Industry research shows that African-American Content Creators are less likely to engage sponsors, and when we do, we engage them less frequently. We tend to believe that we have to reach certain milestones beforehand, whereas our counterparts, in some instances, are engaging sponsors before they ever launch.

With this in mind, we’ve launched a November 2019 challenge. We want everyone in our community to engage at least three sponsors this month. Here are some tips to ensure you have some success, and we hope you let us know what feedback you get at the end of the challenge.

1. Create appealing Material

   Studies say you have 30 seconds to grab the attention of your audience. So, you want to make sure that you have a clean yet visually appealing one-page document that highlights the following information:

   • What your show is about

   • Information about your host

   • Your listener demographics

   • Key highlights about your show

   If your show hasn’t hit 1,000 downloads per episode, then don’t include your downloads. I’ll touch on why later on.

2. Create a price sheet

   Now, this isn’t something I would advise that you send out with your initial email, but you always want to be prepared for that yes. The worst thing that can happen is a brand is ready to work with you, but you haven’t done the work to understand the difference between pre and mid-roll advertising rates.

   If you know other shows that have started monetizing, reach out to see if they would be willing to share their rate sheet or a few google searches will get you pretty far.

3. Do your research

   On your audience: You want to make sure you research not only the company but also your audience. Many don’t always know exactly how our listeners find us or who they are, but that information is your key to sponsorship. Sponsors want to know if your audience matches their target market. This is where social media and your mailing list comes to play and why it’s so important to grow your supporting platforms as you grow your podcast.

   The key things you want to make sure you know about your audience are:

• Age

• Race

• Hobbies

• Profession & level

• Brands that they frequent

On brands: I genuinely believe that there are brands out there looking for new avenues to engage your specific audience, you have to do the work to find them. This means understanding the when what and who.

• When a company’s fiscal year closes: This information gives you an insight into when they are making their budget for the next year and when the best time is to engage them for sponsorship.

• What their focus is that year: Just like you have seasons with your podcast that focus on specific overarching topics, companies have deliverables and target markets that they want to engage each quarter or year. Find out what that is.

• Who their target market is: Find their past advertising campaigns. Take a look at their website, utilize LinkedIn to find articles about them. For smaller brands, you can find a lot of information on their founders’ social media platforms or interviews they’ve done.

4. Start Small

If you haven’t reached 1,000 downloads per episode, then you want to make sure you start with smaller brands. Maybe a coffee shop that’s opening or hair salon, these are great avenues to start at because if you’re able to show that a majority of your listeners live in that area. You have 100 people per episode tuning in, that’s 100 people that are now aware of this new place within their community. Make sure you have a way to measure if your promo was a success; promo/affiliate codes are a great way and allow you to build from there.

Starting small also allows you to grow your portfolio. If you’ve worked with ten small brands and have been able to track what sponsoring your show did for that brand, you can add that on to your one-pager when you pitch to bigger brands.

5. Be clear & concise

Remember, you only have 30 seconds to catch their attention, and once you’ve got it, make sure you get right to the root of your ask. Always align your platform with their brand and speak to what they gain.

Remember, engaging sponsors are merely building a new relationship. Every relationship won’t work, but sometimes you find one that does, and you’re able to grow together. The main thing is to stop overthinking and put yourself out there, what’s the worse that can happen?