How To Overcome These 3 Unfair Practices In Sponsorships.

As Talent Managers, we’ve seen A LOT. So many brands out there are incredible to work with. They bring transparency, flexibility and organization to their partnership conversations and execute beautiful and effective campaigns. But, as with anything in life, there’s always another side to the story. 

Over the past few months, more and more Influencers have shared their experiences working with brands on campaigns. The truth is, there are a lot of unfair practices out there, and not many people (as far as we’ve seen) are talking about how to overcome them. You as a Content Creator set the tone of what is and isn’t acceptable every time you accept a campaign. In order to uphold standards that benefit the greater good, we all need to work as a united community to enforce them. (that means you!)

Keep reading to find out How To Overcome These 3 Unfair Practices in Sponsorships and enforce more favorable standards in the Content Creator community.

#1

AGGRESSIVE TIMELINES

In our experience, short timelines are pretty common especially as we reach the end of a month or quarter. There are a ton of reasons outside of a brand's or agency’s control that can cause aggressive timelines to be necessary. If you're someone that can create and turn in content quickly (and you have an open schedule) these timelines may not affect you much.

But if your calendar is usually full or you have events throughout the month, short timeframes with multiple deliverables can become tricky and stressful.

#2.

LONG PAYMENT TIMEFRAMES

One of the most challenging things about balancing a budget as a Content Creator is working with long payment timeframes. Getting paid 2+ months after meeting all of a brand’s due dates can seem unfair or unreasonable.

We know that when working with an agency, we have to be more patient. The agency has to receive the funds before they can pay you, and brand delays affect both the creator and the agency's ability to get paid on time. But, sometimes these timeframes can be shortened or renegotiated to get payments into your account faster.

#3.

WITHHOLDING PERFORMANCE RESULTS

Brands and agencies are serious about insights. Some contracts even have clauses about failing to deliver insights on time and requiring make-good content.

In our experience, not many brands are willing to share metrics from tracking links, discount code uses or sales, which, is pretty unfair. But you also deserve the right to know what kind of campaigns are an effective match with your personal brand.

Performance data is key for creating case studies and to use as leverage for future campaigns when negotiating your rate.

Although we did touch on some common issues, we know there are are many more issues that continue to affect content creators including discriminatory and non-inclusive practices. You’ll never know how many people are experiencing the same issues as you if you keep them yourself. Share yours in the comments and get in on the conversation.

p.s. If you haven’t already heard, we launched a value-packed e-book that supports Content Creators through conversations with brands who are failing at diversity and inclusion. If you want to equip yourself with the confidence to address these issues professionally and effectively order your copy HERE.