The Weekly Bev - 2nd Edition

🤝 Working With Brands

To start off today, I wanted to touch on the #1 requested topic from last week’s bev: behind-the-scenes of working with brands. 29% of you guys are creators (which is incredible), so it makes sense that this piqued your interest!

Side note, trivia: can you guess what the number one represented profession amongst The Weekly Bev readership is? Read on to find out…

If you follow the vlog, you may have noticed a couple recent videos that I created in partnership with Guayaki (aka the Bev aka Bev Lords aka Terb). Given the fact that I’m currently running a contest for the lovely team over there, I figured they’d be a great backdrop to highlight one of my biggest learnings as a creator when it comes to working with brands.

For awhile, Guayaki’s marketing strategy solely focused on local communities and college campuses. They were (and still are) crushing it. They’ve methodically added in social marketing, leveraging mostly organic content from customers, and traditional photoshoots and campaigns. For awhile, they held off on venturing into creator-focused marketing - my understanding is that leadership wasn’t looking to sponsor anyone to feature their product considering the success they were having with organic and grassroots efforts. Which is totally understandable, but I mention all of this to say: it wasn’t ideal for me! I genuinely loved the product, I was incorporating it into my vlogs (for hundreds of days), but I still couldn’t formalize a relationship with them. Regardless, I genuinely loved the brand and continued to give it love on the vlog because it’s an authentic part of my day, and I would not let go of that authenticity just because there was no official relationship.

But one day, I got this dm…

The first of a budding relationship! I posted for 287 straight days, I’m almost certain an ice cold Terb was featured in 90%+ of them, and then I finally got in touch with Guayaki!

My point is: deliver value for brands you want to work with before expecting them to compensate you (or even shoot you a DM). It’s the long game, but in my opinion if it’s truly a fit, it’s what must be done. Me incorporating Guayaki will always be a great example of how I am able to naturally integrate brands into my content. Other brands have noticed this and wanted to work with me as a result, which just goes to show: being authentic and not holding out always wins.

Here’s another way I like to think about it: I imagine the marketing team at a brand that I love, pitching my socials internally, and I ask myself, “How easy am I making their job? Is it clear to the brand that I am a good fit for them?” If my content aligns with the values of the company and my genuine energy for the product is evident, that internal pitch should be easy!

To sum it all up: Brands want to work with creators when they can clearly see how they would fit into their current content. Therefore, creators need to have already created and published content that is unique and aligns with the brand’s values.

Hit reply if you have any questions or want to push back on this philosophy of mine. I could chat about this all day! 🙂 

😻 Content I’m Loving

I just started rewatching Entourage and have been reminded just how much I love the show. The narrative is told in a fly-on-the-wall, documentary style fashion that I take a lot of inspiration from. There are other examples of shows that do a great job with this (The Office, Succession, The Wire) and it is worth unpacking a bit…

Entourage follows a group of friends as they try to make it in LA, with the entertainment industry as the backdrop. The draw to continue watching is to see what comes of the show’s main characters: Does Vinny make it big? Will Ari (literally) explode? Is Johnny Drama real? The writers do an amazing job of establishing emotional connections to each character and before long you can’t help but root for them.

I think this is a great lesson in storytelling that applies to every type of content creation. Does your audience have an emotional connection to your characters (in my case, myself, Mallory, the fancy gym, etc.)? Do they understand what your goals are, and do they care enough to keep watching you work towards them? Do you inspire your audience to root for you? These are all questions I constantly consider in my own videos. I do my best to work towards building a “tv show” level of interest amongst my audience, just like the incredible creators behind Entourage.

❓️ Mystery Links

Uno, dos, tres, cuatro

🥐 Cooking

If I ever really (really) want to treat myself, I make pancakes for breakfast - they never fail me, even on the most special of occasions. The recipe below is originally from Magnolia Table, and I have used it for years. It’s not exactly a light recipe, but we’re optimizing for deliciousness here and they’re some of the best I’ve ever had.

Recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• 1½ teaspoons baking powder

• 1½ teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 ½ cups buttermilk

• 2 large (Happy) eggs

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

My add-ons:

• Pure maple syrup

• Fresh strawberries

• Peanut butter

The original recipe also calls for you to separate the egg whites, whisk them, and then add them back into the batter. Apparently it makes them fluffier, but frankly I always skip that step. I heat the pan to medium low and use the ¼ cup measuring scooper for each pancake. I then just cook until golden brown! Easy peasy. I also add maple syrup, strawberries, and peanut butter for toppings. YUM. 

🧠 Trivia