🧙‍♂️ Why you need to send brands a "concept" early on

Hey there,

As a creator, you’ve probably got a pretty hectic schedule, right?

You’ve got your own content schedule to stick to, maybe a few external deadlines coming up, not to mention trying to LIVE YOUR LIFE around all your online commitments. 🤣

But I’ve found that a huge amount of creators I’ve coached are inadvertently wasting time and getting super stressed when working with brands because they’re forgetting to do something absolutely critical.

If you’re NOT doing this thing, you’re gonna find it harder to create your next piece of sponsored content, and you’re at risk of having to do a bunch of revisions you didn’t anticipate.

Drum roll, please…

Sending the brand a concept proposal even if they don’t ask for one.

🙋‍♂️ Hit reply if you’ve ever done this!

So today we’re going to talk about why aligning on a concept is important, and the most common mistakes creators make when doing so.

✅ It forces brands to decide what they actually want

Ever spoken with a brand that had a half-completed vision of what the campaign should be?

I’m sure it looked amazing in their head lol but expecting you to read their mind and fill in the blanks isn’t reasonable.

I guarantee that if you have to try and guess what the brand wants, the process is gonna take way longer, and there’s a strong chance the brand is gonna tell you:

“That’s not really what we had in mind.”

That’s why you’ve gotta be firm and…

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✅ Align on expectations before producing anything

Why go through all the effort of making the content without a degree of certainty that it’s what the brand wants?

When you’re sitting there planning out the content, how much easier would it be if you had already aligned on a bunch of key talking points, specific shot ideas, and precise call-to-action wording?

And when you go to actually create the content, you can have some confidence that…

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✅ You won’t have to do a bunch of (unpaid) extra work.

Every contract you sign should have a finite number of revisions built in (add it if it doesn’t), although there will usually be a clause to cover if you go rogue and submit something significantly off-brief.

But if you’ve aligned on a concept before you create the content, you’re ensuring that the brand can’t push its luck with future revisions.

If they start demanding unreasonable edits, like re-shooting half the content, or asking you to entirely change the key talking points…

You can point them back to the concept both parties agreed on together and politely explain that such revisions lie outside the contract.

But, there’s an even bigger reason to create a concept…

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✅ It illustrates your professionalism.

Honestly, you have no idea how few creators actually submit concepts for the brand’s feedback.

When you do, it’s gonna seem like you actually care about what the brand is trying to achieve!

Even if a brand isn’t accustomed to asking for a concept, they’re gonna realize pretty quickly how much better collaborations turn out when the creator provides one.

And they’ll remember it was you who taught them that.

But before we talk about the biggest mistakes creators make...

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Alright, back to it...

❌ Creating content when the brand says "we trust you"

They think they do, but without getting the information right from the horse’s mouth you’re never gonna be able to bring their vision to life.

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❌ Demonstrating the product/service incorrectly

Are there any particular features the brand wants you to show off? Is there a right and wrong way to demonstrate the product/service? What sort of language do they want you to use when talking about them?

If you don’t ask, you won’t/can’t know.

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❌ Not establishing what does/doesn't count as a revision

You’ve gotta make this distinction before signing the contract.

Otherwise, the brand could pretty much ask you to revise anything, as many times as they want.

Ya, that’s not cool lol.

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❌ Not properly disclosing the partnership legally

If you’ve ever had a brand ask you to change your content to downplay that it was sponsored, you need to be able to have that conversation before you produce the content.

In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the regulatory body that dictates how you must disclose to your audience your relationship with partners so it may be necessary for you to educate brands.

So the next time a brand tells you “Oh we trust you! We just want the content to be organic and authentic!”

You’re gonna say….”Ya, about that…” and send them a concept anyway, deal? ✌️

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P.S. If this type of thing stimulates your brain, consider signing up for the waitlist for Cohort 9 of Brand Deal Wizard, starting in late June. 😎

Have a great week ahead! 🧙‍♂️