Profitable Podcasting

by Stephen Woessner

  One of the best ways to ensure your excellence as a host is in how you help a guest prepare to be a great guest on your show. You can do that by implementing the Guest Advocacy System illustrated earlier in this book. You ought to supplement this system by personally setting expectations with guests. In my opinion, Drew does this masterfully well. Drew shared with me, “What I discovered is, that the minute I checked my ego at the door, I realized the show wasn’t about somebody listening to me, it was about me cultivating this great list of guests and serving guests well, which serves my audience well. So if I allow my guests to have the spotlight, and I allow them to really share their expertise, and I prep them properly, so it’s like, ‘Look, there is no selling, this is not about you getting clients, this is about you generously sharing your expertise. Here are the kind of questions I’m going to ask; if you’re not comfortable answering those questions, don’t come on the show.’ None of that was about me. It’s about serving up the best content possible for my audience by putting my guest in the best possible light.”

  CHECKLIST FOR HOSTING WITH EXCELLENCE

  Check your ego at the door. Your show is about making your guest the star. Your show should not be about you.

  Study. Listen to other hosts and hear how they interact with their guests.

  Keep the conversation casual yet focused on the results you want to deliver to your audience.

  Help your guests prepare by implementing a Guest Advocacy System so they receive email and text reminders before your interview as well as tips on how to sound their best during the recording.

  Also help your guests prepare by emailing them your questions in advance along with some insights regarding your audience so your guests have context and know how best to answer your questions.

  Begin on time and end on time. This shows respect for your guest’s schedule.

  Turn off your email, your cell phone, and all social media, and listen intently to your guest so you can think of follow-up questions your audience would want you to ask.

  Summarize and recap your guest’s awesomeness during the interview. Then ask your guest if you got the summary right or if you’ve missed something. This is the perfect invitation to a guest to go deeper and share even more value with your audience.

  Thank the guest before the interview, during the interview, and after the interview for taking the time to generously share their wisdom with your audience.

  Have confidence. You are good enough to do this. You are worthy. You will make a difference in the world by sharing the wisdom of your guests. You are building a nation of true fans. Kick the impostor syndrome to the curb by remembering the wise words of Walter D. Wintle, quoted by Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich:

  If you think you are beaten, you are,

  If you think you dare not, you don’t.

  If you like to win, but you think you can’t,

  It is almost certain you won’t.

  If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,

  For out of the world we find,

  Success begins with a person’s will—

  It’s all in the state of mind.

  If you think you’re outclassed, you are,

  You’ve got to think high to rise,

  You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

  You can ever win a prize.

  Life’s battles don’t always go

  To the stronger or faster man

  But soon or late the one who wins

  Is the one WHO THINKS HE CAN!

  —WALTER D. WINTLE

  CHAPTER 16

  HOW TO ATTRACT SPONSORSHIPS

  Interview with Linda Hollander

  I learned everything I know about the ins and outs of sponsor strategy—or the best practices for properly positioning a podcast so it can be sold to a top-tier corporate sponsor—by interviewing Linda Hollander, one of today’s leading authorities on the topic of sponsorships. Both Inc. magazine and Entrepreneur magazine have featured Linda as the industry leader in how to sell corporate sponsorships. Linda has more than twenty years of experience as a business owner. Her clients and sponsors include Microsoft, FedEx, Citibank, Mattel, Bank of America, Marriott, Health Net, American Airlines, IBM, and Walmart. Her client list reads like a “Who’s Who” in corporate sponsorship. You can find Linda at www.sponsorconcierge.com.

  This chapter distills the Q&A between Linda Hollander and me. I wanted you to read in Linda’s own words how she became today’s leading authority in sponsorships. Her story is compelling because she did it even though she was starting at zero.

  You can do the same if you follow the master blueprint she provides in this chapter.

  Q: Linda, take us back to the beginning and your first event so business owners reading this can have the full context of what you have accomplished.

  Linda: I’ve had the privilege of working with some great “Top Tier” sponsors but it wasn’t always that way. Many of our clients early on in our business were women so I wanted to start the Women’s Small Business Expo to deliver even more value to our clients. But I needed sponsors because putting on an event is cash intensive. Ultimately, my first sponsors were Bank of America, Walmart, and IBM.

  I had never done an event in my life. I had no idea how to do an event. I had no experience. I had no following. I had my parents on my email list. I put my brother-in-law on my email list. They weren’t going to tell me no. If I could have put my cat on there, I would have. But despite how I started out, I was able to attract several top-tier sponsors.

  And when our event attendees came, they would ask me, “How the heck are you getting these sponsors? I thought you had to be a big company and have all this experience and track record,” and I said, “Absolutely no.” Then I knew there was a need in the marketplace for training business owners on how to attract sponsors.

  I lost a lot of time and money when I started to learn the sponsorship game. It took me six months to get my first proposal together. I lost $75,000 in the process. It was painful; it was excruciating. Some people wouldn’t even talk to me because I was a micro-business. But, there were also people who said, “You know what? I’ll talk to you. I’ll help you.” Then I said to myself, “When I learn this stuff, I’m going to teach other business owners how to do it.”

  Q: Let’s start off with some definitions. When we hear “sponsor,” that could mean different things depending upon someone’s business model. What does sponsorship mean, what does a sponsor want to sponsor, are they programs, events, or businesses?

  Linda: The definition of sponsorship is “Connecting a company with people who can buy things.” If you know people who can buy stuff, then you can get sponsors. It is a lot simpler than what most business owners think.

  If you have a business—that could be sponsored. If you host a radio show, or a podcast, or a television show, YouTube show, or a blog—all of that can be sponsored. Of course, if you do an event you can get sponsors because sponsors love events.

  If you’re a speaker or an author, you can get sponsored, because as a speaker and an author you have access to an audience—a fan base of people—who know your work and know your book, and as a speaker you command the platform. Companies don’t have people who can speak, who can command a platform, or capture the attention of an audience.

  Q: What are some of the biggest mistakes you see business owners making time and time again as they pursue sponsorships?

  Linda: There are a few mistakes, and I’ve made all of them, so I can share from experience. The first mistake, believe it or not, is not asking for enough money.

  Asking for too little money can hurt a business owner because they are, in effect, telling a sponsor they don’t have anything of value to offer. I often get calls from business owners who are trying to sell their $500 sponsor package. They’re going to be presenting to a busy, stressed-out person inside a company, who, if they see a sponsor package priced at $500, they’re going to think the business owner doesn’t have any
thing of value.

  In the sponsorship process, you have what’s called your “Champion,” and this is the person in the sponsoring company who loves you, but they have to sell you and your program to their colleagues, their team, and their boss, and maybe the people working under them to get it approved. Your pricing strategy needs to communicate value in order for them to do that. For most of our clients, what we see them typically get is between $10,000 and $100,000 in annual sponsor fees.

  If you do an event, if you have a podcast, or something else that is episode-to-episode, bundle everything together for the year and sell an annual sponsorship because you’re going to be more successful in properly positioning yourself with sponsors.

  The second mistake business owners make is not using an industry standard proposal.

  Your sponsor proposal is one of the most important but least understood documents. You have to use an industry standard format or you will not get funded. Your proposal must look amazing and have the right compelling benefits. The two biggest mistakes are asking for too little money and not having a good proposal.

  Q: Let’s say you’re a podcaster. Sounds like you would try to sell an annual sponsorship of your show instead of weekly episodes, but you would also package in your entire platform including social media, email lists, webinars, events, etc., right?

  Linda: Yes, you want them to sponsor your entire brand—not a single show. It took me a while to figure this out, because at first I started to have sponsors for my events and then I thought, “Wait a minute, I’ve got a whole brand here.” When I had them sponsor my brand, I made a whole lot more money. Instead of a business owner saying, “I’m a podcaster,” you should brand yourself as a “media company” who does podcasting because sponsors are not quite in love with podcasting yet. It’s still new. It’s still cutting edge. But if you say you’re a media company, then their ears are going to perk up. Then they’re going to be interested.

  Talk about your podcast, but then talk about the other things you do, such as email blasts, social media, maybe even YouTube, etc. Talk about all of the touch points you have. Let’s go back to the definition of sponsorship: “Connecting a company to people who buy things.” Tell them how you can connect them to people who could buy their stuff.

  Q: Do I diminish my own brand if I go get a sponsor?

  Linda: I’m asked that question a lot, because as business owners, we want to be independent, we don’t want to have a company influence what we’re going to say, and we don’t want the appearance that we’re biased. I have never had a sponsor try to influence my content in sixteen years of doing this. And if they ever did, I would just say, “Hey, that’s not part of the program.” You design your program—the sponsor writes the check—that’s what goes on with sponsorships.

  Also, the promotion of your sponsor does not have to be outlandish or in your face. The promotion can be elegant and understated, such as signage, banner ads, or things you put on your website. And if you do recommend a company like when I was working with, let’s say, Citibank, and I would recommend Citibank, then I disclosed it by saying, “I need to disclose that Citibank is my sponsor,” and then you are in integrity by disclosing it.

  Q: Are there any secrets to success business owners need to apply in order to be successful in attracting a sponsor?

  Linda: It would be to make the sponsor the star. Most business owners when they try to get a sponsor, they fall into the trap of talking about what their business does; they might say things like, “I have this great podcast, I have this great book, I have a great business, I have a great nonprofit, or event, etc.” Business owners can sometimes talk about themselves and that’s not the way to get a sponsor.

  The way to get a sponsor is to talk to the sponsor about what you can do for them. Say, “Hey, Mr., Ms. Sponsor, I’m going to educate people about your products and your services. I’m going to help you increase your product and your brand loyalty. I’m going to help you grow your customer base. I’m going to help you drive sales and traffic.”

  Do you see the difference?

  You’re saying, “Hey, the sponsor is the star,” and your prospective sponsor is going to look at that and say, “Hey, this business owner understands that it’s about me and not about them.” You’ll tell them a little bit about what you do because they have to understand it, but mostly what you’re going to tell the sponsor is, “Here’s how I’m going to benefit your company; here’s what I’m going to do for you.”

  Q: Let’s talk timelines. How fast does, or maybe how long is, the sales cycle you typically see for attracting $10,000 to $100,000 sponsorships?

  Linda: Sponsorships are a relationship business. You need time to develop relationships with companies. Here’s where it’s going to be maybe a little bit of a shock to business owners. I recommend eight months to a year before you need the funding to start approaching prospective sponsors. Let me tell you why. If you’re approaching Microsoft, FedEx, Staples (those are called the “Top Tier” sponsors), they have a process. You have to apply and you have to wait for them to approve it. They like to have a lot of lead time because whatever you are doing you have to talk about how you are going to work with their company, what kind of a program you are going to build together, and it takes time to develop that depth of relationship.

  It will take time to get your first sponsor. Now, let me tell you how you could do it quicker. There are “Top Tier” sponsors and then there are “Second Tier” sponsors. In the banking industry (and banks are a great place to go to get sponsorship) I’ve worked with Bank of America and I’ve worked with Citibank. They are Top Tier. But there may be a local community bank where you live. There may be an up-and-coming player in the banking industry you might want to work with. That won’t take as long because it’s easier to get to the decision-makers and to get that process of sponsorship started.

  The amazing thing about sponsorship being a relationship business is that there is something called renewals in sponsorship. And renewals are magic. Renewals are your cash machine, because if a sponsor likes you, they can fund you this year, next year, and the next year. I’ve sold multiyear sponsorships with FedEx and Citibank. My clients have had multiyear contracts with Verizon, Dole Foods, and Black and Decker just to name a few.

  It’s not a quick-cash strategy. It is a long-term strategy to fund your business.

  That’s why we tell business owners to go for a one-year contract because one year is about enough time to really analyze the relationship and if the sponsor wants to continue. If your sponsorship is from event-to-event, or episode-to-episode, a sponsor is not going to see that much growth as far as return on investment, so they are less likely to renew.

  Q: Let’s get tactical and think about key steps in the process, the action plan, things that are going to improve the probability of success. If you were to give business owners one, two, or three things they need to do, what would those steps be?

  Linda: I’m going to share a three-step process to attracting a sponsor.

  The first part is to do what we call the “Sponsor Wish List.” The wish list is the list of companies that you would like to have as sponsors. Remember in your sponsor wish list to include both Top Tier and the Second Tier sponsors. Most business owners when they start their wish list think only of Top Tier sponsors. Go deeper. We’ve already talked about the banking industry, so let’s talk insurance. I know I’m talking about boring companies like banking and insurance when most business owners want glam sponsors like fashion, cosmetics, and accessories. But the boring companies have the money.

  Let’s take the insurance category, you’re going to think of State Farm, and Aflac, and all the ones that have paid to be top of mind. Then go a little deeper by doing some Google searches into smaller insurance companies, the up-and-coming brands, because the up-and-coming brands need you to get their name out. They don’t have the brand awareness of the big brands.

  I’ll give you an example of that. I worked wit
h a company called Evolution Insurance Brokers. Nobody has ever heard of Evolution Insurance Brokers, and that is exactly why they sponsored me. They wanted to get the word out about their company. They’re not Aflac, they’re not State Farm, they’re not the big players in the industry.

  The Second Tiers have money to invest. I can’t disclose exactly the value of the sponsorship, but it was five figures.

  Step two is preparing your professional proposal. You want to write that industry-standard sponsor proposal.

  The full sponsor proposal is about eight to ten pages in length, and here’s what it includes:

  •A description of your “property.” Write down the word property because what you do now is called the “property.” Your podcast is a property. Your book is a property. Your speaking business is a property. Your business, your event, your nonprofit, whatever you are doing is called a property. You want to describe that.

  •You should include your sponsor’s goals, which should be similar to what we talked about earlier in this chapter, such as increasing brand loyalty and customer base, educating people, and driving traffic and sales, and all that.

  •You should include a one-page marketing plan. It includes all the ways you’re going to get the word out about the sponsor. Sponsors are interested in this because marketing is the difference between a good idea someone has in their head and something that actually has legs and is sustainable.

  •You should include your demographics. Whether your demographics are mothers, the parent market, the entrepreneurial market, the urban youth, the baby boomer market, you need to describe your demographics. Include any testimonials you have.

  •You should include your sponsor fees like the ones we’ve talked about.

  •The last thing, and here is how we write proposals differently from anyone else in the country, is storytelling.