Advice on working with a start-up

[salnation]

Hey guys!

This is my first post so I'll give a brief introduction. My name is Sal, I'm 18 years old and am still in full time education. In January I decided to make a community for martial artists through Instagram and have had some success, right now I have a following of 38,000 and am in the process of creating a Wordpress site.

I have recently been approached by a company which I am led to believe is a start-up business. They are trying to create an online fantasy league platform and have invited me to partner with them to create a co-branded martial arts fantasy league.

This is their proposition:

1. We make you your own landing page Www.virtualfantasyleague.com/martialnation

2. We do posts on your page to introduce and promote

3. We do 2 contests. 1 in 2 weeks and then other in 4 weeks

4. $200 value giveaway (you decide what your people like best and we buy it). If you have your own merchandise even better

5. Rules of contest:
- enter at link in bio for 1 ballot
- tag 2 Friends

All the sign ups will be tracked on the landing page we create. The people who sign up will receive another ballot if they refer a friend which will add to your sign up numbers.

We will pay you:

Up to 1000 sign ups - 10cents per email
1000-2000 - 15 cents per
2000-4000 - 20 cents
4000 and up flat $1000

This is for 30 days only.

Then we will do a 3-6 month contract where you are our exclusive MMA partner and receive a revenue share on all out MMA fantasy revenue. Includes web store, affiliate program, and percentage on rake per games.

We will brand all our social media: "Martial Nation presents VFL MMA Fantasy"



Okay so my first issue is, I live in the UK and they are based in the U.S. And my main concern is honesty within the deal, how do I go about working with them to ensure that I am safe and get what I rightfully earn?

My second concern is that, I feel as if I should be getting more from the deal than a 3-6 month contract, after all I will be providing the audience who brings in the revenue, just wanted some more opinions, if I was to make my own proposition, what should I be asking for?


Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help you guys can give!




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[salnation]

@Vigilante would be lovely if I could get your opinion on this!


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[ZCP]

So this is a way for you to monetize your audience. Did you have another way in the works?

Pull the trigger. If it doesn't work, you tell you audience you were trying to get some exposure for the sport and it didn't work out.

 

[ZCP]

And do some due diligence on the company!!

 

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[Christiano]

When it comes to marketing, people are moving towards hyper-targeting which increases the ROI of the marketing dollars spent.

This is a shit deal. They are leveraging the exposure you have built-up, only pay on sign-ups they accrue (which is based on the quality of the creative [ad] that they create) while targeting a niche audience that you have garnered over time.

The effective means to charge for this is ($$$ per 1000 impressions). The price ranges of this range generally from $4 to $10 on website and social media costs more.

Monetize your audience by quantifying your influence (this gives you leverage in negotiation):

1) Understand the age demographic you have influence over (Instagram is generally has a 20 to 29 audience)
2) Instagram is not available to market directly from businesses yet (this increases the value of your offering)
3) Understand the engagement level of your audience (how often x people look at y of your posts, likes, etc.)

As far as negotiation, payment is up front and per number of people they are getting in front of - period. $0.10 x 38,000 (which won't happen) is $3800 - small potatoes. You think cents, you get cents. You think dollars, you get dollars.

When negotiating, expect that you can almost always get a better deal than the first one that's in front of you. No one starts out with their best offer first and no way will these guys walk away. They may say no, but that doesn't take the original deal off the table for later. Nothing to lose here. Push 'em.

Also remember this, they came to you. They are actively seeking spending marketing dollars and if they don't have any, then why spam your following? People don't like ads so make sure you get paid well when you advertise to your audience.

Anyway, hope this helps and provides perspective.