I had an out-of-body experience yesterday.
I sat on a Zoom call with my General Manager and a consultant we’ve brought in to aid the sponsorship drive within the business. We were talking about how the two of them would work together each week to keep the pipeline in check and ensure every brand opportunity is maximised.
Without me.
We all agreed that I had no reason to be on any calls or within any email threads relating to those discussions. For someone who has been the chief cook and bottle washer since opening the doors to his business in 2020 (and, arguably, since going into business by himself in 2015), this is a big deal. It requires a huge amount of trust and, trickier still, a great deal of willpower not to get involved and micromanage everything.
Basically, in 2024, I’m leaving those two guys to it. It’s their job to get sponsors in and manage those relationships. All I have to do is create the content.
In 2023, the Mark Ellis Reviews YouTube channel hit 100,000 subscribers. It also surpassed 1 million monthly views for the first time and the business achieved its best financial end of year to date. But the biggest thing I’ve done this year is build a team of people who do stuff for me that I used to do (and do it better, to boot).
This year has been a very positive one for striking up new brand partnerships, but managing those relationships alongside the brands with whom I’ve worked since the early days has been incredibly hard work - and not all of it profitable. Leaning on the team to drive a more profitable and lower-maintenance sponsorship strategy is a key priority for next year and it’s one I thought I’d quickly share with you today.
The premise is simple: we take me out of the process. Or, largely out of the process. As things stand, I still want to vet the sponsorship opportunities that land in my inbox. I’ve gained enough experience to know what might and might not work for my audience, and there are occasionally familiar faces with whom I’ve worked previously who pop out of the woodwork. This approach also enables me to send leads to the team with some brief thoughts on how much of a priority each one should be.
They take over a that point. There’s no need for me to get involved in the nitty-gritty negotiations that take place before a sponsorship is confirmed. If big questions are asked which require my input, I’m just a Slack message away, but it’s unlikely I’ll be required until we have a thumbs-up from the brand that they’d like to proceed. Involving me simply slows everything down.
My General Manager, Niall, will be the first to admit that he doesn’t have any experience building sponsorship-based relationships with brands for a YouTube channel. Neither did I before I started this business, and that’s why I love the fact he’s so eager to learn. The introduction of James, our consultant, injects the experience, industry insight, and access to invaluable contacts we need on top of Niall’s efforts. It’s the first time I’ve invested in consultancy for Mark Ellis Reviews, and I’m starting to wonder why on earth I didn’t do so sooner. As I’m learning, that’s always the case with new hires.
I often talk about the perfect balance between sponsored and growth content, and while it might feel like an impossible dream, I believe we can get far closer to it in 2024.
I want to focus on more growth content; the stuff that drives big audiences to my videos and converts a large percentage of them into long-term subscribers. To aid this, my goal is to achieve an average of two dedicated sponsored videos each month (where the paying brand spends the entire time in the spotlight), and three or more integrations (the standard 60 to 90-second ad spot at the start of a video). Providing these brand partnerships are as low maintenance as possible and suited to my audience, we’ll be onto a very good thing indeed. I know that, because I’ve experienced pockets of that strategy over the last two years - it’s just never remained consistent.
Someone asked me during yesterday’s Solo Club livestream if I have a subscriber growth target for 2024. I don’t. Passing 100,000 subs this year was a lovely thing, but that loveliness was short-lived. As is always the case with big milestones, you celebrate briefly and then crack on. The number of subscribers I pick up during 2024 is, of course, important, but what’s far more important is ensuring that revenue continues to grow and can support my plans for Mark Ellis Media as a whole. I’ll let you into those plans in good time, but they’re big.
I can no longer do this alone. I’m sure meetings like the one I had yesterday will normalise, too - and that’s exciting. I’ve learned to let go, trust others, and bank on the fact that they can do a far better job than I do in certain areas of the business.
I can’t wait to share 2024 with you. Thank you for all of your support this year on Solo Club - I’ve enjoyed opening the doors to my business immensely. I’ll be taking a break from this newsletter next week for the festive period, but will see you on the other side!
Oh, by the way - we’ve extended the early bird pricing for The Creator Academy to Christmas Eve! Find out more here.