Getting a sponsorship for your small business, book, or podcast is many things:
- a fresh source of funding
- new opportunities, and
- exposure to new audiences
But getting sponsorships is not easy, especially for newer businesses. For the partnership to work, it must deliver a positive ROI to the sponsor and value to your audience.
If you’re looking for direction on how to put a sponsorship together, we put together the necessary steps below.
To start, a sponsorship strategy should cover five areas:
1) Assets
Every asset or point of contact you have can be used to get the sponsor in front of your people:
- website or blog
- social media pages
- events
- newsletters
- speaking opportunities and so on
2) Audience data
To demonstrate to the sponsor the potential of your audience, you need to show them who they’re reaching.
Provide them with:
- Demographic data
- Common interests and pain points
- Motivation to engage with your brand
3) Asset valuation
Once you’ve defined your assets and audience, it’s time to put a price on it.
You can assess a price by looking at the costs of price-per-click (PPC), social media ads, and comps (i.e., what competitors charge).
4) Activation
This is where your audience’s goals and sponsor’s goals meet. How do they overlap? Survey your audience and talk to your sponsor to pin down the best way to engage with your audience.
5) Market identification
Once you know your audience, you’ll be able to identify companies that would make great sponsors for your brand.
For example, if you have a financial blog and talk about financial markets, brokerages might be good sponsors.
Getting sponsors on board
1) Create a compelling sponsorship proposal
This can be the most important part of the sponsorship process.
Keep these points top of mind:
- Make the proposal easy to understand and parse quickly using graphics, charts, and bullet points.
- Include social proof.
- Always use a strong call to action so it’s not just a passive ad. Tell them what you want to happen.
2) Build a contact pipeline spreadsheet
This will be a repeated reference point and will keep everything organized.
3) Reach out to sponsors
Unless you have inbound reaches, you should spend some time cold emailing potential sponsors.
It’s a numbers game.
4) Close the deal
The closing call, email, or meeting should be focused on the prospect.
Find out why they’re interested in sponsorship, and show them why your business suits their needs.
5) Create a deal agreement
Agree on sponsorship length, how it will be set up (e.g., ad placement), payment, and other terms.
