Learn how to use a book to build your brand: https://www.creatorwizard.com/lulu Thanks to Lulu for sponsoring this episode! Brands like Nestlé, Unilever, and General Motors are spending millions on creator partnerships right now - but most creators have no idea how those decisions actually get made. Today, I’m talking with Gabe Gordon, CEO of Reach Agency, about… Who really controls the short list of creators that get picked for campaigns Why "here's my rate card, where's the brief" is the wrong way to approach agencies How brands are using creator content far beyond a single sponsored post The uncomfortable truth about AI slop - and influencer slop Why LinkedIn might be the most underrated tool for landing brand deals What actually earns you a long-term brand partnership (hint: it's not your follower count) Follow our guest: Gabe Gordon - [email protected] | reachagency.com Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com

Brand deals feeling slower and more unpredictable lately? You're not imagining it… and there are 5 specific reasons it's happening (plus what to actually do about each one). Why AI slop pitches are killing your cold outreach (and the video pitch fix) How niche creators are weathering this market while generalists get hit hardest The macro forces (tariffs, budget freezes, layoffs) tanking brand marketing spend Why your rates might need a reality check (and smarter deal structures to try instead) The warmest leads you're completely ignoring: how to re-pitch past sponsors Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com 00:00 Why Brand Deals Are Slowing Down 01:16 AI Slop Pitches Are Flooding Marketer Inboxes 03:52 Niche Creators Are Winning Right Now 06:27 The Macro Landscape: Tariffs, Layoffs & Frozen Budgets 10:38 Your Rates Might Be the Problem 15:01 Your Best Leads Are Already in Your Inbox 20:18 Mindset: Default to Action, Not Victimhood For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

31 ways to make a brand absolutely hate your guts…and how to avoid every single one of them. Including: Why ignoring a brand's goals during negotiation kills your chances at repeat deals The production and revision mistakes that make your contact look terrible to their boss Post-campaign reporting errors that cost your contact their promotion Why ghosting after the deal is the fastest way to end a long-term brand relationship Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Most creators walk past potential sponsors at conferences and do nothing. Or they walk up and say "hey I have a podcast, you should sponsor me." Both are wrong. In this video, I'm walking the floor at Google Cloud Next and showing you exactly how I use AI to generate walk-up briefs for sponsor booths in real time — so you always know what to say before you open your mouth. How to turn a photo of a sponsor's booth into a full research brief in under 3 minutes The exact conversation openers that signal you've done your homework Why competitive wedges are the most underrated thing to bring up at a booth How pre-event research protects your reputation (the Cloudflare example) The upgrade: doing all of this before you even walk in the door This works whether you're at a massive tech conference or a niche industry event with 200 people. If sponsors are there, this is how you approach them. Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com 00:00 Walking the Floor at Google Cloud Next 00:36 The AI Research Setup in Claude 01:16 Infosys: Building a Walk-Up Brief in Real Time 02:57 Snowflake: Using Competitive Wedges 04:28 Cloudflare: When Research Protects Your Reputation 05:47 The Upgrade: Prep Before You Arrive For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Most creators think sponsors care about their download numbers. They're wrong. I went booth-to-booth at a 30,000-person event and asked sponsors directly: why do you shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for this? What I got back was a masterclass in how brands actually think about ROI, and it should completely change how you pitch. Why sophisticated brands filter out irrelevant leads even when they're walking right past their booth, and what that means for your pitch The two ROI buckets every marketer uses internally to justify sponsorship spend (and why most creators only pitch one) How a single booth conversation turned into a 7-figure deal... four years later The "Super Bowl" question you need to ask on every discovery call Why 6 months is the real window to get into a brand's biggest budget What your post-campaign report needs to show if you want a brand to double down The brands who kept renewing? They weren't chasing vibes. They were looking for one thing: proof they reached their ideal customer. Here's exactly what that looks like, and how to give it to them. Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com 00:00 Why Sponsors Shell Out at Events 01:46 The Two ROI Buckets Brands Use Internally 03:47 The 4-to-5 Year Sales Cycle You're Ignoring 05:43 Spray and Pray vs. Fit-First Thinking 09:45 The "Super Bowl" Hierarchy and How to Find Your Place In It 13:29 Why Budget Decisions Are Made 6 Months Out 17:55 Retention Mode: The Sponsorship Goal Most Creators Miss 18:55 The Post-Campaign Report That Wins Renewals For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Google flew me out to Google Cloud Next and I made a mistake on day one that still bothers me. Here's what went wrong, what I learned, and the exact playbook for turning brand trips into long-term partnerships. Here's what we cover: Why being even 4 minutes late can set the wrong tone with a brand (and how to avoid it) The real-time posting mistake that kills your chances of getting reshared by the brand Why a LinkedIn thank you post is your secret weapon for landing future deals How to get crystal clear on deliverables before you ever board the plane The post-campaign report strategy that positions you for a bigger partnership Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com Chapters: 00:00 The Mistake I Made on Day One 01:45 Why First Impressions Make or Break Brand Relationships 03:35 Post in Real Time or Miss the Window 05:15 The LinkedIn Thank You Post Hack 07:00 Get Clear on Deliverables Before You Go 08:30 The Post-Campaign Report That Unlocks Future Deals For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Five brands sponsored a conference most people have never heard of, and it revealed exactly where sponsorship money is hiding right now. I stumbled onto this at the Minnesota Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (yes, really) while watching my mom get honored for 50 years as a dietitian. What I saw on that sponsorship slide changed how I think about niche authority, and then I turned around and ran into one of my own coaching clients, Anna, who's living proof of everything I'm about to tell you. Here's what we cover: Why small, niche conferences attract serious brand dollars (and what that means for you) How Anna went from "not a creator" to being flooded with brand deals — and the exact move she made at this conference The real reason traditional brands don't pay creators at first (and how to flip that into your biggest long-term advantage) Why being a big fish in a small pond beats chasing mass audiences every time How to introduce predictability into your sponsorship income, even when deals take 12–18 months to close Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com Chapters: 00:00 Where Sponsorship Money Is Actually Hiding 01:32 Anna's Story: From Practitioner to In-Demand Creator 03:15 Lessons from a Niche Conference's Sponsor Slide 05:00 Paul Jameson & Dr. Alex: Big Fish, Small Pond 06:35 How to Educate Brands Who've Never Paid a Creator 08:45 Playing the Long Game: Seeding Deals 12–18 Months Out 09:50 A Message for Professionals Afraid to Bet on Themselves 11:30 Ready for Help? Here's What Wizard's Guild Does For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

I lost $10,000 on Sponsor Games this year. And I'd do it again. After fumbling the sponsorship strategy at Year 1, I made it a mission to fix everything—the pitching, the pricing, the activations, and how deeply brands were integrated into the event. Here's exactly what changed, what worked, and what I'm still figuring out. Here's what we cover: Why requiring physical presence from sponsors is non-negotiable (and how it almost cost us a deal) The mistake I made by keeping sponsors off stage—and how fixing it made Kit's Haley say she'd "never gotten so much stage time" How giving away live brand deals at the event unlocked something most conferences can't replicate Why bespoke sponsorship packages beat tiered decks every single time (straight from our title sponsor's mouth) How I used the post-campaign report to pitch an ongoing ambassadorship—and why you should too Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com Get early bird tickets to Sponsor Games: https://www.sponsorgames.com 00:00 Why I Lost $10K on Sponsor Games (And Don't Regret It) 01:22 Lesson 1: Physical Sponsor Presence Is Non-Negotiable 04:08 Lesson 2: Stop Keeping Sponsors Off Stage 07:19 Lesson 3: Give Away Real Brand Deals at the Event 11:21 Lesson 4: Bespoke Packages Beat Tiered Decks Every Time 16:51 Lesson 5: Use Your Post-Campaign Report to Pitch More 19:01 What Year 3 of Sponsor Games Could Look Like For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

I've never sponsored someone else's event before… so when George pitched me on putting $2,000 behind his live creator intensive in the UK, I took a leap. George put together a full post-campaign report and walked me through it live, so we could both see what worked, what didn't, and what we'd do differently next time. Here's what we cover: How to create a post-campaign report for a sponsor Why you should never assume a brand is upset — even when the KPIs didn't land The follow-up move that could turn a low-converting event into high-value leads Why event sponsorships are nearly worthless without physical presence — and what to do instead Follow our guest: George Blackman: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc8UWM1E_aKr0Hh-8wuxMRw Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com 00:00 Kicking Off the Post-Campaign Review 03:30 Event Overview & Attendee Profile 08:15 Deliverables Breakdown 13:00 Newsletter vs. Event: Where the Clicks Came From 19:45 Swipe Copy for Sponsors 24:00 What the Numbers Actually Showed 29:30 Why Physical Presence Is Everything at Events 34:15 The Follow-Up Strategy Justin Wishes Had Happened 38:45 What a Second Partnership Could Look Like 41:00 Why You Should Never Assume the Brand Is Mad For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]

Arnov and Julian manage everything for one of YouTube's biggest learning channels, Dr. Justin Sun. One year ago, brand deals were an afterthought. Now? They've 10x'd their sponsorship revenue, landed a deal that generated a 20x ROI for the brand, and turned a one-off partnership into an ongoing multi-platform relationship. Here's exactly how they did it. Here's what we cover: Why hopping on a discovery call (before talking money) completely changed how brands perceived them The three-package pitch strategy that closed a deal in the same week, with almost no back-and-forth How a 6-million-view video started generating ROI for the brand at just 60,000 views The post-campaign review process that made them their brand partner's favorite creators to work with How a YouTube sponsorship evolved into CEO-level conversations about a full product integration Follow our guests: Arnov & Julian - Strategists for Dr. Justin Sun Dr. Justin Sun's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JustinSung Grab my book, Sponsor Magnet, to learn how to transform your influence into income: https://sponsormagnet.com Want one-on-one sponsorship coaching? Join Wizard's Guild: https://wizardsguild.com 00:00 From Guesswork to 10x Revenue: The Transformation 02:00 Why They Ditched Email-Only Negotiations 04:00 How to Research a Brand Before You Ever Get on a Call 06:30 The Discovery Call Framework That Blew Brands Away 08:00 The Three-Package Pitch and How It Closed Fast 10:00 Identifying the Content Gap That Led to 6 Million Views 12:30 Setting Honest Expectations on an Organic Platform 14:30 The 5 Things That Sealed the Second Deal 17:00 Evolving a YouTube Sponsorship Into a Full Business Partnership For collaborations or partnerships, shoot us a note: [email protected]