How to Land Corporate Sponsorships

In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about how to organize virtual summits, which can be a valuable tool in building an audience around your ideas. This week’s edition is about how you can earn additional revenue through corporate sponsorships. That may sound improbable or out of reach, but if you're targeted and methodical, it's possible. I've personally done sponsorship deals with major companies like Microsoft and Alibaba.

For my book Entrepreneurial You, I interviewed millennial finance expert Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez about how she went from a struggling actor to a keynote speaker and author who is frequently approached for sponsorship deals. She provides much of her content for free to help empower others, and as she notes regarding sponsorships, “Working with bigger brands frees up my resources and my time to keep my services available to the people who I think really need it most.”

If you missed last week’s newsletter about how to organize a virtual summit, that edition is available here. If this is your first time reading my newsletter, click here and hit the blue “Subscribe” button underneath the banner image to join and receive future editions.

Here are four tips Stefanie suggests in order to land your own corporate sponsorship deals.

Build your brand by 'laddering up' to larger publications. Stefanie started out by writing a blog based on her financial journey as a struggling artist. She then ventured out to writing for other blogs: “I started with thought leadership on a very low level, just trying to establish myself among other bloggers - not high-level bloggers, not people with massive followings, just people who were maybe one step up from where I was. Then, it was about, how do I expand that beyond this small world of personal finance blogging. For me, that was going to bigger media outlets. I started just pitching through the "[email protected]" - U.S. News and World Report, or Huffington Post, or whatever emails I could find. I usually didn't hear anything back, but occasionally, I did. At that point, I got a column on U.S. News and World Report. From there, I felt like I had a lot more leverage.” 

Identify your specialty. When you are trying to stand out in a crowd, says Stefanie, “I think it helps a lot to have a specialization. There are too many people who are generalists. I don't think it serves them. I think when you're starting, you worry, ‘I'm going to be too specific. I'm going to alienate people.’ I did the same thing. [But] specificity not only helps find your niche, but it also helps you own your story.” A corporation is more likely to sponsor you if they know you can help them reach a specific demographic or an audience with a very specific interest.

Build relationships with brands by featuring them in your content. Cold calling a corporation to ask them to sponsor you is close to useless. Instead, make use of the opportunity presented when they come to you. Stefanie learned a useful strategy from a friend of hers: “Anytime she got a press release from a big company that had a lot of financial means, she would incorporate the study into a piece she was writing. Then, she would email them back and say, ‘Oh, look! I've been able to feature your piece.’ When I was able to feature those studies from those corporations and then say, 'Hey, here is the value I've provided you,' then we have some rapport that we're building up. I'm offering them value.” That connects you with advocates inside the company and enables you to start relationship-building.

Research diligently and come to the table with your own plan. Stefanie grew her knowledge of the financial space by attending a lot of events, documenting how companies ran their marketing, and learning what she could contribute. “I go to a lot of events in the finance space," she noted, pre-Covid (today, there are still many virtual events). "A lot of those events are sponsored. I sit there, keep tabs, actually, I write it down. I say, 'Okay, here's what's going on in this event. How could I create something similar?' Clearly, the company's already decided this is a worthwhile investment for them. I don't have to convince them of that. I'm already building on something that exists. How do I give new value, such that I am incorporating myself into it in a way that is indispensable?” 

By following these strategies, you're on your way to connecting with corporations and make corporate sponsorship a key part of your portfolio income.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share the article and discuss in the comments below! 

And if you'd like to receive more articles and tips like this, sign up for my email newsletter here, which offers completely different content from this LinkedIn newsletter, and includes a free Stand Out Self-Assessment Workbook!

Be safe and well,

Dorie