How 3 Creators Found Brands to Back Their Content

Creators make it look like cranking out content is a breeze with slick posts for social media. But the reality is that creating content requires expensive high-end equipment like cameras and a significant amount of time editing and brainstorming new ideas. And creators are hungry for brand deals that offset some of the costs.

In order to get these deals, creators are increasingly relying on a new type of talent manager who can negotiate brand deals and help steer creators’ careers in new directions. While securing brand deals doesn’t require a talent manager, a talent manager’s primary role is to ensure that creators are well-positioned to capitalize on their content.

TikTok star Charli D’Amelio pioneered this approach back in 2020. She consistently posted about Dunkin’ iced coffee before inking a big deal that included creating her own drink with the coffee chain. More recently, Love Island USA’s Kordell Beckham partnered with Cheez-It after mentioning his love of the brand on the show.

ADWEEK spoke with three talent agents and three creators about how they land brand deals.

Finding a niche

Talent agencies have established relationships with media companies and brands and know what marketers are looking for in a creator. They are increasingly pitching themselves as key ways to get creators in front of brands while also helping creators’ careers grow.

For example, lifestyle creator and disability activist Paula Carozzo said that when she signed with an agency, it was more important for the agency to first understand what she stood for and her overall vision for content before finding brands to work with. “For a long time, I was just a community influencer, but I wasn’t necessarily creating content where I was making myself sellable to these brands,” Carozzo said.

Carozzo picked the agency Influence With Impact because the agency identified her connection with fashion and astrology, something previous agencies couldn’t pinpoint. The agency also helped her develop content that resonated with her audience instead of chasing trends. For example, she recently posted a video discussing Libra season while trying on Skims products.

Reza Izad, cofounder and partner of the talent management company Underscore Talent, said this is an approach the agency uses with creators across different verticals. His team has agents focused on niches like food and beauty to tailor strategies to specific creators.

“We track a lot of people, we buy a lot of data, and our managers are constantly looking online for talent that is sort of emerging and relevant,” Izad said.

Getting long-term deals

After a creator signs with a talent manager, the goal is to help creators go from one-off brand deals to long-term partnerships. That requires talent agents to dig into a creator’s broader career ambitions. Doing so can lead to more frequent and longer relationships between brands and creators.

Cooking creator Tess Sinatro, for example, was interested in making a cookbook as well as finding different types of brand deals not typically associated with food. Sinatro has worked with travel group Visit New Orleans and chef and restauranteur Bobby Flay.

“In the conversations, it was about progressing my brand,” she said about working with her agency Viral Nation. “And then as we started to pick up speed, we started to collaborate on feasible goals.”

Finding natural brand partnerships

Most creators have favorite brands and products they love. The role of a manager is to make money from that content.

“They should be organically posting and enthusiastic about what they’re doing, but, ultimately, it’s about monetizing,” said Mahzad Babayan, a creator agent at agency UTA.

In one example, UTA signed beauty influencer Katie Fang, who liked skincare brand Glow Recipe. Fang was already posting about how much she loved the brand’s products. UTA helped her create a kit of Glow Recipe products that are sold at Sephora.

“We were able to build that relationship with the brand,” Babayan said.

The key is to not pressure creators into brand deals with the sole goal of making money, she said.

“Ultimately, it needs to feel organic,” Babayan said.