How to Get Sponsors and Partners Who Love You

Because sponsorships and partnerships are new to me on YouTube, let alone for the kind of YouTube-Network situation I’m part of as of the Monday, May 1st launch of the 100TV Network, I’m trying to learn more to understand these things better. Luckily, Mike Allton, Head of Partnerships for Agorapulse, a creator and business shaker I have looked to since I began blogging, recently published this podcast and very topical interview that’s quite helpful. 

I don’t mind saying I suggested EVERY creative partner check this one out, so thanks, Mike! 

And I also know that the strategy Mike’s guest, Justin Moore, unveiled on the Partnership Unpacked Podcast gave a client I work with the perfect framework for creating new sponsorship packages for a new project we’re working on. Now THAT rocks.

But First

Before Justin Moore– Sponsorship Coach and founder of @CreatorWizard, a school/community that teaches you how to find and negotiate your dream brand deals so that you stop leaving thousands on the table– gives you his complete system, The Sponsorship Wheel, he stresses a few critical preliminary factors to give attention to first.

Justin explains to Mike that before you pitch, it’s essential to know your audience. In this case, that means knowing the right person to send your pitch to. If you don’t get this right, you’re probably wasting your time and won’t get anywhere anyway.

Customize Your Message

On top of getting to the right person, Justin strongly suggests you do even more homework to customize your pitch as well. Customization at the highest level means understanding the business you are approaching. Learn as much as possible by researching its values and priorities. 

Justin recommends you frame your messaging to change the me-focus of what you’re about (your specs, your reach, your blah blah blah). Instead, adopt a client-first or you-centric communication style. Your goal is to connect specifically to the needs of the person/brand/company you are reaching out to. 

Assessing a Potential Sponsor or Partner’s Needs

Not every brand is after the same result, Justin smartly points out. Then he elaborates on how effective it can be to define a brand’s priorities and what specific results it’s after. 

What one company hopes to get from a sponsorship or partnership is totally different than another. Knowing this kind of intel allows you to create custom solutions that provide a winning client strategy that’s the perfect fit. 

By offering custom-fit solutions, you extend the likelihood of a good relationship and increase the viability of continued good business evolving. Demonstrating this kind of individualized care and attention to detail positions you as a powerful partner to Sponsors. 

🎙️ LISTEN TO MIKE’S PARTNERSHIPS UNPACKED PODCAST

Spinning ‘The Sponsorship Wheel’ 

Honing your pitch to align with business goals and meeting the actual needs of a Sponsor means doing some detective work, says Justin. Oh, and digging a little deeper. And while individualized packaging is a little more work for you, the outcomes far exceed the effort, per his proven track record* with his customers and their businesses. 

{*See more in the podcast description.}

“Remember to pitch to a business’s business objectives.”

Justin Moore

The Sponsorship Wheel is a complete framework for creating irresistible offers for Sponsorships and Advertising revenues. Use Partner-Sponsors, and develop dependable systems to customize, leverage, and grow long-term business relationships by enhancing customer satisfaction using intricate personalization. Here is an outline of the 8 steps:

1- The Pitching Phase 

2- The Negotiation 

3- The Contract 

4- The Concept Phase

5- The Production Phase

6- The Feedback Loop

7- The Publish Phase

8- The Analysis Phase

And because Justin bases his system on his experience in the trenches, his advice for getting your pitch seen and accepted is well-tested across both business and sponsor perspectives. This interview feels like insider information from start to end. And not surprisingly, Mike supplies a few interesting, and maybe, to some, startling, facts in introducing Justin and his insights. 

Mike shares, “… 59% of B2B marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget in the coming year. In an industry that reached $16.1 billion in 2022, influencer marketing has become extremely lucrative and competitive!” So, he explains, “… there’s a lot riding on every pitch and proposal and presentation from an influencer trying to land work with a brand, or even brands looking to partner with other brands.”

Intrigued? Let’s break it down further to hone in on Justin and Mike’s sage advice.

Each Stage Serves a Purpose to Gain Sponsorship Love

First off, this framework is perfect for creating well-rounded sponsorship or advertising packaging for nearly any industry. One thing that reflects the sentiment of what the 100TV collaborative is finding out is that the digital space, even in these key business areas, is still a little of the wild wild west. 

Don’t worry. This is good news for creators and another reason why the lessons Justin shares to make your pitch impactful are so exciting.

Stage 1- The Pitch.

Get this right or die. And as mentioned earlier, WHO you pitch to matters as much as anything. Doing a little investigation in advance goes a long way, so don’t skip this imperative step. Besides, when you know who you are talking to, you can communicate with them much better. You can hone in on their specific needs, as Justin suggests, and let them know you have some interest in and understanding of their business/product/service. 

Companies love you to talk about them much more than hearing anything about you, except what you can do for THEM—got it? Audience-centric, customized, and personalized to your one-person audience is the hot ticket. And even if you use an inbound marketing approach to attract sponsors, honing in on a specified target audience, meaningfully and strategically, in what you publish is still essential. Your copy and packaging must appeal to and connect with them emotionally, then logically, to entice interest and motivate action. Getting the pitch right on every level is crucial. If you don’t get past this step, nothing else happens. Like a headline, if it (your pitch) doesn’t grab anyone to take action, nothing you write/produce gets seen or matters. 

2- The Negotiation

This is where the crux of the deal happens. This is the part where you hammer out the details of the deal with your sponsor/partner to WOW them and make them happy to give you their money. And, the better job you do to achieve everyone’s satisfaction, the smoother everything that follows will go. 

Significantly, Justin explains how important flexibility is in the negotiation phase. He says it’s important for you to detach from the typical numbers game to align with that business’s goals and needs exclusively instead. Making clients ecstatic by providing specific results geared to their uniquely assessed needs matters more to them than reaching targets or results you think are important. This attention to detail and highly honed positioning creates trust and lays the foundation for a mutually beneficial long-term relationship. 

Yes, Justin wants to remind you as you work to seal the deal, you’re not looking for a one-and-done sale as you’re negotiating with a potential client. It’s emphatically better to build a solid relationship, trust, and an open working partnership, right from the start. 

3-  The Contract

Justin kind of cracks me up here when he says a contract is NOT an email thread. But the point he’s making is quite relevant anyway. While this doesn’t have to be a complicated detailed legal document, it does have to represent the agreement you’re making and needs to include all the details but also spells out accountability as well. This way, there is no confusion as to who is responsible for what. 

I work with one of my clients this way. We label certain responsibilities to one another using an SRI code for Singularly Responsible Individual. In a way, this represents a go signal that an assignment is “your baby,” and you don’t need to wait for further input or assets from anyone else to plow ahead and complete the project. Not only does this speed some things up, but it also solves duplicate work getting done for no reason. 

4-  The Concept Phase

Think of The Concept Phase as onboarding a customer for a beautiful relationship by developing the content concept to bring the deal to life. You may have to set parameters for what is expected and also what is not acceptable for use in production. Simplifying the details for pulling all of the content assets together to create the agreed-upon video work or other sponsorship package creations helps.

In this phase, try to educate brands on how to work with you to best benefit them.

And while having a framework so production time and scope don’t get out of hand, this is also the phase where you can really blow the client’s mind with the awesomeness you can bring to the sponsorship partnership. Making your sponsors look great makes you look great and solidifies the trust they feel in the relationship so far.

5-  The Production Phase

Oh yeah, finally, the fun part, but also the deliver-the-goods portion of your programming. This is the phase where you knock their socks off by delivering beyond what they imagined. Delight the client; that’s it! 

Here you have to create key messages, CTAs, content assets, creative brief analysis, and all the components to produce the co-planned agreed-upon topic. Again, time to create the assets and be on deadline for the completion of a  perfect process to ultimately deliver the assets. 

6-  The Feedback Phase

I know it’s hard to get feedback sometimes for your creative work, but suck it up, buttercup. For a client, this step means you care enough to listen. And more importantly, to be sure they are happy. Justin says to “have the humility to get a sponsor’s feedback to gel the relationship.” 

Accepting feedback, iterating, improving, and evolving improves you and delights the people you partner with as well. Take Justn’s advice and use this step to gel the relationship, making it stickier than ever with yet another level of attention to detail and accountability. 

7-  The Publish Phase

In this phase, delivering with accuracy and on time are the goals, giving your clients instant ease of mind and confidence in the agreement. Plus, they’ll know you have everything under control, no micro-management necessary. Of course, it’s important to share data and especially early results, to keep the enthusiasm going and prove you are a reliable partner.

8-  The Analysis Phase

Collecting the data and putting it to use are two different things. Customize the style for delivering metrics that fit a specific advertising or sponsorship partner. Justin suggests that this follow-up is important for assuring the client that you’re not a hit-and-run salesman but more interested in continuing a mutually beneficial arrangement. 

Offering an analysis also shows a genuine concern for the client and a willingness to improve and evolve on their behalf. When you value your client by embracing everything from customization to review, you are sure to increase trust, gain flexibility, and enjoy an eagerness to work with you and support your projects. 

Ongoing relationships grow when you continue to provide value and stay in touch with your sponsors, acting as a go-to source and fount of new ideas for them. Acting with professionalism, care, and precision by having a system to delight your clients well beyond the sale, as Mike’s interview with Justin suggests, sounds like an optimal way to win the love of those you are hoping will support you. Thoughts?