Photo Breakdown

Navigating the world of brand collaborations as a photographer isn't easy, especially with opportunistic offers lurking around every corner. How do you ensure it's a win-win for your creative business?

Join Scott Wyden Kivowitz, your trusted guide, as he dives into the intricate landscape of brand collaboration and sponsorship in the photography industry.

"If you're in an email thread like this, do not give in. Hold your ground. You are worth more than a free product and commission."


Discover more about building a successful podcast and learn how to start and grow your very own with each episode at Photo Breakdown.

Photo Breakdown does not currently have a sponsor, so I thought I would give a shoutout to partners of mine. Thank you to Flodesk for your continued support.

Creators and Guests

Host
Scott Wyden Kivowitz
Father, Photograper, Community Builder, Podcaster

What is Photo Breakdown?

Photo Breakdown is a podcast in which we explore the world of photography with a trusted guide, host Scott Wyden Kivowitz. His expertise and passion bring the industry to life as we explore the stories, trends, and ideas shaping it today. Join us as we dissect everything from incredible photographs and creative techniques to the latest gear releases and hot topics in the photography community.

In each episode, we break down what’s happening behind the scenes - whether it’s making a powerful image, a candid discussion on industry trends, or a reflection on the tools and technology changing how we make photographs. You’ll get insights, expert opinions, and a fresh perspective on what’s top of mind for photographers right now.

Anticipate short, engaging episodes brimming with ideas and inspiration. Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts, voice notes, and comments. Your participation is what makes our community vibrant and dynamic.

It’s more than just photography - everything that makes photography tick.

From Freebies to Fair Pay: Photographers' Collaboration Choices
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Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Hello friends. I want to talk about something that,I think it's important for photographers to be aware of and specifically photographers who are active on social media, active on their blogs, active on. Different things,to potentially promote products you love that you use in your business, in your photography business, et cetera.

I get emails [00:01:00] like the following quite often, and it's basically,people saying that I'm from the marketing team at XYZ company,talking about what the company is. And they're looking for creators that are doing so and so, like YouTube videos, shorts, tiktoks, Instagram, post reels, stories, you name it.

And saying how they believe that, I'm a good fit, et cetera. And they talk about a product that they would love to have reviewed and the product might look attractive, right? And that's great, right? you might want the product, you might want to use the product, you might want to test it and see how it works in your business.

So I reply and I say, if you wanna send me the product, I can test it for potential content. They're not coming at me saying, we wanna pay you for producing this content. They're saying, we wanna send you this in exchange for you to produce content for us. Let's say it's [00:02:00] a cheap LED light, for example, let's say it's a cheap tripod, for example, things I don't necessarily need, because if I want a tripod, if I want an LED light, I want quality.

I want the best of the best. Something that's gonna last me forever. Something that I could actually put my name behind and stand behind. So I say potential content because I know they're just looking for me to produce content. For free for them, just by them sending me a product that probably cost them $10 to make, if that, so they responded to my potential content email and they asked for the shipping address, the telephone number, and they want me to do a, they even linked to a previous review I did on a similar product, and they want me to do a review on their product like I did for this other one.

And they ask for how much time for the review to come back. They ask if they can cross promote the [00:03:00] review and if I could send B-roll footage for 'em to use it on social media and things like that. And my reply to that is that I do not guarantee content timing, et cetera, unless I'm being paid for a piece.

Right? I have been paid for doing reviews. When I do reviews, I still make them honest. Even if I'm paid for it, I am honest about it. I will share what I like about it, what I don't like about it. And so I say that, if a product is being sent, it's dependent on a wide range of factors. If content is produced,about the product.

Now, a wide range of factors could be, first of all, if I don't like the product whatsoever at all, I am, not gonna review it. Because that won't look good for your brand, right? So you could send me the product. Sure. I might still keep the product, but if I think it's complete and utter junk, for lack of [00:04:00] better words, you don't want me to produce content showing people how junky it is.

I've done it. And not only do the viewers not enjoy that content, but the brand definitely don't. So I don't do that anymore. Then I talked about cross promotion and I said you know, if I post something about it, you're definitely welcome to share it and I encourage that, et cetera. But ads are not permitted without compensation.

If you are advertising my work, I need to be compensated for those ads. And again, if you want, send the product along or any additional products for consideration, keywords here. Here's my address, here's my phone number. They reply saying that they want this to coincide with a crowdfunding campaign and that I will receive a commission as an affiliate as well as not just from the crowdfunding, but also from Amazon.

affiliate links too. So they're saying that be compensated as a [00:05:00] free sample plus commission from both the crowdfunding campaign and product sales through Amazon. And they're asking for a two to three week window to review the video and the cross-promotion materials and B-roll and stuff for their ads.

So I replied, I do not work off commission. Feel free to send the product for consideration.

So no reply yet. We'll see what happens, but this is my public service announcement for photographers. If you're in an email thread like this, do not give in hold your ground. You are worth more than a free product and commission. Now that there are caveats to this, right? I do a lot with think tank photo bags.

And I don't get paid by Think Tank. They provide me with free product. And again, [00:06:00] like I said earlier, I share my honest feedback. I love think tank products, but I will point out anything I don't like about the bags. I have two bags on their way to me right now in a FedEx truck to review for you to see on my YouTube channel.

Right. That is coming. I'm not being paid by Think Tank other than the free product, but it's because I have an ongoing relationship with Think Tank and I've had one for nearly 20 years, if not 20 plus years already. So there are caveats to it, right? There are caveats.I have also done ones for apps.

Where there's really minimal overhead for the app to provide me with a coupon code to get lifetime access to the app. why is this in my favor? Why is this part of the caveat list? that is because I'm going to continue using the software, right? I did Content about Sunlitt, just as an example, [00:07:00] right?

I did not have to pay for Sunlitt. They did not reach out to me asking for me to do that for free. I wanted to try the app. I wanted to use it in my photography business. I knew it could be effective, so I reached out to them and pitched my idea to them and they went with it.

So there's an example of doing it for free. Just for having the product, but it was me approaching them, not them approaching me and offering me a very vague, unattractive offer. Right? So there you go. Public service announcement, for the day. Don't give in, hold your ground.brand collaborations are fantastic to do, but they have to be structured.

What's best for you as the creator of the content, right? Don't just give into whatever they want as the brand. Do what is best for you and your photography [00:08:00] business overall. More fun photography and photo business topics at photobreakdown.com.