.

This time, I’m breaking it down by tips for brands on getting attention, tips for creators on which ones to pick, and tips to creator reps on how to build the best relationships.

BRANDS

Your goal: to get the best creators to respond to your outreach enthusiastically for the best value.

1. Remember: you’re pitching them too. If you’re trying to get a meaningful creator, they’re likely getting more brand offers than they accept. E-mails that create too much friction for a creator will more likely to be ignored.

2. Be both brief and thorough. Get to the point. A creator doesn’t need to read a 50 page company deck to do a branded video. What’s the product? What’s the goal? What’s the rate? What’s the next step?

3. Personalize. Creators get a ridiculous amount of spam disguised as brand deals. Your first goal is to prove you aren’t spam. Take a moment to write something about their content and why they may be a fit for your brand.

4. Don’t be afraid to send a first offer. It shows a creator you know their value and you’re serious. Even if it’s low, it has to come out eventually, so you may as well save everyone some time and see if there’s alignment.

5. Don’t ghost. Creators don’t forget. And they talk to their friends. If you lead them on then stop responding because you went a different direction, you could be doing real damage to your brand.

CREATORS

Your goal: to secure campaigns that will be great to work with, be worth your time, and that your audience will enjoy.

1. Don’t take deals for the money. We all need money to live, but if you’re promoting a cryptocurrency and don’t know what crypto is, and the company turns out to be a scam, you’re going to lose the trust of your biggest fans (the highest likely converters).

2. Lawyer up. Don’t sign anything unless you fully understand it. This goes for everything, including agreements with platforms and management entities. And make sure you have a rep mature enough to not sign anything they don’t understand.

3. Look for red flags. If something feels off, kindly step away.Your time is precious and you can waste a lot of time trying to get alignment with a bad brand.

4. Be clear on who will check your inbox and how often. Is your manager checking daily? If you think so, test it. Send an e-mail and ask for a reply when they get it. If you don’t have a rep, check at least once every 24 hours. I’ve had creators literally lose 7 figure deals because they had a bad manager/agent who can’t answer e-mails in a timely manner.

5. Don’t give up your data for free. Plenty of companies will reach out with a “we potentially have a brand deal for you if you authenticate your YouTube at this link.” Some are phishing attempts. Some are legit, but just farming to juice their company value. If someone reaches out and asks you to look at a deal on their platform, ask if they can send details to make sure it’s worth it.

CREATOR REPS

Your goal: to provide value for your client by securing the best brand deals at the best value with the best terms.

1. Bring your creator everything. Don’t presume to know what your creator wants. I can’t even tell you how many times I offered a manager a deal for their creator, they rejected it, then later when talking to the creator directly they said they would have loved that campaign. It’s a terrible look, and a shame for the client. Organize a recap to preserve your talents’ time.

2. If they don’t have a company e-mail, don’t bother. Any brand reaching out from a Gmail account is more likely to ghost, not pay, send bad product, or turn out to be catfishing trolls.

3. Know your packages. You can upsell brands, you just need to offer more value. I love to send three packages back with increasing value. Sure, you can get a shout out for $5,000, but how about two for $8,000 and we’ll throw in an Instagram Story for free?

4. E-mail templates are your friend. Most brands that warrant responses will warrant the same few responses. Cut your e-mail time in half by having templates ready to go for the common responses like, “Do you have budget for this campaign?” or “This campaign is not a fit for us, but thank you so much for reaching out!”

5. A little kindness goes a long way. Try to make this a win for the brand. Try everything. Don’t make your creator do extra work, but don’t add friction. Get all requested information in each e-mail. If something is going to take 48 hours, let the brand know. Send them a recap of the campaign and say “thank you.” Influencer marketers move around to other brands, and if you’re great to work with they will remember.

SPONSORED BY ROCKWATER

RockWater provides specialized M&A advisory for digital agency owners. TLDR: we find buyers to acquire your agency and negotiate the best deal possible for you.

We're trusted by leading creator economy agencies including: Long Haul Mgmt (sold to Wasserman), Bottle Rocket Mgmt (sold to Night), Oxford Road (sold to Insignia), Fixated ($10M capital raise), Bounty (sold to gen.video), The Creator Society (merger between 2 Social and Ensemble), and many more names you'd recognize. 

If you're interested to learn more about what your agency is worth, reach out to [email protected] to set up an introductory call.

We also host premium exec networking events in NYC + LA. Fill out your details here to be included on the list.

GROW 1%:

Phil Ranta’s weekly social media growth newsletter with one actionable tip to grow.

This week’s ‘Grow 1%’ is titled Rules of the Universe and discusses how you can create loyalty by building out traditions and patterns.

Here’s an excerpt, and you can read the entire edition in the link above:

I love Star Trek. The Jedi, superheroes, Captain Spock with his Falcon Death Touch. It's my favorite Brad Pitt movie.

Okay, we're one sentence into the newsletter. How are you feeling?

If you know anything about Star Trek, I'm guessing you're immediately thinking, "This loser is a troll."

Namely, it's because the Star Trek universe doesn't have any of that stuff.

Our universe has constants: light travels approximately 300,000,000 meters per second. On my anniversary, I buy my wife a present. There's a football player named Dick Butkus.

And in your content universe, even if it takes place in the real universe, you're building those constants.

These are your 'rules of the universe'.

And by setting up defined rules of the universe, you're not only giving the fans something to look out for and talk about, but you're building traditions, cultures, and expectations within your followers.

This is invaluable to your brand.

Let's take one of my favorite digital-first properties: The WWE.

What are the rules of the universe?

The wrestlers have storylines they tell on the microphone in the ring between fights. There are weapons hidden under the ring. You win by pinning someone while the ref counts to three by pounding the mat. The wrestlers are actors, but they always pretend everything happening in the show is real. They have 'finishing moves' that, when used, usually mean their competitor is knocked out.

When you understand the rules of the universe, the content becomes more dynamic.

Continue reading here.

FAME & FORTUNE:

The Creators Guild of America (transparency note: I’m on the advisory board) has outlined the future of creators’ rights in a rider already adopted by major creator economy companies that helps creators fight back against predatory behaviors like payouts over 90 days.

Viewers are starting to trust creators less, according to a Typeform survey, that showed 71% of people that bought an item from a creator regretted the purchase. This shows what we all know: there’s a widening trust gap because of the sheer amount of shoppable video, AI content, and algorithms that value individual content instead of creator loyalty.

YouTube has launched a feature to allow users to search for in-video objects in Shorts through search. A wonderful signal that AI will help replace clickbait with real, relevant content.

Sydney Sweeney, the Gen Z hearthrob, has launched a soap line with Dr. Squatch that’s said to be made from her actual bathwater. Merch that can only be made from deep social listening in the darkest corners of the internet!

INDUSTRY HIRING:

XSET needs an SVP, Content Monetization to make sure gamers have the $1,000 necessary to unlock all of the DLC in your average EA game.

Little Dot Studio is looking for a VP, Content Strategy. If you get the job, remember: Duolingo already did whatever you’re thinking of.

Aonic wants a Head of Brand & Content Marketing that, unlike me, didn’t have half of a meat lover’s pizza for late-night snack.

MEME ZONE:

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this edition, give it a share and if you get someone to sign up, I’ll send you my ‘10 Rep-Friendly Ways to Monetize Today!’ deck!

Until next time, protect yo rep.