How to Suck at Asking for a Sponsorship

For some reason, I’ve been getting a lot of emails this week from artists asking me to sponsor them directly. I’m guessing it’s a combination of me writing about the subject and laziness to realize that I don’t provide those services directly, I simply provide tools for artists to aid them in  that area.

Well, it’s given me a chance to see many solicitation emails/query letters. I’m starting to notice a pattern and it sounds like people aren’t thinking about this from the point of view of someone receiving the note. Many people are also diving straight in without establishing a relationship

Imagine you were running a business and you received an email from someone you didn’t know that looked like this:

“Hi, I do a lot of great stuff. Can you give me $10,000 or introduce me to any of your friends who might be able to?”

How would you feel? What would you think? Could you imagine a high profile artist such as Lady Gaga, Coldplay, or Adele sending something out like this? Yet, variations of this kind of message are being sent by artists every day. You can change out the dollar amount or even trade the sponsorship money for a service like booking a tour and the tone ends up being the same each time. In other words, it sucks. It doesn’t work.

Put yourself back in the seat of a business owner or marketer director.

Now, imagine you received a message from a trusted colleague of yours who said:

“Hey! I just came across this amazing artist who doing some great work and would be a great fit for what you’re doing. Do you have a few minutes to go over this and see if it makes sense to work with them?”

Having a mutual contact or direct personal relationship makes a huge difference. It changes the dynamics of the email from a solicitation to a proposal for a partnership. In fact, this is so important that I dedicate an entire chapter in my book to building partnerships and finding others who can make the introduction for you.

Remember, one of the top reasons why your sponsorship request will be rejected is because they don’t know who you are. So, take the time to develop those relationships. You wouldn’t propose to someone before at least asking for a first date, just as you usually wouldn’t ask someone to risk investing time and money into your career without talking to them first.

Learn how to pitch your band to entice them. Give them a reason to want more, to hear your story. After that, you can begin talking about a partnership.

Want more sponsorship tips? Check out my book, How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements, available for now. The eBook is only $4 and the paperback is $10.

Using a Compelling Story to Get a Sponsorship

The Compelling Story is used to get an emotional response from the prospect. This is where you generate excitement or compassion. It’s the history of your organization or how you affect the community. It’s the page-turning biography or tale that you would hear on Paul Harvey’s radio program. It’s the in-depth conversation after the speed dating encounter, the keynote speech.

If you hooked your prospect with an enticing opener and they’d like more information, this is where you really are able to highlight what you do, the benefits of them getting involved, and how your partnership with their brand will benefit the two of you. Depending on the situation (such as an in-person presentation, mailing a packet, phone meeting, etc.), you’ll have different amounts of time but the whole point is to keep it interesting all the way through.

Here are some tips to keep it compelling:

• Learn how to tell a great story: Any great presentation or story has key elements: great pacing/rhythm, has a dramatic build-up (or multiple), it engages the audience. What resonates with your customers or most enthusiastic followers the most?

• Talk to the brain, sell to the heart: People who are business-minded still have emotional operatives/motivations. Use hard data and facts to show why logically, it makes sense to work with you (access to a large audience, industry leader, etc.). But also include emotional reasons too: it will be fun and exciting, they can help save a life, etc.
• Keep it as long as you need to: Just because you could write 30 pages or spend four hours talking about what you do doesn’t mean that you should. Leave them wanting more, not bored.
• Focus on the prospect: Just like everything else in this process, you should be focusing on the focusing on your sponsorship prospect: How does this information relate to them or their customers? Why their company and not their competitor? What can you do for them?
• It’s a telephone, not a megaphone: If you are able to present your proposal live rather than simply sending a packet, that’s even better! Use two way conversation to keep your prospect engaged, interested, and invested into the process.

Want more sponsorship tips? Check out my book, How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements, available for now. The eBook is only $4 and the paperback is $10.

The Most Important Step to Take in the Music Industry

…is the first one.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from interacting with almost 20,000 artists over the past few years, it’s that most people like to talk through things, ask questions, and gather before moving forward. I believe that planning is great but sometimes perfection gets in the way of performance. Other times, fear of rejection or the unknown is the underlying cause for why something isn’t being done.

I’ve recently done a number of things for my band that I’m pretty proud of: we were able to partner with a movie distributor to create music videos, theatrical trailers, and are in discussions about making content for their DVD’s (such as music videos, etc.). I also got two internationally recognized martial arts performers to star in a recent music video. Finally, I’m also being invited to numerous college campuses and events to speak about the band, the music we make, and our social justice efforts.

Several people have inquired how I did all of this and I can sum it up in two words “just ask.”

Most of the sponsors/partners we’ve gotten have just been me calling or emailing someone and asking them if they’d like to work together. Certainly, the overwhelming majority of shows I’ve played (including as support for major acts or at festivals) were due to an ask. Almost every opportunity I’ve had has its roots from one that I’ve created for myself.

Now, it does get more complicated from here:

First, it’s good to know how to ask. I wrote about that in Pitching Your Band.

Second, you should know who to ask. The right kinds of questions will lead you to the person who can help you. Don’t know who to contact? Sometimes you can just ask and you’ll be guided.

Third, you should provide something of value to the person you’re asking. If they grant your wish, how will they benefit? Will they earn more sales (such as through a partnership or bar tabs at your show)? Will they market to a new audience? Are you offering them something of value?

Fourth, learn the value of following up. People are busy. Even if you’re declined, at least be courteous enough to thank them for their time or ask when would be a better time to ask.

Some of you might be thinking that this is obvious. However, it seems that most of these concepts are lost on most artists. Out of the 14,753 emails/EPK’s/pitches I received in 2012, only 23 have communicated their offer with some kind of value. Furthermore, only four artists have sent any kind of follow up message.

So if you want to be associated with a new movie or video game, if you want your music distributed with 30,000 bottles of your band’s favorite beverage in stores across North America, if you want to figure out how to get free airline tickets for your band…just ask. For all of those things (and more), that’s what I did.

Contact Information for Sponsorship Decision Makers

What if you had access to the direct contact information of any company you wanted to reach for sponsorship or endorsement purposes? Would it be something that you would pay for? What would you do with it?

The reality is that people do sell this kind information. There are a number of websites that market/sell contacts for companies. However, unless you have a warm lead, a solid plan, and something that is worth their return on investment, spending your money on those directories is a waste. First, most contact information is available through searching online or using networks such as Linkedin. Second, your email/phone call will only fall upon deaf ears if you don’t give them a compelling reason to get more information from you.

It’s too easy to fall into a trap of “buying our way” into favor or finding the path of least resistance. However, spamming the email boxes of every executive is not going to win you a new investor (if anything, it can hurt you). Doing the careful work of preparation, researching, and developing a top-notch pitch will pay off in the long run.

So instead of looking for 25 new companies to contact about funding your tour, write and re-write your email subject line 25 times until you find something that is irresistible to open. Instead of spending resources on buying contacts of every company, use your time to find partners who have the same goal and target audience as you do.

Need more help? This links everything I’ve posted on Sponsorship.

You can also get my e-book, How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements for less than $4 or the print version for less than $10. And if you’ve found the information to be helpful, a review is always appreciated. 

The Top 3 Reasons Why Your Request for Sponsorship Will Be Rejected

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about what sponsors are looking for as well as making the pitch but I thought I’d take some time to talk about what sponsors are not looking for. Maybe this will help you avoid the pitfalls that most artists walk right into when trying to get a new sponsor for their record, tour, or band.

Here the top three reasons why a potential sponsor will reject you:

1. They Don’t Know Who You Are or What You Want

When someone gets an email from someone they don’t know, they immediately want to know who you are and what you want. If you are looking for a partner, make it abundantly clear – don’t just start talking about your music. In fact, this is the main reason why I reject artists who are looking for a booking agent or manager. I get several hundred emails every week from people who immediately launch into a story about their music when I have no clue about what they are looking for (do they want consultation? a manager? relationship advice?).

If you are looking for a sponsor, you should always start with the people you know and people who you have some kind of connection with. If they don’t know who you are, you should do everything in your power to build up media coverage, industry buzz, and referrals so they’ve heard of you before you approach them (even some exchanges on Twitter will warm the lead). That way, it isn’t a cold call.

If you don’t know them but absolutely want to ask them for a sponsorship or endorsement deal, then you better have your pitch down so that it is so compelling, they’ll be begging to work with you. If not, then work on the above.

2. They Haven’t Been Sold

No matter what you do for a living, to some extent, you’ll be working in sales. This includes your music. So it’s a good idea to educate yourself about the sales process and how to win people over. I’d suggest getting some books by Jeffrey Gitomer, Zig Ziglar, and Seth Godin to start. If you don’t feel like reading, all of those guys have plenty of videos on YouTube that you can pull up.

Trying to get a sponsor is a lot like trying to get anyone to partner with you in your music career. You have to understand what drives them.

Bottom line: the people you approach are working in a business and they need to see a strong return on investment for working with you. Not only do you have to convince them that you can give them what you promise (exposure, branding, more customers, etc.), but that you’ll do it in a way that is superior than the other ways they can use those same resources (products, services, money, etc.). In other words, if you’re approaching Fender about a sponsorship, you’ll have to prove that you’re a better bet than the 400 other artists sending them emails that week, as well as their featured artists like Eric Clapton. What can you do that’s different? How is your target audience something that they need you for?

Understanding your niche audience is the easiest and most effective way to build your case in selling the idea of a sponsorship. It’s far more effective than generic boasting (your logo will be seen by X number of people) because if they simply want exposure, they can invest in advertising.

3. They Don’t Have the Resources

Sometimes, it is the wrong company. Sometimes, it is the wrong time.

If you believe that who you are approaching is the perfect fit, then you should do some research to find out what their business cycle is. Many companies plan their future sponsorship or marketing endeavors in late fall. Others do it in early Spring. If you contact at the right time, you’ll be more effective. If they’ve already used up their marketing budget, find out when would be a better time to approach them. Of course, to get to this point, you’d need to develop a relationship with them first (goes back to reason #1, knowing them).

Remember, the better planning you put into your sponsorship or endorsement endeavors, the better the results. If you’d like more information, you might enjoy my book, How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements, which has information on getting contacts, has templates for sponsorship inquiries, and step-by-step strategy. The ebook is only $4 and the print book is $10.

What’re some of the reasons you believe you’ve succeeded/failed in getting a sponsor?

Creating an Unstoppable Kickstarter Campaign

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire. He was launching a new podcast series called “The Great Business Experiment: Kickstarter.” It featured interviews with ten successful Kickstarter campaigns to talk about what worked, what was learned, and what can be done for the future.

All 10 episodes, are now available for download for free. If you’re looking to do something for your music-related project, check out my interview (episode 10). When you’re done, please take a moment to review it.

Whether you are using crowd sourcing (Kickstarter, Indie Go Go, etc.) or not to get some money for a tour, record, or project, it’s always important that you know:

• Who your niche audience is
• What you can do to fulfill their needs
• Where you can reach those fans
• How you can motivate them to spread your idea
• When you should launch a campaign

So often, we’re only focused on ourselves – how much money we need to create a new album, where we want to tour, who we want to open for, etc. – rather than on the people who allow all of the above to happen, our target audience. Your audience might include fans, sponsors, a label, promoters, or others, but you can’t forget about them if you want to be successful in what you do.

Also, you might want to read my article on How to Create a Successful Kickstarter Campaign.

Why You Should Use Niche Markets When Approaching Sponsors

The biggest mistake that anyone can make in marketing is trying to appease everybody.

Bill Cosby once said, “I don’t know about the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Not only is this true for business in general, it’s also true when it comes to getting sponsorships. If you try to make your sponsorship proposition appeal to everyone possible, it will be less appealing overall. However, if you take the time to understand your target audience, both in terms of your sponsors as well as your customers/fans, you’ll be far more effective in your efforts.

When sharing your brand, event, or idea with potential sponsors, you have it is important to:

• Show a keen understanding of your niche market: Who is your most enthusiastic fan? You might reach a broad audience but there are certain types of customers that resonate your brand more than anyone else.
• How reaching your niche market would benefit the sponsor: Who are these people and why would your sponsorship prospect be interested in them?
• Why the sponsor needs you to reach this niche market: How can working with you give the sponsor credibility for your most enthusiastic fans?

Your fundraising event, band, or charity might have a wide net that covers a large variety of people but the most effective way to win over a business is to show that special niche relationship. For example, a breast cancer walk might have participants of all ages, genders, racial backgrounds, income levels, etc. but the largest, most passionate audience tends to be upper-class women in their 40’s. This is the niche market that their sponsors want to reach.

The Susan G. Komen Foundation takes it a step further by identifying groups of the multiple niche markets that they hit. In their sponsorship proposal, companies can choose a sponsorship package that is geared to hit specific target audiences, For instance, their sponsorship package options allow you to choose between targeting participants, corporate partners, runners, cancer survivors, volunteers, the medical community, donors, and more. They’ve already demonstrated incredible brand exposure and leveraging their connection with specific markets to build more effective partnerships with sponsors.

How could you apply this to your own sponsorship packet proposals? Perhaps you could build specific options that market to a niche audience (for example: a certain age or gender group, regional fans, those with a specific set of interests, etc.). The more that you can demonstrate you understand your fans, the more appealing you will be to sponsors who want to connect with that audience.

If you’ve found this information helpful, check out the book, How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements, which details everything out step-by-step, discusses how to get contact information at companies, has templates for nearly ever kind of inquiry (including the sponsor proposal packet itself). It costs less than $4 for the e-book: http://amzn.to/KV1Nlr If you’d like an actual book, the paperback costs about $10 and is available here: http://bit.ly/LRKzok

Question of the Week: How Much You Should Ask from Sponsors?

Recently, I received an email with two commonly asked questions about sponsorship that I’d like to address:

1) How much can you ask from a sponsor?
2) My project costs X dollars, should I mention that in my pitch?

In my book, I talk about a new way of looking at sponsorship: a partnership. Approaching a business with the mindset of a partner rather than a sponsor changes a few things. First, you’ll begin looking at how the relationship can be equitable and benefit both parties instead of just your group. Second, sponsors won’t be seen as underwriters for expenses but rather investors in your music.

So in answer to these questions, I’d recommend thinking about the following things:

How Much Value Can You Offer?: Instead of thinking about how much you can get from potential sponsors, think about what kind of value you can offer and how much it is worth. It’s fairly common for first-time sponsors to offer $500 to bands (either in cash and/or products) for little in return. However, businesses are willing to invest more if you can prove that you can provide a good return on investment. If your sponsorship package is worth more (because the amount of exposure, the creative co-branded promotion campaigns you have, or the leverage you have with your audience), then you can ask for more. If you can’t prove that you’ll provide that return on investment, then you won’t be able to ask for much at all.

How Much Is Your Tweet Worth?: I know several hip hop artists who get paid $10,000 per tweet that they send out because they have millions of followers and high levels of engagement. For these sponsors, it’s more of a well-placed ad than anything else. Look at the ad rates of places around you: how much are they charging? What’s their audience/circulation like? Can you provide a better value because you command higher levels of engagement or a niche audience that business can’t otherwise reach? You can use sites like FBME or Vitrue’s Social Page Evaluator to see how much your social media presence is worth. Influence charting sites like Klout also offer some selling points that you can use to show your worth.

It’s About Engagement: It definitely helps to have large quantities of followers or web visits but what sponsors really care about is the quality of followers. Do you know the demographic data of your fans? How much are they interacting with you? How much time are they spending on your sites? Try reading my article on How to Develop a Hardcore Fan Base for more information on growing engagement.

How Creative Can You Get?: If you want to command higher prices, you’re going to have to offer a lot more than putting someone’s logo on your website or tour van. Go the extra mile and get creative. For example, my band did the following things for one of our premium sponsors:

• Product placement and storyline built around their brand for a music video that received nearly a quarter million views and was broadcasted on tv stations in 81 countries.
• Wrote an exclusive song for the company that fans could only get through their website. In addition, we passed out 10,000 postcards throughout our tour promoting their product/the unreleased song. 30,000 free mp3 download tags were attached to their products that were distributed across North America.
• Opened up new distribution lines for them in an underrepresented market by personally selling their product at promotional events and acting as spokespeople.
• We created a series of video blogs showcasing their product throughout our tour (which they were the title sponsor).
• Logo placement on our tour vehicle, the back of the official tour t-shirt, on the tour poster, on a banner that appeared on stage every night, on our website (which receives 1.2 million hits per year) , on all social media sites, and in an exclusive souvenir book for fans.
• Performed several private company parties for VIP clients, staff, and distributors.

We are always thinking of new ways to build on the relationship. We’ve helped grow their company immensely and in turn, they’ve opened up additional doors for us and have recommended us to their partners. That’s how you build a winning sponsorship/partnership!

Remember, because they are not underwriting your expenses, you shouldn’t worry about how much your project or endeavor costs. You should focus on the value that you can deliver for them and how much that is worth. Hopefully, you’ll be able to get much more than just money – hopefully, you’ll get a partner that is genuinely rooting for your success and will help provide whatever is needed to make that happen!

If you’ve found this article helpful, click here to read all of my other articles on sponsorship. You can also click here to purchase my book, How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements, for less than $4 for the ebook on Amazon now.

Pitching Your Band

If you were presented with the opportunity to pitch your band directly to the Chief A&R representative for Capital Records, what would you say? If there was a venture capitalist looking to invest into the dreams of one band, how would you convince them to choose you? If your favorite band was in town and looking for an opener, what would you tell the promoter about your act?

Being able to pitch your band is one of the most important steps in being able to book shows, secure sponsorships, get a booking agent/manager, receive press, and even to getting on a label. It’s also one of the areas that I see independent musicians struggling with the most. Even though I have a disclaimer on LastStopBooking.com that we are not accepting submissions, I still receive about 50-100 EPK submissions and query letters per week. 90% of these sound the same: the band describes themselves as having “great music,” and they almost always say they are different than other artists because they are “hardworking.”

Here are some tips on how you can pitch your music and stand out:

Understand Your Niche: If what your uniqueness sounds like every other band’s description of unique, then you’ve got a problem. What can you brag about that no one else can? If you need some help with the process, try using 15secondpitch.com – it’s a free service. Remember, do it in a way that is easy to remember and for others to connect to. Don’t list obscure artist influences, etc.

Choose Wisely: Don’t use the same pitch for every person. What appeals to a potential sponsor is going to be different than a booking agent. Think about your objective and shape your pitch around the target. If you are sending the same one page bio to the radio station as a record label, opportunities to really sell your act will be lost. Each person has different motivations and interests – your pitch should appeal to them.

Do Your Homework: Find out as much as you can about the person you are contacting. Address them by name. What kinds of bands do they enjoy working with? What’s their past career experience been like? How can you connect to them better?

Keep it Short: We live in a microwave society, everyone wants you to get to the point quickly. If you can’t explain why someone should book you, why you are different, or why your music is a good investment in 3 sentences or less, it is unlikely that you’ll get any further. Remember, the point of a pitch isn’t to get you a show, a label deal, or a sponsor. The point of a pitch is to create enough interest for them to want more information so you get future, deeper conversations about the deal you want.

How Short?: If the entire email is less than two paragraphs, you’ll be fine. Just be sure to measure every word and see if it is unnecessary. Does every sentence serve to entice them to want more information? Just as pop music has an optimum song length of 3:30 for radio, there’s an optimum email too. However, those pop songs are filled end-to-end with memorable hooks. By the end of the email, you want that recipient singing your praises too!

Spit It Out: Be sure to include your objective. Many of the messages of the bands I receive are only a bio and some links. They don’t say if they’re looking for an agent, a manager, or if they just want consulting. It just looks generic and I can’t figure out what they want. Make it easy on them, tell them what you are looking for, even if it’s just a 15-minute phone call to talk about booking or sponsorship.

Don’t Forget: Include your links, contact information, and give them a reason to call you or respond. If there’s something of value that you can offer, it’s more enticing for them to follow up with you.

If you’d like me some extra help with your 2 line pitch, feel free to post it in the comments below and we can chat a bit more about what you are doing.

Getting Sponsors For Your Music

This morning, I read an article that talked about how hot dog manufacturers have been closing six to seven digit sponsorship deals left and right, especially with local football and baseball teams. I immediately thought: how could a partnership like that be beneficial for everyone if my band got involved?

When I first wrote How to Get Sponsorships and Endorsements, I wanted  people to stop thinking of the sponsor relationship as a one way transaction. It isn’t, it is a partnership. Unless you think of an equitable way for everyone involved to benefit from the relationship, you will not create lasting partnerships and you will not attract sponsors. People are starting to understand this about social media (it’s about conversation, interaction, engagement not just promotion), but that concept still hasn’t hit home in other areas. So before you go chasing down a company asking for money, really focus on developing these points:

• Why You?: There are countless numbers of artists out there. Many of them have great music and are willing to work hard, some even harder than you. Why are you the best fit for their brand? Why are your fans prime for their target audience? What can you offer that they can’t get anywhere else?
• Why Them? If it is a company that normally doesn’t sponsor artists, they’re probably wondering why you are contacting them to begin with. Unless you can prove that working together is a logical step in their marketing plan, they’ll just brush you off. Why/how are your brands compatible?
• What Do You Want From Them? Create a wish list of what you’d like to see from the company. What does it have other than money? Consider their point of view: if you were in their shoes, what would you want from an artist?
• Break Stereotypes: There’s a perception that when a band pitches a sponsorship deal, they only want money or free stuff. That’s why many companies will write you off before you even have a chance to dive deeper into your plan. Start by offering them something for free. Show your sincerity and how you genuinely like their company, want them to succeed too. How about telling them that you want to donate music to all of the employees as part of an appreciation program? Or showing photos/videos of you with their products in use already? Or working together for a local charity?

If you want some more personal advice about how you can get sponsors for your music, consider the free consultation giveaway. You’ve got three days left. If you like what you read about sponsorship stuff here, consider picking up a copy of the book. It’s less than $4 for the digital version. Or if you like things in print, it’s less than $10. Both versions have sponsorship proposal templates and a bunch of useful ideas.

Good luck and good hunting.