Esports start-ups that are trying to scale organically are not easy!

Esports start-ups that are trying to scale organically are not easy!

As the esports space grows, so do the number of orgs vying for attention from brands.

Having spent the early part of my commercial experience with start-ups, I understand how hard this journey can be. I have a lot of orgs reach out to me and unfortunately, I cannot help everyone who does directly, with this in mind I thought a few words of encouragement may help some.

I hope that this article is useful to anyone looking to grow the commercial aspect and monetisation of their esports org and helps orgs to understand what brands and agencies are looking for.

This article will give you some tips as to how I helped grow an org from ￡0 brand partner revenue to ￡60,000+ revenue inside 18 months.

I have written the article solely from my experiences having ?leveraged start up esports orgs to brands and trying to engage with agencies as an Esports org partnerships manager.

Brands can be obsessed with reach

Let’s face it, it’s quite important but it doesn't need to stop you growing commercially. You may have small reach to start with but how can you grow this to appeal to more brands?

Are you creating formats that brands can plug into with any regular content piece that you post onto your social media channels?

If you have a competitive team your followers want to be as good as them, post content that allows them to gain from hints and tips. Ask them to RT a teaser post and follow you if they want some content to help them. Posting clips of your team slaying opponents is great but how did they do it? Edit the VOD as a tips content piece or do a simple voiceover.

Run giveaways, these don't have to cost money. What do you have at your disposal for free?

1. Run a discord Q&A with the pro team with limited spaces
2. A free coaching session with a pro
3. Play a game vs their favourite content creator on stream
4. Approach smaller brands to provide prizes on a free basis with the promise of exposure and followers. Use these to attract paid deals by collecting the analytics and results.
5. Originate the giveaway from a larger account if they have more followers

?Find your sweet spot and be reasonable with pricing

Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut and Monster Energy aren't ready for you yet!! They might be one day though. Sending your 48-page pitch deck with vanity metrics covering the $100bn Esports opportunity isn't selling you. It is probably working against you.

Get personal. What makes you different? be honest as to why you want to align with that brand, focus in on other start-ups or smaller companies at first. If you have never worked with a brand you need to gain that experience and a case study. Brands want to know where they will be positioned, what assets you can deploy for them and why should they be part of this.

Work on affiliate deals if you can but make sure it's a product or service that your audience is engaged with. If you drive sales or website visits for a brand you are already way ahead of lots in this space.

My first paid deal in esports was ￡200 but I took that case study and used it to gain larger budget deals. Brand deals are like dominoes, you need the first to fall before the rest will follow. If you must do activations for free but they will give you the sales collateral to help you win future deals …. Do it!

Build out formats and assets for brands to plug into

Your jersey is magnificent and a work of art, it really is but you are not 100 Thieves and you may not have millions of watch hours where your jersey is visible, this isn't the main opportunity for a brand to partner with you and you probably won’t sell many.

How many people will be wearing that jersey and what is opportunity for branding on your broadcasts? If the answer is not very much, you need to think on about selling that "front of jersey package" as a standalone.

Can you build out a format for your community or team to take part in? make it fun and engaging and then think about what assets brands can leverage in this format.

Do you have stream overlays, chat commands, social media placements or other assets that you can deploy and measure easily? If you do, why are you not already running this format or even one or two as a case study? be pro -active.

Brands want to see formats you have already delivered so that it comes to life for them. Concepts are great but they are only concepts until you have delivered them. That goes for the estimated impressions and watch hours you are pitching to them too.

"We think we can deliver or "we have delivered" are two different propositions to a brand, if you were writing a cheque which would you prefer?

Strategic partners are important

Chasing revenue is important and should be a mainstay in your commercial approach but what are the weaknesses in your org? Is there a strategic partner that you can align yourself with?

If you don't have a content creator, how can you leverage one to work with you? If you have smaller reach who can help support your social activity? Is there a tournament platform you can use for community events? invite creators and players from other orgs to take part in your formats.

Not every partner needs to be one that drives revenue for you, you also need to consider what strategic partnerships can get you closer to becoming more appealing to brands.

Take a break and reflect

If you are hitting brick walls reaching commercial partners and closing them, take a moment to take your foot off the sales pedal for a moment. Google "SWAT analysis" and fix your gaps before you go back to market or leverage the strengths in your org whilst you build out the rest.

Look to engage partners where it's not quite as competitive to start with and look to educate them as to why they should work within esports and how you could be a great way for them to test and learn.

Not every deal needs to be a 36-month front of shirt partner agreement but every deal you do before that will lead up to it.

All the best - Craig Winfield?