Exploring Automation and Sponsorship Strategies with Nat AI

Akta [00:00:00]: If you're feeling overwhelmed as a creator, it might be time to streamline your workflow.

Nat [00:00:04]: I see a lot of people just getting overwhelmed with the number of tools there are out there. That is an AI tool that can do like, so many different things. Just really having maybe like doing a pros and cons list of what each tool can do for you. And if you really need those things, or if it's just like a good to have, that'll really drive your business forward.

Akta [00:00:23]: Nat is the founder of Brand Nat and Future AI Lab. She helps businesses to implement humanised automation to save time and grow revenue. And in this episode of creators on air, Nat shares her advice on automating content creation, how to effectively use CTAs, and how to work with sponsors.

Nat [00:00:43]: I started it about like two years ago while I was running my ecommerce store, and it was more like an outlet for me to talk about all the things that I learned and wish I knew earlier. When running a business, it's often a very lonely journey. And yeah, I think I've exhausted my friends list on talking about business and talking about tech. So I decided to post on TikTok because no one knew me at all on, like, I knew that if I posted on Facebook or Instagram and all that, my friends and family would see it and I didn't really want that. But it kind of felt really refreshing to go onto TikTok because I felt like I could be totally honest and I kind of just felt that sense of freedom to speak about whatever I wanted and be really honest about things that I learned in business, obviously. And, yeah, I mean, TikTok just showed my content to other people that really resonated with my content and, yeah, just built a following on that. And then after I was posting, about like a year into it, ChatGPT came out and I was like, oh, this is really cool. So I posted about it and that was probably my first time where I got a million views on that video and I was like, oh, this must be like a hot trending topic.

Nat [00:02:21]: So I just started continuously posting about that. And then, yeah, my TikTok account grew and here we are.

Akta [00:02:30]: Incredible. And I think it's really interesting that in terms of your focus is on building a business, but you've chosen to focus on AI and tech and automation. Why do you think that's important for people in business, and especially for other creatives?

Nat [00:02:46]: Yeah, especially if you're starting out or you're bootstrapped as an entrepreneur, which a lot of the times we are, you don't have a lot of resources to play around with. So using AI and automation, I totally wish I had this a couple of years ago because that would have really helped. But even without AI back then I was using tools like Zapier, other automation tools, to help because cut costs and you don't need to hire another person. You could potentially run it yourself and have all these other tools working for you 24/7 but obviously once you grow, you do need people. But once you're starting out, this is a really great way to boost your productivity, get more done on a low budget.

Akta [00:03:41]: Yeah, definitely. And you're currently on TikTok and you also have your newsletter. So how has AI and different tools helped you with your own process for those platforms?

Nat  [00:03:54]: Yeah, so AI. I mainly use AI for content creation. So one of the tools I really love right now is Claude for generating a lot of TikTok hooks and generating video scripts. Previously I was using ChatGPT, but I felt like it was quite robotic. But Claude, I guess, has a really good grasp on context and making it sound a bit more natural. So I'm using that a lot to sort of come up with like ten to 50 different hooks that I could possibly use. And so that's really helped with productivity and getting more done, essentially. But yeah, I mean, the other tools that I like to use, perplexity AI to help with in depth research and for the news articles and all that, and Zapier and OpenAI together to summarize a lot of the news articles that I'm looking at to condense it down so that I can take over in the last section.

Akta [00:05:01]: Amazing. So I'm really intrigued by Zapier, especially to automate things. So what zaps do you actually use to do those summaries? What tools connect, if you know what I mean?

Nat [00:05:14]: Yeah, so there's this chrome extension from Zapier where say you're reading a news article that you really like or want to talk about in your newsletter. You can actually pull down the Zapier Chrome extension and hit like run this automation and it will automatically take that news article and then summarize it with chatGPT or OpenAI. And then that summary is put into my Trello board or a Trello card so that I have a list of different topics that I want to talk about in this week's newsletter. And it's all laid out, organized and summarized with the link to the actual article in case I want to read about it more in depth or remind myself. But it sort of takes that whole process for just clicking a button and it just automatically throws it in an organized space for me once I'm ready to write about it. I know there's a lot of other tools that you could literally copy the whole article, put it into Chat GPT to summarize, and then paste it into Trello, but that takes out that whole step completely with just one.

Akta [00:06:31]: So what advice would you give to creators who want to kind of explore automating some of their systems and processes, but they don't really know what can be automated or what tools to use or how to use them? Where's a good starting point?

Nat [00:06:51]: There's so many tools, obviously you can actually, my best advice would be go to chat GBT and ask it. Honestly, chat GBT is like my go to for any sort of information that I'm looking for. But basically I would tell it what I'm trying to do, like the whole process, and then ask it, like how can I automate this using tools like Zapier and no code tools? And it could probably come up with a pretty good initial plan, and then you can dig deeper by conversing with it a bit more. I do that all the time just to come up with new ideas, and it comes up with ideas that I never even considered. But yeah, the other advice I would give is sometimes it may be a bit too early to automate. So until you have a process down in place, like you know that every single week you'll do these steps, these five steps, then you start to automate if it's something that you're not sure if it works yet, like you're testing it out. I wouldn't automate that process yet because you don't know if it's going to work or not. And optimize for that.

Nat  [00:08:01]: Like optimize the whole process first before you automate. Otherwise you just end up automating everything and then you have to chop and change a lot of the time.

Akta [00:08:12]: And I feel like one of the fears that some creators have about AI is it replacing creativity and authenticity. So how do you kind of preserve that whilst you're using tech and tools as part of your business?

Nat [00:08:28]: Yeah, the whole concept of automation to me, I like to automate some parts of it and add my human element afterwards to just really polish it up to make sure that I'm coming from a place that is authentic and genuine. Because I know it gets a bad rep when AI and automation gets a bad rep when we're like, oh yeah, we can create hundreds of scripts but is anyone really going to read it or listen to it? Because if I just literally read out what Chachi BD gave me in terms of the script or pasted that in, which I haven't really done, then I'd probably get a lot lower views and a lot lower engagement with it. So what I like to do is use it as a research tool, a business partner to come up with the ideas, and then I make the final assessment and edit it to really maybe like the last 20%, but get it to do like 80% of the work, which still cuts out a lot of time. But at the end of the day, people still want to have that human connection and human touch.

Akta [00:09:42]: Definitely. And do you feel like there could be the pressure to, I mean, I guess because you're using automation, freeing up time. Do you think there's more pressure then to be on more platforms because suddenly you're automating things, you're not putting as much time into publishing or whatever, so that there's more pressure then to be on more platforms and have a wider reach?

Nat  [00:10:05]: Yeah, definitely. Ultimately, you would want to be on all the platforms because can reach more people. But for me personally, I focused on one platform first and got, like, I mean, not saying really good at it, but just focus on growing that one platform really well and understand it before you move on to other platforms. So for me, I really grew on TikTok and I learned how to do the short form videos before I moved on to other things, like written text, like on newsletters, because there's a lot of nuances when you're dealing with different platforms. It's not just about taking one piece of content and I guess repurposing it for another. But because every platform is a little bit different, their requirements are a little bit different. So, yeah, I'll definitely go with one platform first. And that's not to say that you can't post on every other platform.

Nat [00:11:06]: So what I do is I make content purely for TikTok, and then I repost that onto all the other platforms, post it onto LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. And the funny thing is, all the other platforms that I've posted on, I mean, it's gotten some views, but it's not nothing crazy. But what I found was Facebook Reels has done really well and I've done basically no effort at all, like, just literally reposting it onto Facebook. And I've got 190,000 followers on Facebook purely from the content that I reposted from TikTok. One stage Facebook had more followers than TikTok. Just, I didn't even create content for Facebook. So, yeah, that's one of the benefits of reposting it across multiple platforms, because you never know which one's sort of going to get off. Like, I had no idea that you could grow that much on Facebook, but, yeah.

Akta [00:12:01]: And what made you choose TikTok and I guess your newsletter as, like, your main two?

Nat[00:12:10]: I mean, TikTok, because I started from there initially, but what sort of got me onto newsletters was the potential ban of TikTok in my country or in the US, basically. And that sort of got me thinking, like, if I lost all my followers, I would have nothing, basically. So I needed a platform where I can reach my audience anytime without having sort of being at the mercy of the platform or algorithms and stuff like that. So, yeah, I thought newsletters is a great way to keep in touch with your audience and also monetize as well, which I didn't even know you could do before until actually starting one and seeing this whole new world of sponsorships on there and all that.

Akta [00:13:06]: Yeah, definitely. And what have you found to be helpful for growing both your TikTok page and the newsletter? Like, what's worked for you?

Nai [00:13:14]: Well, I've found that I use TikTok and Facebook and all these other social media platforms as a form of traffic to the newsletter. So I direct them all, like, at the end of my videos, I'll say, if you want a more expanded version of this, or if you want to keep up to date with everything I've mentioned here, then sign up to my AI newsletter. And that sort of prompts people to move onto the newsletter where I provide different content. So, like, more in depth content, because obviously, text and video are different ways of communication. So that's another touch point that I have with my audience.

Akta [00:13:57]: So how do you include that CTA? I'm intrigued, because short form content, I feel like there's not that much time to have you. Do you include a CTA in most of your videos, or is it just in the description? How do you do it?

Nat [00:14:13]: Yeah, I post it mainly in the video where I'll show bits and pieces of my newsletter in the green screen behind me, and I'll just be like, oh. And I'll read from it and sort of, like, acting like, as if it was a news article. And so people, it sort of gets people curious, like, where'd you get that source from? Where'd you get that graph from? And then I'll be like, oh, this is from my newsletter. So sign up to my newsletter. And I always show, like, TikTok doesn't really like you saying link in bio or directing you off the platform. So I always show my actual profile with the link to actually sign up for. And it's just a pure mention of, like, I mentioned the newsletter in most of my videos. So then that sort of prompts people to be like, oh, where's that newsletter? And then go and sign up.

Akta [00:15:04]: Oh, I love that. That's such a clever approach. And you've also mentioned already sponsorships, so you sponsored newsletter. How else have you monetized Brand net? What else are you doing?

**Nat[00:15:17]:**So mainly through brand sponsorships on TikTok. And I also do tie it in with newsletters now. So it's an add on to my TikTok sponsorships. So, yeah, the other ways that I monetize through these platforms is through affiliate links, which I find really easy to implement in the newsletter itself as well as my blog. When people click into the newsletter, I also have a link to my blog. So then it's sort of like a whole ecosystem where people can digest information and then say, I have recommended products, they can click on that as well. And also my template that I sell on my store as well. And I'll be coming up with an e course shortly about AI and automations.

Akta [00:16:09]: So, yeah, sounds really good. And in terms of sponsorships, how did you approach your pricing? How did you know how much to charge and charging differently, like TikTok newsletter, it's quite a difficult thing, I feel.

Nat [00:16:24]: Yeah, that was a lot of trial and error. So I had no idea about how this all worked before, but I basically just, I looked online, I remember I looked online on Google, like, how much do you charge for like 10,000 followers? And then it came up with like, this is the average price. I think it was like $100 or something like that. And then I was like, oh, okay, I'll just mention that. And then they took it straight away and I was like, oh, okay, that's cool. And so I started getting more brand deals, and then one of the big brands offered me a higher price, and I was like, oh, well, this is my new price then. So then people still were taking on that pricing. So then I was like, okay.

Nat [00:17:08]: It wasn't until I grew my following. And then there was a tool that I used called hashtag payme.com. And that was like a calculator. And I put in all my stats in there and it said that I should be charging like four times the amount that I was currently charging. And I was like, oh, my God. Okay. So then literally that day, I was like, okay, this is my pricing. And I was sort of like, just held my breath and they came back to me with a slightly lower price, but I was like, okay.

Nat [00:17:39]: And I just kept troll error because I get like five to ten emails a day kind of thing, just with brand sponsorships on TikTok, and you sort of gauge your pricing, whether if you've gone too high and no one's taken it, then you obviously lower it and so on. But, yeah, I didn't know how to price all that stuff as well. Initially when I was pricing, I just literally said, this is the price for a video. But I didn't realize that you could charge for things like ads or usage rights and link in bio, stuff like that. Now I'm a bit more aware and putting contracts in place to make sure everything's all set.

Akta [00:18:27]: And given that there's so many factors that you can include, like you mentioned usage rights and all of that, how comes you've chosen to have set prices rather than leave everything open to negotiation, like, for individual brands?

Nai [00:18:41]: Oh, that. It's a lot less going back and forth. I mean, we still have a lot of going back and forth, but I think that having a set price really helps to sort of solidify the agreement up front and just to set that expectation. Because if you don't have the price, then it's hard for both the brand and the creator as well to negotiate and, yeah, I think that most of the time should be spent on actually creating the content and working together as opposed to negotiating, which I think that Passionfroot does a really good job with that. Sort of like applying that set price and sort of reminds me of like an ecommerce style platform for ads and buying media.

Akta [00:19:31]: Yeah. And definitely one of Passionfroot's goals was to reduce that back and forth that you were talking about. I know how painful that can be, especially when you're getting so many requests like you are. Have you found anything, like any ways to secure more sponsorship? So is there anything that you've done that you found really effective to upsell or to work with the brand more repeatedly or anything like that?

Nat [00:19:59]: I think that offering packages really helps because it's more consistent. So I personally didn't come up with this idea, but it was more, the brand came to me and they were like, okay, so you've created one video for us, or maybe two or three as a one off, but then they said like, hey, can you do like, six month contract where you create six videos for us. So that's when I sort of started to package my offerings into one video, three videos, six videos, like that sort of thing, and space it out so that every month we have a consistent flow of sponsorships. And that's really helped to sort of upsell and work with brands that I really love and believe in more often.

Akta [00:20:44]: Amazing. Yeah. And one of the other features I guess Passionfroot has is having that package option, which I think you already have on your page. Do you tend to reach out to brands or are you mostly just relying on brands reaching out to you, or is it a bit of both?

Nat [00:20:59]: Yeah, I don't do any outreach. Passionfroot has helped me a lot with on the newsletter side, like, getting a lot of brands through, so appreciate that. It's really good that you guys have that connection with both the brands and the creators. On the TikTok side, I don't do any outreach, but it's more like, if I was a creator, I think what helped was I created content with the brands that I wanted to work with and I just tagged them and I created, like, lots of videos so that even the brands that weren't actually on TikTok at the time that I really wanted to work with, I just created content just because I wanted to. And I thought people get a lot of value out of and just tagging them or like hashtag, so that when later on they're on it, they'll be like, they'll look up their own hashtag and then they'll see like, oh, hey, this person's created a lot of content around it and they've got views. So then they reach out to you that way, I think so. I think that's how I've gotten.

Akta [00:22:08]: That's a really good approach. Yeah, no, I love that. So do you have your Passionfroot page linked in your newsletter and on your website? Or, like, is it.

Nat [00:22:18]: Yeah. So on all my newsletters, at the end, I have a call to action. These are the four ways to work with me, and passion for it is in one of the links where it's like, do you want to get in front of our audience in the newsletter? And so here's a link. And, yeah, to be honest, I really love the way that it's cut out so much time because if I had to deal with newsletter sponsorships, I'd be dead in the water.

Akta [00:22:48]: So glad it helped.

Nat [00:22:50]: Yeah, definitely. And I didn't really think much of it until I realized how much time it saved me if I had to go through that. So, yeah, definitely. It's a really awesome platform.

Akta [00:23:06]: Amazing. And looking ahead, what kind of trends do you anticipate in AI and in tech? And how can creators stay on top of those sort of trends?

Nat [00:23:17]: Yeah, I think a lot of people are asking how do I implement AI and automations in my business. But I think every company, if they haven't already, is becoming an AI and tech company. Sorry, an AI and automation company, because, yeah, there's no way to get around it, but being able to sort of identify which tools can cut out a lot of your time and reducing the amount of tools because I see a lot of people just getting overwhelmed with the number of tools there are out there. That is an AI tool that can do so many different things. Yeah. Just really having maybe like doing a pros and cons list of what each tool can do for you and if you really need those things or if it's just like a good to have, that'll really drive your business forward. So, yeah, hopefully I can sort of show more people, compare a lot of different tools and seeing which tools can really help them in their business.

Nat [00:24:29]: Definitely. I think that's really good advice actually, because like you said, we use tools to be less overwhelmed, but then we can get so overwhelmed in our. Just by seeing how much there is out there. Exactly. So I think that's a really good point, is thinking about what's a nice to have versus a must have. I'm going to end now with a quick fire round. I'm going to ask you five questions that I ask all creators that come on air, starting with what's your favourite thing about being a creator?

Nat  [00:24:56]: Getting to talk about things that I love and providing a lot of value for my audience. Just things that I wish that I knew I have somewhere to voice it out to everyone.

Akta [00:25:12]:And what gives you the most inspiration for what you're creating?

Nat [00:25:16]:Probably like my personal experience and talking to other business owners and seeing the issues that they're having and sort of trying to come up with a solution for them that can really help relieve some of the manual labour and stress that they have in their business.

Akta [00:25:37]: Yeah. And what's one tool that's helped you the most as a creator?

Nat [00:25:42]: Definitely ChatGPT.

Akta [00:25:44]: Nice.

Nat [00:25:45]: It's basically my business coach or business.

Akta [00:25:49]: And what helps your creator work? Life balance.

Nat [00:25:54]: All the tools, like all the AI tools in tech tools. Definitely amazing. Live without them.

Akta [00:26:01]: And what's one piece of advice that you would give to other creators?

Nat  [00:26:06]: I think persistence and trying not to obviously look at the metrics, but thinking about the bigger picture. Because say, for example, if you're worried about getting a lot of low views and stuff like that, that can really deter you from creating content. But actually, I guess the times that I felt really discouraged because of the low views, I was coming from a place where I was expecting something like I wanted to get a lot of views. The more that you focus on that I found is not very helpful. Whereas when I switched it around and I thought from a perspective of how do I give as much value, how do I help as many people as possible? That's when everything started to work. I started to get more views and that really helped to break that mentality of focusing on the metrics too.

Akta [00:27:11]: Yeah, amazing. That's great advice. Thank you so much Nat, for coming on air and sharing so much about how you automate your workflow and how you work with sponsors. I feel like it's a really valuable episode for creators because I feel like a lot of us are trying to streamline our workflow and you've definitely given a lot of bit of advice here.

Nai [00:27:31]: Oh, thank you very much for that, Edgar. It was very nice to speak to you.

Akta [00:27:35]: You can find Nat at future AI Lab or on TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn or Instagram. And if you want to reduce the back and forth with sponsors like Nat has, then check out Passionfroot. We help to streamline your entire workflow. I'll see you in the next one.

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