Episode 103
When to say no to a brand deal
Have you ever been in a situation where an exciting opportunity lands in your lap, but something deep down makes you hesitate?
I want to share a personal story that I think many content creators can relate to—deciding when to say no to a brand deal. Receiving offers from brands can feel like a huge opportunity, but sometimes, it’s in your best interest to pass on them as they might not serve the long-term goals you have.
Recently, I've started to receive opportunities from different software tools aimed at podcasters and microphone brands looking to partner with me. One brand in particular that I won’t name, reached out and offered to send me some of their latest products for me to review on our YouTube and podcast channels. On the surface, this offer seemed like a great idea and I agreed. I hadn’t heard of them before, but I was eager to give their gear a try.
Over the next couple of days, I started to dig deeper into this brand. I realised I hadn't heard of them for good reason. I have decades of experience in the audio space, and the fact that this brand never crossed my radar was a red flag.
It's tempting to say yes to every offer that comes your way, especially when you're excited about the possibility of a new partnership. However, it's crucial to ask yourself whether this opportunity aligns with your brand’s values and how it may affect your brand’s reputation.
Next time you have an exciting offer, take a step back and consider its actual value. Are you saying yes because you’re genuinely enthusiastic about the opportunity, or are you just excited that someone reached out?
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Transcript
It's story time.
Speaker:Recently, and increasingly, I've
Speaker:been getting these deals come through
Speaker:from different tools and microphone
Speaker:brands wanting to partner with me.
Speaker:whether they have perhaps got microphones
Speaker:that they want us to review, they want
Speaker:us to check out, want us to do a video
Speaker:on, or that could be their specific
Speaker:tools that are like software tools
Speaker:that they want us to take a look at and
Speaker:then also do a review on those tools.
Speaker:Here's the kicker though, here's
Speaker:the thing that I want to talk about.
Speaker:certainly the point of the YouTube
Speaker:channel is to generate income
Speaker:for BambiMedia at some point.
Speaker:to build strong relationships with
Speaker:really great brands that we use
Speaker:all the time, that we want to talk
Speaker:about, that we want To feature
Speaker:that we want you all to know about.
Speaker:that's the point is to build
Speaker:this community around podcasting
Speaker:and not just podcasting, but
Speaker:people that use microphones.
Speaker:So vocalists, musicians.
Speaker:there's an overarching kind of
Speaker:theme for me and a passion for
Speaker:me just around audio and video.
Speaker:and so any way that I can work with
Speaker:brands and partner with people that feel
Speaker:really well aligned, I'm all for that.
Speaker:I think it's just awesome.
Speaker:But the thing that's been coming
Speaker:up for me recently is that I have
Speaker:had some brands reach out to me
Speaker:that I've never heard of, and it
Speaker:doesn't mean that they're bad, right?
Speaker:There's plenty of brands
Speaker:I've never heard of.
Speaker:They could be really good.
Speaker:And there was one brand in particular,
Speaker:which I'm not going to name, that
Speaker:reached out to me and said, you know,
Speaker:we'd love to send you some microphones,
Speaker:some equipment for you to review on your
Speaker:channel, and then you can keep Equipment.
Speaker:Now, this wasn't a deal where I was
Speaker:getting money for it, where we were
Speaker:getting money for it here at Bammy Media.
Speaker:We were just getting microphones
Speaker:to test So at first I thought,
Speaker:Oh, that sounds great.
Speaker:I'd love to review some different
Speaker:microphones that, from brands
Speaker:like I've never heard of,
Speaker:or I've never used before.
Speaker:And so initially I was interested.
Speaker:Initially I kind of said.
Speaker:Okay, yeah, that, that could be cool.
Speaker:But then over the next couple of days,
Speaker:I started thinking about this brand.
Speaker:I started doing some more research
Speaker:and I started looking around and
Speaker:what I started to realize was that
Speaker:I hadn't heard of them for a reason.
Speaker:I know a lot about microphones.
Speaker:I have decades of experience
Speaker:And so the fact that this brand
Speaker:had never crossed my radar, that
Speaker:was a little bit of a red flag.
Speaker:And so I started thinking about it
Speaker:more, doing a little bit more research.
Speaker:And the more I dived into it, the more
Speaker:I sort of sat with it for a while, I
Speaker:started to realize that actually I didn't
Speaker:want to say yes to this opportunity.
Speaker:That even though it meant that I got
Speaker:free stuff and that I could create
Speaker:more content for our channels using
Speaker:this equipment and reviewing it, I
Speaker:actually didn't want to review it.
Speaker:And the reason for that is very simple.
Speaker:The equipment was inferior to equipment
Speaker:that we know that we use, that we like.
Speaker:The price point was way too low.
Speaker:you could get this microphone for
Speaker:about 50 and that's a red flag
Speaker:because if you're spending so
Speaker:little It's gonna break, for sure.
Speaker:The audio quality isn't gonna be as good.
Speaker:The connections aren't gonna be as good.
Speaker:The actual, like, hardware that
Speaker:they're using is probably plastic.
Speaker:It's not high quality metal.
Speaker:It's not aluminium.
Speaker:It's not gold plated.
Speaker:It's not all the stuff that actually
Speaker:makes really good equipment.
Speaker:And so I thought about that some
Speaker:more and there was no sustainability
Speaker:practices on their website.
Speaker:There was nothing that could convince
Speaker:me that this was actually an opportunity
Speaker:that I would want our followers,
Speaker:our subscribers and the people in
Speaker:our community to know about, to use.
Speaker:and so then I started thinking, okay,
Speaker:well, if I did get these microphones
Speaker:and this equipment from this brand,
Speaker:what kind of video would I create?
Speaker:I would probably be
Speaker:creating a video that.
Speaker:didn't paint them in a very
Speaker:nice light and that's not
Speaker:really something I want to do.
Speaker:I don't want to be a person in this
Speaker:space that says, yeah, you know,
Speaker:you could start off with this really
Speaker:crappy equipment and that'll do.
Speaker:And it's good enough from brands
Speaker:that aren't tried and tested.
Speaker:And there was plenty of other
Speaker:things on YouTube that I could find
Speaker:other reviews of this equipment
Speaker:that says like, yeah, it's okay.
Speaker:Like it's pretty good.
Speaker:It's it's, you get what you paid for.
Speaker:our company, Bambi
Speaker:Media is not that brand.
Speaker:We're not the one that says, yeah,
Speaker:it's going to be a little bit cheaper
Speaker:and you get what you paid for.
Speaker:That's not who I'm talking to.
Speaker:And so I ultimately said no to this
Speaker:relationship, a relationship that maybe
Speaker:could have turned into something more.
Speaker:And at first I felt a bit bad
Speaker:about saying no, because they
Speaker:seemed really keen on it.
Speaker:but I had to really think about the
Speaker:fact that I'm not the kind of person
Speaker:that says yes, just because I feel
Speaker:like maybe they might want me to.
Speaker:I, that's just not me.
Speaker:And so I wanted this to be a reminder
Speaker:to you That if you're a creator and
Speaker:you're getting people coming to you,
Speaker:asking you to review stuff or to do
Speaker:brand deals with you and they're not
Speaker:actually really aligned, instead of
Speaker:saying yes, like straight away, maybe
Speaker:just take a pause and do a bit of your
Speaker:own research and just make sure that
Speaker:it's not going to be more damaging to
Speaker:your brand by accepting that actual deal.
Speaker:I have another example where I
Speaker:was approached by some software
Speaker:tools, uh, companies that wanted
Speaker:us here at Bamu Media to create
Speaker:videos for their software.
Speaker:and I initially was interested
Speaker:because they were tools that I really
Speaker:like that I thought, yes, that's,
Speaker:this is going to be a good match.
Speaker:But then the difference here was, is that
Speaker:they had a budget of X for us to create
Speaker:the video that they wanted us to create.
Speaker:Therein lies the because the amount of
Speaker:money that they had as their budget.
Speaker:Which again, I understand everyone has a
Speaker:budget, especially if, you know, people
Speaker:are startups and they're new brands and
Speaker:they're new tools and they're untested
Speaker:and whatever, they have a budget.
Speaker:But the budget was too low for the
Speaker:amount of time and effort that we
Speaker:put in to the videos that we create.
Speaker:so even though I could have said
Speaker:yes to that and put all the effort
Speaker:into this great video and yes
Speaker:been paid not enough, that's not
Speaker:something again I subscribe to.
Speaker:you should be paid for what you're worth.
Speaker:I guess an example that's different
Speaker:to that, so like a caveat to when
Speaker:you would Say yes to an opportunity.
Speaker:That's not going to
Speaker:make you enough money.
Speaker:That's not actually the value that you
Speaker:are worth is let's say you have a brand
Speaker:or a personality or an influencer that
Speaker:you really want to work with And you
Speaker:have to get their attention somehow, and
Speaker:they're not going to pay you to deliver
Speaker:a product to them because they don't know
Speaker:who you are, they don't know anything,
Speaker:you're the one that wants to work with
Speaker:them, and so you should be delivering
Speaker:them value, expecting nothing in return,
Speaker:so you can't go to them and be like,
Speaker:hey, have this video snippet or whatever
Speaker:that I've created for you, but you can't
Speaker:see it or use it unless you pay me, you
Speaker:know, 400 or whatever, in that instance,
Speaker:I agree with doing stuff for free to
Speaker:get the attention, doing your best work,
Speaker:putting your heart and soul into the
Speaker:thing, and then giving it to the person
Speaker:and being like here free for you to use.
Speaker:If you're trying to get their
Speaker:attention, if you want to work with
Speaker:them and you don't have another way.
Speaker:To work with them at this point, you're
Speaker:just giving them free value, give, give,
Speaker:give, and you will receive for sure.
Speaker:But in this situation where a
Speaker:brand comes to Us and says, we
Speaker:want you to create a video and
Speaker:we're going to pay you this much.
Speaker:This is the budget.
Speaker:You really need to think about
Speaker:whether that is worth it for you.
Speaker:Whether that brand is going to be
Speaker:worth the effort, the time that you
Speaker:put into the video, whether that's
Speaker:a brand you're wanting to further a
Speaker:relationship with, an established,
Speaker:whether that is something you actually
Speaker:want to do, because it is so okay.
Speaker:to say no if it doesn't quite align.
Speaker:I think they also ultimately
Speaker:respect you as well.
Speaker:If you say no and you say why, so
Speaker:it's not like, no, I'm not interested.
Speaker:It's like, well, this kind of video
Speaker:normally takes us about X amount
Speaker:of time and it costs about X amount
Speaker:in staff to, um, produce this.
Speaker:Therefore, the budget you have is too
Speaker:low and it's ultimately for them more.
Speaker:It is more than it is for us as a brand.
Speaker:So the answer is no.
Speaker:So the next time you have something
Speaker:land on your desk that you think
Speaker:like maybe might be a really cool
Speaker:opportunity, or you just get excited
Speaker:because someone's reached out to you
Speaker:and they, they want you to do something.
Speaker:Just take a pause for a second and
Speaker:just think about what the actual
Speaker:true value of that opportunity is.
Speaker:And whether you're saying yes because
Speaker:you're excited or whether you're
Speaker:saying yes because it actually
Speaker:ultimately will move you in the
Speaker:direction that you want to go in.
Speaker:I'd love to know from you whether
Speaker:you've had opportunities come through
Speaker:like that before Where you felt
Speaker:a little bit strange about saying
Speaker:no, but maybe you should have.
Speaker:Maybe it blew up in your face.
Speaker:Maybe it took you four times as long
Speaker:to produce the thing that they're
Speaker:paying you a pittance for, and nothing
Speaker:else came from the opportunity.
Speaker:I'd love to know.
Speaker:If you want to put it in
Speaker:the comments, let me know.
Speaker:Tell me a story.
Speaker:That would be great.
Speaker:I just love that.
Speaker:And if you're a brand that you feel
Speaker:like would really gel with Bambi
Speaker:media and you would love to be
Speaker:featured, then please reach out.
Speaker:we don't always say no.
Speaker:It has to be the right person.
Speaker:And we're really trying to build
Speaker:something that you, the listeners,
Speaker:the watches will feel like.
Speaker:we're giving you the best advice that we
Speaker:possibly can, that we're giving you the
Speaker:really honest look at everything that's
Speaker:happening in the podcasting and audio
Speaker:production space right now, and you feel
Speaker:like you can trust us enough to then go
Speaker:purchase or work with whoever that is.
Speaker:I hope you enjoy this little chat today.
Speaker:It's just a little reflection on
Speaker:some stuff that's been happening
Speaker:in our world at the moment.
Speaker:And, uh, Yeah, I'll
Speaker:chat to you again soon.
