Every platform rewards your content differently - if at all - and many of the biggest are prone to fiddling with the dials (e.g. YouTube's various 'adpocalypses'). The uncertainty means that few professional creators rely on their platforms' native monetisation alone, and feel the need to supplement it with a Patreon, merchandise, or sponsored content.

We're here to talk about the latter. As long as you're honest and transparent with your audience, brand deals and sponsorships can be important for creators of any size, it's just that the bigger ones can charge more. Most importantly, the money can keep you going in a material sense, but such partnerships can also mean product access, social proof and legitimacy, better-performing content if the brand is willing to give you a boost, and overall growth.

So for those of you in our content creators community who've managed to secure a brand deal or sponsorship (congrats!), please help out the up-and-comers by sharing how it came your way. How can creators make themselves more appealing to brands, and how can they reach out? What should they know about dealing with them? How can they retain their own voice and editorial independence while working with them? What other hazards are there?