What made me fall in love with Mobile Vikings? Why did I decide to cooperate with them? And what made me feel like a hipster since I was eight years old?
I’ve been on this ship – I mean, longship! – for over two years now. Mobile Vikings supports my humble YouTube channel. And I try to evangelize my viewers and guide them towards the only right path in life – the one with a horned helmet. What do I value in Mobile Vikings itself and in our collaboration?
How it started
I'm more of the type who's shy about approaching first, but Vikings were never known for their shyness. So, it's no wonder our adventure together began with a few Instagram messages sent to me by one of the ViQueens. However, the pitch of "we're a cool operator" was unnecessary because my wife had already been using Mobile Vikings' services for a few years. Encouraged by my wife's experience, I was planning to join the Vikings myself, but unfortunately, for me, every plan needs to wait before execution – right now, for instance, I've been mentally preparing for a week for a visit to a DIY store.
The message from the Vikings – that they watch my channel, that we have a similar communication style, and that we could probably help each other – was the push I needed to actually say "goodbye" to my previous operator, whose services I wasn't entirely satisfied with, and don the helmet.
I recommend it because I use it myself
But wait, wait: why did I switch to Mobile Vikings in the first place? Couldn't I have agreed to cooperate without that? NO ONE WOULD HAVE CHECKED. Well, I have a rule: I never advertise products that I don't use myself. It might sound cliché, but I get the impression that most online creators have never thought about this. 😉
And when I recommend something, I automatically feel responsible for that product – after all, I have my channel and I do what I do professionally thanks to my viewers. Would I recommend something to them that wasn't convincing enough even for me? And then receive dozens of messages full of questions (or complaints) and just look sheepish?
No! If I agree to an advertisement, I must first test the item myself, be convinced by it, and be ready to praise it sincerely. It would be one thing if I made a mistake with a one-off collaboration, perhaps because I missed some loophole in the terms and conditions, or objectively didn't know about a better competitor product. I would apologize, help those viewers who felt deceived, and that would be it.
However, a permanent cooperation is something else – the Vikings, in one way or another, appear in every video on my channel! So, I must be 100% convinced of their offer – and I am, because it's simple, sincere, and honest. When I say "check out Mobile Vikings," I feel like I'm talking to my friends over a beer and sharing some personal discovery with them.
I've always been a hipster
Okay, okay, but what – besides my wife's opinion, which is always incredibly valuable to me – made me interested in collaborating with the Vikings right away? Of course, it's easiest to say "money," but it's not that simple! Other operators also have cash, after all – it's just that only Mobile Vikings pay in gold coins plundered during raids. No, no, alright.
The truth is, I've always had a soft spot for smaller companies and institutions. Even as a child, I wondered what the fun was in rooting for Real Madrid, playing games only on the most popular console, or even buying those magazines everyone else bought. YES, I WAS AN 8-YEAR-OLD HIPSTER.
Community and #PerfektHelpDesk
This doesn't mean, of course, that I would consciously avoid a good product just because it's too popular for me, but I'm naturally more interested in niche ones. Sure, 100,000 Vikings on board is no small feat, but compared to the "big four" operators, it's a drop in the ocean. And you know what? That's great!
Because thanks to this, being a Viking makes you feel elite. Because we create a true community together here. Because #PerfektHelpDesk helps "our own" instantly solve any potential problem. Vikings with 10 million customers in Poland would probably no longer be Vikings, because it's simply impossible to run a company on such a scale in such a warm and "family-like" manner. I'm glad we're creating such an exclusive club for insiders.
Vikings like to share
You can even see it in the comments under my videos, where increasingly often "our own" offer to help another Viking with gigabytes, or ask if any merchandise related to my channel will appear in the Viking Store. Spoiler alert: it will! But we don't have an exact date yet. :)
Sailing with Mobile Vikings, I feel like a jarl (meaning, a "chieftain") of this wonderful, supportive community.
Together, not on assignment
There's also the matter of the collaboration itself, meaning what happens behind the scenes and what you probably shouldn't know – so let's talk about that. :)
I never mind when company representatives present me with a list of their product's advantages. It's their job, and when they boast about, say, "the best battery life," it's a cue for me to actually pay attention to it. First during testing, and then during any potential advertisement. It's worse when someone tells me "how I should live," and, for example, writes me a ready-made script that I should supposedly recite on the channel, or demands that the sponsored content appear exactly at the 37th second of the material, and the video itself be published during a full moon.
Damn it! It's me who knows my viewers best: I know what language resonates with them, what irritates them (e.g., sponsored content at the 37th second of the material, which is why I always start from the 38th), and what in a given product can be of greatest value to them.
A partnership approach
And I am incredibly pleased that Mobile Vikings understands this. I don't have to send ad segments for approval, we brainstorm bigger campaigns together and as partners (we met in person recently, it was lovely!), and when something doesn't work, we figure out together how to fix it. I feel like a fully-fledged, appreciated employee, part of the Viking family, not a freelance contractor. And I love it!
I also love Mobile Vikings' openness to unconventional ideas – after all, RetroTydzień (Retro Week), the flagship of our collaboration, theoretically has little to do with smartphones and mobile telephony. Yet, thanks to it, hundreds of people have set sail with the Vikings.
And the icing on the cake – the communication style. Vikings talk to their audience honestly, casually, but also naturally. And even all those longship-and-Valhalla insertions I find utterly charming.
TL;DR
In fact, I could summarize this entire text in just a few sentences (finally!). I'm a Viking because I love supporting smaller brands with a vibrant community. I advertise Mobile Vikings because we understand each other perfectly. It's a product I don't have to be ashamed of in front of my viewers. In fact, I feel proud that I'm recruiting more people to join. That's all, and yet so much. Because contrary to appearances, there aren't that many such companies and products on the market. So, I'm even happier that we found each other, Mobile Vikings and I :)
