Paid Collaborations and Product Sponsorships may seem like the same thing, but this can’t be further from the truth. Well, you’re in luck! We’re here to cover the key differences and similarities between these common incentivizing methods that brands are in love with.
Read on to find out how you can use your newfound knowledge to your advantage!
What are the differences?
Paid Collaborations are collaborations that often result in an exchange of products and monetary rewards for content.
Product Sponsorship is when a product is gifted, or reimbursed in exchange for content.
This content can come in various forms, videos, posts, or blog articles – just to name a few.
How you can benefit from them
You might be the new kid on the block, and you’re looking to make money by becoming an influencer. It can be daunting when you’re not entirely sure about the distinct rewards that supplement Paid Collaborations and Product Sponsorships. Fret not, cause we got you!
Product Sponsorships
As a fresh creator on social media, you should definitely look out for Product Sponsorships!
Product Sponsorships aren’t bad by any means. In fact, they are a great way to build an audience with up-and-coming products that might just be the next big thing. It allows you to try different products and be more honest with your audience, boosting your credibility on the platform.
Smaller brands (and even bigger ones), love handing out free products to niche communities of influencers. Why? Because it increases visibility, which in turn generates sales.
And how does it benefit you? it allows them to leverage the content you’ve created for marketing purposes — in turn bringing more coverage for your own influencer branding!
Photo credit: @herro_im_bo
Paid Collaborations
Paid Collaborations aka. Paid Partnerships are very popular, especially on Instagram. A higher number of followers and percentage of engagement allows you to quote for higher rates. However, there are more benefits to it than just monetary ones.
By taking on these Paid Collaborations, you can increase your number of followers, and working with various brands allows you to reach accounts that relate to them. When your followers increase, your monetary gains will also increase adjunctively!
Photo credit: @teddy.the.prince
Things to take note
While it’s great to accept what comes your way, it’s also equally important to align yourself with brands that fit your own branding. You wouldn’t want to promote a product/service that doesn’t resonate with your audience.
It is also a misconception that unpaid campaigns are bad. There are countless brands that exclusively run product-only campaigns.
Relationships are a fundamental part of influencer marketing. Consider cultivating a long-term partnership with various brands. This way, you can organically recommend their products/services rather than one-time posts that may bring down your credibility.
This is very important because the recommendations and reviews you make do contribute to the consumer’s purchasing decision.
Conclusion
Remember, whether you’re a full-time influencer or doing it as a side hustle, there is always a slice of the ‘money pie’ for everyone — so have fun, get out there, and explore the diverse world of influencer marketing!
Negotiating a mutually beneficial collaboration with content creators can be a daunting task – Must I really pay? How much should I pay? What if I’m on a limited budget?
Well, creators don’t work for free so it’s important to understand the different types of incentives that brands can offer — and how you can make use of a combination in order to make your partnerships work.
Read on to find out how you can keep your influencers engaged and excited about your brand with our handy guide to incentivizing your influencers the right way.
When we think about influencer marketing, the first thing that comes to mind is product sponsorships/gifting; providing free products or services in exchange for a shoutout.
Product sponsorships are one of the most budget-friendly ways to reach your target audience effectively, when approached with realistic expectations.
For small campaigns on a limited budget, this is definitely a good starting point to reach out to audiences through micro or nano influencers, who are more receptive to gifting partnerships. Albeit a smaller audience size, these influencers make it up with higher engagement rates.
Pro tip:
Top-level creators still seek out gift-only collaborations to build their portfolio and create long-term relationships. Hence, it’s important to establish a valuable partnership: Influencers these days may not get too excited to post about a free sample pack or work with brands that are not respectful towards the creators they’re working with.
Whileproduct sponsorships are a great way to get your brand out there, they can only go so far and as with all marketing strategies, it does not guarantee returns.
Nonetheless, when coupled with other incentivization methods, product sponsorships can help to build on your brand’s relationship with influencers — a crucial factor if you want to maximize your brand’s fullest potential when it comes to influencer marketing!
Like product sponsorships, paid campaigns are also a very common way of incentivizing influencers. While prices per post can be a wide range due to various factors such as follower count or type of content, the key to leveraging its impact lies in selecting the most relevant and effective creators that aligns with your brand and product.
Some things to take into consideration can include:
Engagement rate and reach
Post-effectiveness in terms of sponsored vs organic posts
Type of content and channel used
Number of post you require
Is usage rights to run ads required
Pay per post also serves as a perfect opportunity to gain a deeper understanding into your influencer marketing strategy. Establishing attribution and tracking allows you to track your influencers’ contribution to your goals while analyzing the type of content your audience are compelled to. This data will definitely help you refine and strengthen your campaigns to improve your ROI overtime.
Performance-based payments compensate influencers based on conversions and/or an action. This way of work has been popular due to trackability and ease of execution.
Some possible actions include:
Purchase of brand’s products/services
Subscription of brand’s program
Signups
Account creation
Such a form of incentivisation puts the responsibility on creators to convince their followers to convert — the more they influence, the more they earn!
Brands can therefore enjoy the benefits of quality content that sells, and effectively track creator performance for campaign optimisation at the same time. Sounds like a win-win situation if you ask us!
While it may be a relatively cost-effective approach (pay per result), it’s prudent to keep into consideration that this may not be the most favorable method amongst creators. Brands would often have to offer something valuable such as free products or a base pay to kickstart the partnership.
However, it may be a worthwhile investment to build long-term relationships. Always remember, by giving your creators a good collaborative experience, they’d only have praises to sing!
Not all influencers want the same thing
Similar to the aspects of influencer marketing, incentivizing isn’t one size fits all. Make the effort — add a touch of personalization to show you care and provide value to your creators.
While the ever-growing industry of influencer marketing urges brands to diversify the type of influencer they work with, marketers will also need to learn how to establish partnerships that are mutually beneficial yet cost-effective.
A general rule of thumb is to always compensate creators fairly to foster a collaborative relationship with mutual respect and understanding. Work within your limits and focus on building relationships with influencers who can deliver results for you.
There! You’re all set and ready to explore the diverse world of influencer marketing.
So imagine this. You’re finally at that point in your life where you decide you’re ready to welcome a new member of the family- to raise a dog. You’ve done all your research, asked a couple friends and family for advice and finally decide to book that viewing appointment to see your doggo to-be.
And of course what better time than now right? With Covid-19 sticking around, 2020 is the perfect time to train and build that relationship without much FOMO (*the ‘Fear of Missing Out’)! You also start to rationalize and picture the next 10 years of your life, all while telling (well more like, convincing) yourself everyday that ‘You’re making the right choice! No regrets you got this! ? ‘
Now does this sound familiar?
If it does, then you’re probably a lot like me- optimistic, an over-thinker & someone who underestimates way too much. But hey, consider yourself blessed today because I’ll be sharing the things I wished I could have prepared myself better for while sharing a little more about my experiences as a first-time puppy owner!
The First Interaction
Here’s Calie (the one with the folded ears) chilling with her siblings, now formally known as Dole (in the pen) and Toufu (on top of Calie) at 3 months old!
When I met Calie, she was with her other little siblings playing around and was being this wholesome picture of ‘childlike innocence’ that I instantly fell in love with. Meeting the pups for the very first time almost had me in tears behind my face mask because I was basically achieving my childhood dreams of wanting a dog (yes, I was that child) and it was such a surreal moment for me. But you see, that’s the easy part. The idea of having a loyal companion by your side, giving you that unconditional love and acceptance to brighten up any bad day may seem like such a promising idea most of the time, but you have to realise that this should not be the sole deciding factor – which leads me to my first point:
1. Commitment: It’s the most important!
Now this personally, should be the very first thing you think about before getting that dog in the window! It is a known fact that dogs can live up to 10-15 years and they definitely require a lot of time invested, energy, money and commitment. There are many articles that will tell you that to the point where it literally becomes ‘textbook knowledge’, but you won’t realise how serious this becomes until you live the life yourself! But not to worry, if you’d like to know if you’re prepared for it, here are a few questions you can ask yourself:
Why do you want a dog to begin with?
Do you have time to train the puppy/dog?
Can you afford a dog right now?
Is your current home environment suitable for the particular breed you have in mind?
Are you ready to deal with the problems (aka ‘collateral damage’) that comes with raising a dog? – from chewing everything in its path to unforeseen health emergencies
…Did you do your research?
If you’ve managed to say ‘Yes’ to everything, then you’re pretty much set! On the other hand, if you went ‘Errr…Maybe?’ you might want to rethink the decision for now and wait things out, or adjust a few things in your life before making a choice.
Now as daunting as all this responsibility may seem, there is something so gratifying and rewarding about raising a puppy/dog and you can learn so much every single day from the experience alone- I know I have.
2.Be patient- Good things take time!
Raising puppies / Re-training dogs can be extremely hard! (and I’ve been to nursing school HA). The physical and mental exhaustion can be very demoralising as you help your new furriend to adjust to new environments and it doesn’t help whenever they make ‘potty accidents’, cry almost 24/7 from that separation anxiety, and treat your home like a natural disaster!
On the very first trip back to her furever home! (aka. moments before disaster)
Yes, the ‘Puppy Blues’ are no joke and it began from the minute we brought Calie home – if you must know, she immediately marked the floors and had the worst cases of urinary incontinence (aka. a leaky bladder) for 2 weeks straight and although this was normal for puppies, I was loosing my sanity by the minute and would have uncontrolled bursts of frustrations where I would lash out or even breakdown at the most random timings. In fact, if you’d like to know more about these ‘Puppy Blues’, hop right over to @hoshi_sheltie ‘s blog after this and read their post as they talk about the real struggles and exploring ways to overcome them!
But just like how a baby needs time to learn manners, you have to understand that dogs are naturally pack animals and have instincts on their own. The more time and training you invest with your pup, the better you can curb negative behavior and build a great relationship! As a person who’s always occupied with tight schedules, it was not easy to suddenly make adjustments to a lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to for years just so I had enough time to train Calie and help make her adapt well with the family and it was a challenge to be constantly multi-tasking. I also strongly believe in positive reinforcement when training Calie and as a result she’s able to understand and pick up on instructions a lot more efficiently as opposed to negative reactions like yelling/hitting her (which I never do), and I’m proud of how strong our relationship is every single day, because I know all my time sacrificed is not in vain.
On the other hand, I do understand that there are people who may not be able to have the luxury of time and patience but would still like to try caring for a dog. A good suggestion would be to discuss with your families/loved ones and talk about how the responsibilities can be shared or alternatives like sending the dog to ‘puppy school’ or having a private trainer.
“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”
JOYCE MEYER
3. Unpopular Belief: Money Trees should really grow actual money for a change!
Now THIS is a real problem for not just myself, but in many pet owners out there especially in this time. The cost of living can be stressful for us hoomans, let alone for a dog & you would not imagine how much it takes to ensure your pup is in its best health and living in an optimal environment constantly. Of course, it would be a dream if I could give my pup the whole world (and possibly even more) if it meant making them the happiest doggos out there!
A visit to the vet for her last puppy vaccination
Before making a decision to bring Calie home, my family & I had to layout the possible costs for the next couple years and honestly it wasn’t such an easy pill to swallow. Besides the initial cost it took to get Calie, some examples of things I would typically get worried about is being able to provide food every month, to the many vet consultations as a result of unforeseen health scares , transportation costs (we don’t have a car to get around) and other miscellaneous items (eg. walking necessities, trivial accessories, etc.) – and that’s just to name a few! As a first-time owner I had my first rude awakening when I saw the bill for Calie’s vet consultation & I really thought my soul was ready to depart my body right there in front of the counter. However thankfully, we’re slowly learning to anticipate better in time to be more prepared for ‘financial emergencies’ & that’s something I hope to be much better at very soon.
Now I’ve heard of different ways to combat financial issues from many people and for new pawrents to-be, I’ve narrowed down a couple tips to consider:
As much as possible please ADOPT, don’t shop! – there are so many fur babies who are still looking for homes to call their own, please think of them first.
Consider applying for Pet Insurance (covering medical emergencies)- you never know when you’ll need to visit a vet and how often you go!
Support Local businesses in the pet community! – There are so many brands out there run by pawrents themselves that cater from food, accessories and toys! (personally I have a list of brands for my reference)
Make friends who can getchu lobang yall! – I’m talking brand ambassador discounts, special offers, and even the many pet giveaways on social media (eg. Instagram, Facebook), which is great news for shopaholics such as myself whoops ?
So resist that temptation to overspend and just leave it in the cart first, trust me. (yes I’m looking you, my fellow bo lui gang)
But do note that you should only spend within your means, because “Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail” – Richard Friedman!
Calie sending all the positive vibes your way!
Anyways, those are my top 3 points to consider before thinking of making room for a new fur member of the family. So far, raising Calie has had its ups and downs, but I really do cherish every single moment I have with her always. If there’s anything I regret, it would be me wishing there was more things I could have been prepared for but everyday is a learning process for the both of us and sometimes there are just some things you need to learn along the way!
I can’t wait to see where life takes us in the next couple of years, and I’ll always do my best to ensure she lives a life that’s well-fulfilled and full of love. To all the new pawrents to be, both Calie and I wish you all the best in this new chapter of your life and to have fun with the process, you deserve this! ?
