Creating Your First Sponsored Content: A Step-By-Step Guide with the SAFY9 Dash Cam

Are you ready to make your first sponsored content? This behind-the-scenes look reveals the exact process I use to work with brand sponsors, featuring a real sponsored content creation example with the SAFY9 dash cam.

Getting your first sponsorship is a significant milestone for any content creator, but there’s so much more to it than just saying yes to a brand deal. This video takes you through the complete process of creating sponsored content that protects your integrity, meets sponsor expectations, and maintains the trust you’ve built with your audience.

You'll see:
- how to review sponsorship agreements,
- understand different types of content relationships, and
- plan your content to deliver maximum value for your sponsor and your viewers.

We cover the key differences among independent user-generated content, affiliate partnerships, and paid sponsorships, along with the proper disclosure practices that keep you compliant with platform guidelines and FTC requirements.

The video also features a real-world example using the BlackVue SAFY9 dash cam, showcasing its 4K ultra-high-definition recording, Sony Starvis camera technology, AI-powered night vision, and parking mode capabilities.

The practical testing segment demonstrates the dash cam’s performance during a road trip from Barrie to Caledonia, Ontario, showcasing both day and night recording capabilities, weather performance, and creative applications for content creators.

You’ll see how dash cam footage can enhance vlogs, provide unique filming angles, and serve multiple purposes beyond just vehicle security. You'll also see how I approached testing, so I could evaluate the product under different conditions and provide an objective, fact-based review of actual performance in real-world settings.

Sponsor Links
To learn more about the SAFY9 Dash Cam, you can check out the SAFY9 channel or visit their website.

Disclosure: This episode was sponsored by SAFY9/BlackVue. The product was provided for review, but all opinions and test results are genuine and unbiased.

Thanks for listening! Do you have a comment or question about a topic or episode? I'd love to hear that. Feel free to contact me via Instagram or the Contact Us page, and check out our merch for content creators.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Sponsored Content
• 1:39 Understanding Sponsorship Agreements
• 3:39 Types of Sponsored Content
• 5:28 Planning Your Sponsored Video
• 6:38 Dash Cam Installation Process
• 9:38 Testing the Dash Cam in a Real-World Setting
• 13:14 Final Thoughts and Recommendations

Transcript

[00:00:00] Tim: Landing your first sponsorship as a content creator is a huge deal. If you can do this well, it can help you to build your portfolio, unlock opportunities to get free stuff, and generate revenue for your channel. 

[00:00:11] But there's a lot that goes into making good sponsored content and doing it in a way that protects your integrity as a creator, builds trust with your audience, and meets the expectations of your sponsor.

[00:00:23] So in today's video, I'm gonna take you through the process that I've used to create sponsored content for Riverside, Popov Leather, and other major brands. And I'm gonna do that, taking you behind the scenes and showing you a practical example of creating sponsored content for the SAFY9 dash cam, which by the way, is the sponsor of today's video.

[00:00:41] It's a brand new device that I just got from BlackVue And it's got all these cool features like 4K ultra high definition recording, Sony Starvis camera, 3.16 view screen, AI powered night vision, and more. It even has an available parking mode with a hard-wire kit, which we're also gonna test out.

[00:01:01] So as we're going through this, it's gonna give me an opportunity to show how to make the best videos that I can, plan things out so that I meet sponsor requirements, label the content properly so that it's transparent with the audience, and also meets content guidelines, and produce content for different formats like long form videos and social media posts.

[00:01:22] And as we're doing all that, we're gonna see how well the SAFY9 works, how easy or hard it is to install and whether it lives up to that vision that I had for using it not only as a safety and security device, but also as a tool for content creator.

[00:01:36] So if all that sounds good, then let's get into this.

[00:01:39] Alright, so the very first thing that I do when I have a new sponsorship is to review the sponsorship agreement, to make sure that I agree with all the conditions, and that I can actually meet all of the different requirements.

[00:01:51] Each one is a bit different, and they might want you to do things like highlighting specific features, like, for example, the front and rear camera, testing the product under certain conditions, like demonstrating the AI night vision, or using specific hashtags when you post the video.

[00:02:07] I found that the best way to make sure that I don't miss anything is to print out the contract, and then I review it point by point and use it almost like a checklist.

[00:02:17] The other thing I like to do is go to the sponsor's website or any landing pages to see what they have there. And so you can see in this one how they talk about crystal clear 4K recordings day or night, clear and wide view, top quality video, and so on.

[00:02:31] That helps me to understand what the sponsor feels are the best features of the product, as well as who it's designed for and what benefits it's supposed to deliver to that customer.

[00:02:41] All this helps me to make the best pitch for the product, for the sponsor, if indeed that's the goal.

[00:02:46] That brings me to my second consideration when making sponsored content, which is what are the goals and expectations of the sponsor? These should be defined in the contract that you make with the sponsor at the outset of the agreement. And the fact is the expectations can vary quite a bit from one sponsor to another.

[00:03:02] So sometimes I've been gifted a product by a company that just wants honest feedback by somebody who's knowledgeable about content creation. From a brand's perspective, the benefit of this is that for the price of a free product, they get detailed feedback from an ideal customer, which will help them to improve their product features and benefits as well as their marketing copy.

[00:03:21] Sometimes the video may be more promotional in nature, almost like a commercial, and in those cases, the sponsor may even have approval over the final video before it's posted. The conditions under which you get a sponsorship will have a major impact on how you approach the content and also how you present it to your audience.

[00:03:38] This is where it becomes really important to understand the difference between independent user-generated content, affiliate content, and paid sponsored content.

[00:03:47] So when you create independent user-generated content, that's when you create content independently about a brand, and you have no connection with that brand, financial or otherwise.

[00:03:58] Affiliate content is content that you might not be paid to produce, but you do have a financial interest with the company in the sense that you have an affiliate link that you're sharing with your content. And if somebody clicks that link, you get a commission if they make a purchase via that link, providing it meets all the different conditions of the affiliate agreement. In this case, you should disclose that relationship by noting that some of the links in your content are affiliate links.

[00:04:25] Then the final category here is paid sponsorship. That's when you have been paid to produce the content, and that can be whether it's in the form of a gifted product or whether you have been paid a certain amount to create the content, plus had the gifted product, or any combination thereof.

[00:04:43] And I think any of those relationships are fine. The main thing is that you disclose the nature of that relationship with your audience and that you follow the conditions under which you receive the sponsorship.

[00:04:57] So for this video, for example, SAFY gifted me the product, but they haven't defined what I say about any particular feature of the product, and there's no request for approval of the video before it's posted.

[00:05:09] Nevertheless, whether gifted, paid or both, this is the kind of video where you want to include a statement saying that it was sponsored content. And then on YouTube you also want to check that box indicating that there was a paid promotion within the video. And all those kind of disclosures build trust with your audience and keep you on the right side of community guidelines.

[00:05:28] So once I have the overall structure and approach for a video nailed down, the next step is to plan it out in a more detailed way. To do that, I create what amounts to a detailed outline of the video. And though I don't script out every word you can see here that I do have several pages of bullet point form notes.

[00:05:45] So there's a couple of main reasons why I do it this way. Um, one thing is that it helps me to organize my thoughts and make sure that I don't miss anything as I'm putting the video together. The second thing that scripting does is that it helps to make the entire creation process more efficient. And yes, it's true that it does take time to write out all those notes, but on the day of filming, it saves you a lot of time because you know exactly what you want to say. And you know where you need to collect B-roll and where you need to get your stock footage.

[00:06:16] And so just being able to go through that in a very organized checklist kind of way makes the whole process so much more seamless and efficient than if you're just winging it and you're probably recording footage that you don't need, or you're missing other footage that you do need. That in the end takes a lot longer to correct than just doing it properly the first time.

[00:06:38] Next up comes the filming of the content itself. Now for this video, I was actually going to film the installation of the dash cam. However, as I got into the process more and researched things more thoroughly, I realized that this was a job that should be done by a professional. Because for one thing, the hardwire kit for the parking mode requires tapping into the electrical system of the vehicle, which carries certain risks if not done properly.

[00:07:06] And then when it comes to roading cables for any installation, you have to be very careful to avoid interference with any of the vehicle's airbags. That's why I had a professional from an auto accessory outfit do the installation for me. The cost was about $200, but I think it's well worth it for the peace of mind and knowing that the product is installed properly and will function as intended.

[00:07:30] So here's what it looks like when it's all set up. Front camera's right here, and then we'll turn around, and the back camera's right back there. Okay. Now that everything's set up and installed, I'll take you through a few of the different functions on the app. Now, the one thing you wanna do before even setting up the app is to insert the SD card.

[00:07:49] So you might need to push it in with something like that. Just make sure it gets all the way in there. Now the base level of SD card is 64 gigs, but you can go up to 256 gigabytes. It records on a loop recording, so uh, you can get about six to 10 hours at 4K. That can go up to a hundred hours if you reduce it to 1080, 30 frames per second.

[00:08:14] Just remember that if you want to get your footage off the camera, you gotta do it before the loop starts again. Once you have the SD card in, you can download the app from the app store and set it up. It's pretty straightforward to do. Just follow all the instructions on screen. And when it's set up, it'll look like this and you'll be able to see the front and the rear camera.

[00:08:35] And you'll have access to your recordings through the app, which are listed chronologically and organized into different categories. The two main categories are normal recordings, which are 10 to 15 minute clips, and event recordings, which are one-minute recordings that are triggered every time the motion sensors detect an event has occurred.

[00:08:56] Now the thing to know about the event recordings is that if you're driving in snowy, bumpy conditions like these here, the events can be triggered fairly often, so you might wanna just set it from high to medium sensitivity. That's what I did. Now in terms of the device itself, this is how the view screen looks when it's on.

[00:09:14] And there's four buttons on the bottom, each with a different function. There's settings on the far right, and then beside that, there is take a photo, and then beside that is a button you would use to trigger an event recording if you wanted to do that manually. And then there's a back button and a power button on the side.

[00:09:35] All in all, pretty straightforward to understand and operate.

[00:09:38] Okay, so today's the moment of truth where we're gonna be testing the SAFY9 under real conditions. Traveling from our home here near Barrie, Ontario, all the way down to Caledonia, Ontario, to visit family. We'll be traveling a little bit of the trip by day. Uh, later on it's gonna be darker, so we'll have the chance to test it under different conditions on like Highway 400, 4 0 7, some of the busiest, uh, highways in the area.

[00:10:03] So, uh, let's get to it.

[00:10:05] Okay, so heading out on the trip here. We got our gas, we got our coffee, and we're ready to get on the road. And so this is the front view of the camera. You can see the resolution's really good. A clear view of everything. And actually, we had a clear day starting out here too. And then in classic fashion here in Ontario, the weather went from nice to super snowy so you can get a sense of what it looks like through the camera when you've got weather that's not as clear.

[00:10:36] You can see that there's still a lot of good visibility. But, uh, fortunately, it cleared up again once we got down to the 4 0 7. So smooth sailing most of the rest of the way.

[00:10:46] And so we had a nice little Christmas time visit with the family. And then, and then we were on our way again. It's a little later, so you'll be able to see some footage in the, uh, early evening and then later at night too.

[00:11:00] But before we left the area, I had one last thing I wanted to test in town here in Caledonia. So we made our way down to the Grand River. And so here we are arriving at the Grand River Mill.

[00:11:14] And so we're gonna use this location here to test my theory about how you could use the dash cam, not just for driving point of view footage like this, but also to film yourself, uh, in action as it were once you get to a location and you know, have some interesting B-roll angles you can use for your vlogs or other videos.

[00:11:34] Okay? So I would normally say the old mill here. Grand River Mills is the money shot for Caledonia, but today, uh, I drove onto the wrong side of the river. So actually we're gonna take a photo of these Christmas lights over here and we're gonna see if the camera, uh, can capture it all while I'm doing it.

[00:11:54] Okay? So here I go, just getting outta the car and headed into position so I can get a shot of the Christmas lights. And there you can see I'm on the dash cam. That's what it looks like from the view from inside the car, but more importantly, perhaps here's the view from the dash cam itself, and you can see me going down the hill there.

[00:12:14] It's got good resolution despite the low lighting situation, and it's kind of an interesting angle. You could imagine that you could pair it with point-of-view video, or video taken from another angle, stitch it all together, and you could have a really interesting cinematic sequence.

[00:12:30] And by the way, here's the photo I got down on the walkway. It turned out not bad because there was the overhead light.

[00:12:36] And so with that done, we got back on the road, and I'll just show you one more thing here, which is the difference between how dark it was outside and the view through the camera. And so here's a corresponding view from inside the car so you can get a sense of the difference.

[00:12:51] And you can see that the AI-powered Night Vision's actually doing a pretty good job of providing a clear view through the dash cam.

[00:12:58] One last thing here. A little shot of the city lights in Berry coming back into town on the 400. That gives you a sense of the night vision in slightly brighter conditions.

[00:13:08] And I always like this view of the city, 'cause when I see this, I know I'm almost home.

[00:13:14] So in terms of the verdict, I actually liked the dash cam quite a bit. Although it was a gifted product, I did have to pay for installation and duty. But, despite that, I think it was worth it, and actually, I think it would be worth it to pay the full price.

[00:13:28] If you think about it, it's about $300 Canadian for the product itself. $200 for the installation. And then, in this case, duty was about 80 bucks. But put that all together and it's pretty good value, because 

[00:13:45] If you're like me and you gotta sometimes drive to work or to see a family member in snowy conditions like this here, you'll know that there are also people that unfortunately don't drive according to the conditions.

[00:13:57] As long as you're the one driving carefully, it could be good to have a recording of what you were doing at any given time in case there was an accident.

[00:14:04] And then with the hard-wire kit and parking mode enabled, you can give your vehicle extra protection at all times, even when it's parked. And then as we've seen here, there are also several applications you can use this for as a content creator, including getting crisp dash cam footage to show where you're going as a creator if you're out, uh, doing a vlog. And I know there's even some channels that are basically dash cam tour channels, where they'll drive around to, uh, different locations and narrate the, uh, journey as it were, as they're going about. Um, that's kind of interesting. But what I really like about it, too, is that you can get footage, um, of yourself filmed from inside the car while you're outside the car. Kind of creates an interesting angle, and you can, as I was saying, stitch that together with other footage that you get, whether it's B-roll or point of view footage using an action camera, and I think you could put together some really nice scenes, um, with that combination.

[00:15:08] Thanks to the team at BlackVue for sponsoring today's video. I hope you found it helpful for creating your first sponsored content. And if you'd like more content about how to grow your audience and monetization potential, then you wanna watch one of these videos right here.

[00:15:22] Thanks for watching. I hope you have a great day, and we'll see you in the next episode.