Get Sponsored: How to Land Iconic Brand Deals with Justin Moore
Episode 862: Show Notes
Today I’m chatting with Justin Moore, Sponsorship Coach and the Founder of Creator Wizard. It’s a school and community that teaches you how to find and negotiate your dream brand deals so that you can stop leaving thousands of dollars on the table.
During this episode, we dive into strategies to land unique brand deals that not only benefit you with sponsorship dollars, but also help you grow your business and get more clients. With these strategies you’ll ultimately impact the brands you build with as well as your company. We also talk about Justin’s origin story and how he built his brand, a strong YouTube following and even an Influencer Agency. There’s a lot to uncover, so let’s dig in!
Justin’s Secrets to Building a Business and Growing an Audience
It all began with Justin’s wife, April, when she started to create content around cosmetics and beauty products. This happened while Justin was completing his MBA, and having lots of conversations around business strategy. He suggested that instead of being paid in free stuff, she start asking brands if they have a budget when they reach out to collaborate. To their shock, they were offered $700 to post two videos a month! Over the next decade, they got over 550 sponsorships and made over 4.5 million dollars. In 2015, Justin started an influencer marketing agency, which grew to pay millions of dollars to other creators. Being on the other side of the process and being in the boardrooms of big agencies led him to start Creator Wizard to educate creators about the sponsorship process.
The Journey to Helping Others Reach Their Goals
Justin’s goal is to reach a million sponsorships by 2032. It can be really difficult to find information about this industry. Everyone does it differently, and often not very well. His professional background enables him to communicate effectively and navigate deals. But a lot of people were super unprofessional. People kept coming to Justin and April for advice. It wasn’t just about the reach, it was about the product, the professionalism, and the communication. They offered flexibility to brands and made changes. Justin saw a different way to establish these relationships, and he wanted to introduce a new narrative into the space. He believes that working with sponsors can be amazing if you do it in the right way.
Breaking Out of the Traditional Sponsorship Model
A lot of people who have never been sponsored or had a brand deal start tuning out when this conversation comes up. But Justin offers us a broader perspective on sponsorships; it’s not just you talking about a brand on a podcast, but a mutually beneficial relationship where you get to do things that don’t conform to a traditional brand model. For example, Justin has a book sponsorship model for his self-publishing book, Sponsor Magnet. His goal is to find exclusive channel partners who will include a blurb at the start of the book, with some of them including the book in their swag bags. He gets more distribution, he is sponsored, and everybody wins! If you have a body of people you have influence over, there are brands and companies out there that will want to sponsor you.
Where to Get Started If You’ve Never Been Sponsored Before
Justin uses the Sponsorship Continuum to explain the world of sponsorships to those of us who are just getting started. Instead of just reaching out to a brand to ask them for sponsorship, he suggests that you do an audit of their overall social presence. Maybe they don’t have a TikTok or a YouTube channel, or they’re not posting frequently on their blog or website. You can say, ‘Hey, I love your brand, and I think you could tell your brand story in a more compelling way. I would love to create some ongoing content for you. You can utilize this content on your platforms. And by the way, look at my platform. That is my portfolio.” There’s no limit. You don’t have to have a certain number of subscribers before you reach out.
How to Get Ahead by Predicting the Future
What’s old is new again! UGC was the parlance from ten years ago, and it’s back. There is value in honing that skill by learning to include a compelling storyline and call-to-action. To Justin, it’s a mindset of creativity and arming yourself with a skill. Whether it’s TikTok or a brand new platform that’s going to crop up, there’s going to be endless opportunities. Three and half years ago, Justin and his wife did Amazon live streams, and they got super good at it. As long as you have your eye on where the ball is going rather than where it’s at, you’re going to be ahead. I agree with that! For some of my earliest deals, I was too chicken to reach out. I just started creating the content, whether they asked me to or not.
The Number One Reason a Brand Will Choose You
When you are doing an organic shout-out on the internet, you’re not leading people to a promotion. A brand will ultimately hire you for a campaign because they have very specific talking points, a call-to-action, a promo code, or a call-to-action. Justin has spoken to so many brands who have shared that their first port of call to source talent for paid campaigns is their affiliates. They are already familiar with the brand, the product, and the service, and they aren’t coming in from the street. He wants to forever dispel the myth that you should not tag brands organically. You have to move yourself closer to the source of the magnetism so you can get on their radar! Justin also says that the most lucrative deals you’ll ever get are the ones where you are pitching cold because there isn’t a pre-identified budget.
Starting Out with an Untapped Market
If you’ve been running your service-based business for a while, and you have built enough leads to fill up your agency but not necessarily enough to sell more to. Let’s say, for example, you started to build a modest newsletter of 200 or 300 people. Justin stresses that there are likely subscribers who would love to market to the rest of your list. A newsletter can be an amazing untapped market. Where have you built your audience? With a course? In your community? Justin created a ‘Partners’ section on his website to spotlight his sponsors. He wants listeners to know that you can invent things and think outside of the box. Understanding their goals is a great starting point. to create value for them.
What You Can Learn From Justin’s Story
Justin’s story began with listening to what was being asked of him. He didn’t know how things would unfold when he first started speaking about sponsorship strategies online. People started to comment and ask questions, and he found ways to be helpful. It all started one-on-one. From there, he built a six-week course, which became a four-week course. Every time he ran the program, he was iterating. Then, after seven cohorts, he created an on-demand version. A lot of people want to jump straight to passive revenue, but for Justin, it was a grind. There’s a tendency to look at successful people on the internet and forget where they came from. Sometimes it takes working closely with people to start to see the pattern and the unique differentiators in your audience.
Quote This
“I actually believe that working with sponsors can be amazing if you do it in the right way.”
—Justin moore
Highlights
Secrets to Building a Business and Growing an Audience [0:01:47]
Justin’s Journey to Helping Others Reach Their Goals [0:05:50]
Breaking Out of the Traditional Sponsorship Model [0:08:30]
Where to Get Started If You’ve Never Been Sponsored Before [0:12:53]
How to Get Ahead by Predicting the Future [0:17:19]
The Number One Reason a Brand Will Choose You [0:17:19]
Starting Out with an Untapped Market [0:26:16]
What You Can Learn From Justin’s Story [0:31:25]
OUR gueST:
Justin Moore
Website | Instagram | X | Newsletter
Justin is a Sponsorship Coach & the founder of Creator Wizard, a school & community that teaches you how to find & negotiate your dream brand deals so that you stop leaving thousands on the table. Along with his wife April, he has been a full-time creator for over 10 years and has personally made over $4M working with brands. He also ran an influencer marketing agency for 7 years that helped other creators earn millions more. Justin brings a very unique perspective because not only has he been a creator in the trenches doing sponsorships for years but by running an agency, he has insider knowledge behind how big brands choose which influencers to partner with and why they pass on others. Justin's mission is to enable creators big and small to land 1 million paid brand partnerships by 2032.
OUR HOST:
Abagail Pumphrey
Boss Project on Instagram | Facebook
Abagail Pumphrey, the Co-Founder & CEO of Boss Project, has been a driving force in the creative entrepreneur industry since 2015. With a passion for empowering service-based business owners around the globe, she became internet-famous after the launch of the transformative training, "Trello for Business." This innovative system revitalized the operations of over 10,000 business owners, making a significant impact on the online business landscape.
Under Abagail's leadership, Boss Project has been featured in prestigious publications such as Forbes, Marie Claire, INC, and HuffPost. Her twice-weekly podcast, The Strategy Hour, is a staple in the business community, continuously topping Business and Management Charts on Apple with millions of listeners from around the world.
Abagail's superpower lies in her ability to break down complex concepts into easy-to-implement, duplicatable systems. As an expert in online sales and a data-driven strategist, she has turned a layoff into a 7-figure work-from-home business. Abagail's mission to help more female founders become financially free, without letting their businesses take over their lives, continues to inspire and guide entrepreneurs on their path to success.
Key Topics:
Sponsorship, Brand Partners, Creating Content, Audience, Business Goals, Listening