Breaking Up with Sponsors: A New Chapter in Honest Content Creation
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Introduction
In a heartfelt announcement, a prominent digital creator has decided to end their sponsorship with Vercel, marking a significant change in their approach to brand partnerships. Over the past two years, the channel has evolved from a personal project to a professional venture with a dedicated team and millions of viewers. However, this journey hasn’t been without its challenges, specifically regarding trust and transparency with the audience. In this article, we will delve into the key reasons behind this decision and what it signifies for the future of content creation.
The Evolution of a Channel
From Solo to Team
When the creator began posting videos in April 2022, they did so alone. Fast forward to today, and they now manage a team of four. This shift wasn’t just about growth in numbers, but also about the complexity and professionalism required to produce quality content consistently.
Growing Audience Engagement
Initially, the creator struggled to gain traction. However, their unique approach and dedication turned the tide, leading to millions of views per month. This rapid growth brought increased scrutiny and expectations regarding content quality and transparency with viewers.
Sponsorship Decisions and Their Impacts
The Honest Approach
Throughout their journey, the creator sought to partner with brands and products they genuinely believed in. They attempted a unique strategy: aligning sponsorships with tools they were already using and advocating for. This honesty was intended to cultivate trust between them and their audience.
The Unforeseen Fallout
Despite their efforts, the outcome was frustrating. The creator found that disclosing sponsorships led to a backlash from followers, eroding the trust they aimed to build. The overwhelming sentiment was that despite their transparency, the financial ties made them appear less credible.
Balancing Profitability and Integrity
With a team to support and operational costs to cover, the creator faced a dilemma: continue with their honest approach and risk financial instability, or change their strategy to ensure their team’s survival.
The Shift in Strategy
Introduction of Ad Spots
Going forward, the creator plans to introduce traditional ad spots in their videos. These changes are not made lightly; they believe this is necessary to maintain their content quality and ensure financial sustainability.
Addressing Exclusivity Deals
Another significant change announced is the elimination of exclusivity in sponsorships. The creator will no longer limit their content to showcase only one brand’s products, enabling a more honest and balanced dialogue with their audience.
Continuous Transparency
Despite the challenges, the creator remains committed to transparency. Viewers will still be informed about any financial relationships, allowing them to make informed decisions about the products discussed in the videos.
Understanding Audience Sentiment
The Role of Communication
The creator acknowledges the complexities of audience perception. Even with good intentions, conveying sponsorship details without compromising the authenticity of their content is crucial for rebuilding trust.
Shifting Audience Expectations
With the rise of influencer marketing, audience expectations regarding content and sponsorship have evolved. Creators face the challenge of maintaining integrity while also effectively monetizing their efforts.
Future Plans and Collaborations
No More Vercel Sponsorships
With the announcement of cutting ties with Vercel, the creator emphasizes that they plan to continue using and discussing various brands, including competitors. This shift allows for a more diverse representation of tools and companies in their content.
Exciting Collaborations Ahead
Fans can look forward to an upcoming collaborative video featuring a comparison between Vercel and other products, which aims to highlight the strengths and differences between them rather than diminish any specific brand.
Conclusion
The decision to part ways with Vercel marks a new era for this content creator, one that prioritizes financial stability while striving to maintain a sincere connection with their audience. It serves as a reminder of the delicate balance between business and trust in the digital creator space. By embracing a more traditional sponsorship approach while committing to transparency, the creator hopes to rebuild and strengthen their relationship with their viewers. Honoring authenticity and open communication will be crucial as they navigate the challenges ahead, all while continuing to create engaging content.
believe it or not this one is in clickbait Rell and I are breaking up they are no longer a channel sponsor
it's been a wild two years since I started posting videos believe it or not I did only really start posting in April
of 2022 and everything that's happened since then has been unbelievable with that we've had a lot
of changes I went from running the channel solo to having a team of four helping me out with it I've went from
having nobody watching my videos to millions of people every month and I've went from not having any idea if this
would make money to trying to find different ways to be profitable while at the same time being
honest if I'm being honest with you guys now it didn't work I went out of my way to make sure
every sponsor that I worked with was a brand and a product that I was actually using and shipping in production since I
also run a company it was not too hard to do because we tried and used a lot of different tools and products but the sad
truth is that I was throwing away a of money in doing that in hopes of being able to be more honest and build more
trust with y'all and it didn't work I get more crap than almost any other Creator in the space even though I'm
more honest than almost any of them I haven't until this point taken any sponsors from Brands I didn't actually
honestly believe in some amount I had one or two small video ads but I quickly asked those deals when I gave the
products more honest looks and found them to not be great all of my main Channel sponsors the things you see in
tutorials things I bring up regularly those brands are building things I believe in and I will continue using
balancing things out it hasn't worked it seems like the contradiction between the things I actually really like using and
the fact that they're paying me has caused more ill will than it has resolved I tried really hard to do
things different here and have a program where the brands I liked were my sponsors and the tools I used were my
sponsors because I didn't want to lead you guys down the path of tools I didn't actually
trust but if I need to make ends meet here and I do I have a team to pay I have to change things up and I think I
have to go the more traditional route I've been way arguably too upfront about who sponsors my channel and my
content and I think that's hurt where's only sponsored like five or six videos total but since they're building things
that we talk about a lot I disclose that they have sponsored the channel and that they are paying me to
talk about them sometimes it seems like that disclosure has led to people losing all trust in me and I am starting to
understand why it you guys couldn't see the fact that this is a brand I'd been using the tools of for four years I was
using for sale for over a year before I even tried out nextjs they're the product that I chose to bet my business
on and I don't regret that bet at all what I do kind of regret is trying to do things differently with the sponsor
program I thought that having a set of Brands I actually knew and trusted would allow me to be more honest with y'all
and that y'all would see that and while many of you have many haven't and it's not just hurting me and my community and
brand anymore it's hurting the companies that I work with there's now this crazy misconception that versell has dozens of
sponsorships and all of these influencers they're paying to show them constantly well with this change they've
now went for from one influencer that they sponsored to zero there are now no creators sponsored by versel and I don't
think that's going to change much of anything but I hope it helps us build a bit more trust going forward things are
going to be a bit different we're going to start introducing ad spots in my videos it's not a thing I wanted to do
believe me I did not want to do it but if I'm going to keep paying my team and keep things moving and growing the way
we intend to we have to make up for the Lost Revenue here I'm also no longer taking exclusivity deals with brands
I've let all the companies sponsoring me know that going forward they can't pay me to not use their
competition I have six-month contracts with all of the main Brands I've worked with and that's going to change a bit
but for full transparency the way the contract worked before was I would use the product and if I liked it I would
reach out to them we would have a six-month contract where I would in that window make two to three videos
prominently featuring their product usually I would have a tutorial and would include them there as well always
disclosed to be very clear if you're watching content that was paid for you always knew and at no point did I let
any of these Brands control what I was talking about or how I discussed it I think in my entirety of doing sponsor
deals I've had maybe two times that something was asked of me to take out change or remove and they were very
small things that said one of them annoyed me enough that I just asked the deal with that brand entirely and I
haven't mentioned them in any of my content sense so the T3 deploy partner sponsor deal was the two to three videos
in that six-month window and a guarantee I wouldn't feature competing products in that time because of that guarantee I
went out of my way to disclose the fact that I had a financial relationship with the business and my goal was always
transparency and it seems like that's been held against me there are so many other creators in and outside of the
space that are much more deeply tied and have much deeper Financial relationships with the companies and tools that they
talk about and they're nowhere near as forthcoming about it and I honestly think my biggest failure to some extent
has been that transparency that every time I brought something up that I had any Financial tie to whatsoever you guys
knew and it sucks that's come back to bite me I'm not going to stop with the transparency though going forward you
will still always know when I have a financial relationship with a brand doesn't matter what type of relationship
it is either if it's that they're a current sponsor that I've invested in them any of those types of things I go
as out of my way as I can to make sure you guys know that but the harsh reality is that if you have a 401k and you talk
about react you need to disclose that you're an investor in Facebook and meta and no one follows these rules to a te I
am one of the better in this regard and if you catch me screwing up on any of these points please let me know so I can
correct it my goal's always been to be as honest and forthcoming with you guys and I thought I had found a hack to let
me do that and fund my team at the same time but the blowback and the effect it's had on me the brands I work with
and the community sentiment is a whole is enough that I have to change it and we're going to start doing things the
more traditional way going forward you should expect to see more of those 30 to 60c Long ad reads in my videos I have a
couple coming up next week and while these aren't brands that I'm actively using and can confidently recommend to
you guys I have vetted them and I'm relatively confident in what they're building Those ads suck and I never
really wanted to do something like that but I don't really have a choice it's either that or let go of some of this
awesome team and lower the number of great videos that we're putting out and I have no interest in doing that I
really like the content that we're doing I really like the team that I've built and I really like the community that we
that has to change but it's clear it does so going forward nobody can pay me for exclusivity for anything on this
channel just because I'm working with one brand doesn't mean I'm not able to work with or talk about another I'll
still have the set of sponsors that I recommend that I like the most you'll see those popping up in things like
tutorials going forward and I do have one last versell sponsored video that has to come out it's actually a collab
video Believe It or Not between versell and one of their competing products fly at iio because in both my head and in
theirs they're not really competing I'm really excited for that video we're actually going to build the same app in
five different stacks and show what it looks like to deploy them and I can't wait for it but after that there will be
no more content that is in any way shape or form paid for by versell on this channel I might still help them out with
stuff like nexc but no money will be exchanging hands and if that changes I'll be sure to let you guys know as
well you should also expect that companies that compete with them might start popping up in my stuff as well
there's a lot of alternatives to forell that are in a really good spot like NFI is killing it right now and I'm really
hyped with what they've built I've even been shipping stuff on cloud flare recently too while I still don't deploy
my web apps on it I use cloud flare a ton for my apis and with upload thing we just moved all our our apis off of
versell and onto AWS directly we have some really fun stuff coming up there too I still will default to versel when
I'm deploying things and I'll let you guys know if that changes but yeah this sucks this is a company
that I've genuinely believed in the vision of for over four years but due to these misunderstandings and Community
pressure it's time for some change today is the today's the day going forward I am no longer sponsored
by or affiliated with for sale I think you guys are going to be surprised how little that ends up
program you might be surprised how cheap those ad spots are hit me up at YouTube at T.G if you're interested and uh we
get something to work out I got nothing else I hope you guys know my goal's always been to share what
works for me and to try and talk about it in ways that are exciting and it sucks that trying to do sponsorships
with those Brands and tools I trust has ended up hurting the trust that I was trying to build but I hope you guys know
that I'm trying that my goal has always been to be as forthcoming as possible with y'all about what I like and who is
paying me and what they're paying me for going forward things will be a bit different but know that I'm still not
willing to compromise on any of those things and there is no company that could tell me what to say more