How to Pitch and Secure Brand Sponsorships for Your Podcast

Larry Roberts [00:00:09]:

What is happening, everybody? I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:00:11]:

And I'm Sara Lohse. And this is Branded, your comprehensive guide to creative branding.

Larry Roberts [00:00:16]:

And on this long overdue new episode of the podcast, we're going to talk about how you can leverage your podcast to gain brand deals and sponsorships.

Sara Lohse [00:00:27]:

We talk a lot about monetization when we talk about podcasts, especially with our clients are at different conferences, and there's a lot of questions around how to get sponsorships, how to structure them, and just a million different questions. So we'll see if we could tackle a few of those. And yeah, Larry, where do we start?

Larry Roberts [00:00:45]:

Well, we start at the bottom, honestly. We start right there with our platform. You know, where are we at with the platform? And there's a lot of misconceptions out there thinking that you have to have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of downloads in order to secure a sponsorship or a brand deal. Now, there is some differences there, and a lot of times with the brand deals, you are typically looking at more of an influencer or someone that has a bigger reach or a longer reach. But with sponsorships, it's fairly straightforward. And I think you'd be surprised at the number of sponsors that would be willing to leverage your audience to gain more attention for their products.

Sara Lohse [00:01:26]:

Yeah, we've seen sponsorships come in all different, like, shapes and sizes. I remember the first time I went to Outlier Podcast Festival, which is a very small podcast festival. And it's designed to be small. It's designed to be about 100 people. One of the speakers were sponsored by Riverside and showed up, and all she had to do was show up in a Riverside T shirt. And they paid for that knowing that the audience is only going to be about 100 people.

Larry Roberts [00:01:52]:

Yep.

Sara Lohse [00:01:53]:

So it's. People don't really see the different opportunities. And you. There are opportunities out there if you don't have a big audience as long as your audience is niched. Yeah, that's a word.

Larry Roberts [00:02:07]:

Yeah. And, you know, that's exactly what I was going to say, but you got to it before I did, which is, you know, it's just absolutely critical that you do that. I mean, we have a real life example that's a client of ours.

Sara Lohse [00:02:18]:

Yeah, Women Share is a really good example. One of the shows that we've been producing for a little over a year, their download numbers aren't astronomical. They're not getting huge, huge numbers, but they have a really niche audience and they're getting a lot of sponsorship opportunities, and they have presenting sponsors for the whole season. They have episodic sponsors for single episodes. They have all of these opportunities just because they know exactly who they're talking to.

Larry Roberts [00:02:45]:

Yeah. And that's very, very critical. So they're talking. It's a financial podcast, and Women Share is actually what they say is a celebration of women in the financial industry. And so they're very, very targeted with their audience. And when a sponsor is out there looking for shows that have a particular audience, they want to know that if they're. That if they're investing their money in your show, that you have that exact audience that they're looking for. And that's why it's so absolutely critical.

Larry Roberts [00:03:14]:

And, you know, it's interesting, though, because I was just working on the podfest messenger newsletter, and there's an article that just came out off of Wired.com that was talking about how chat podcasts are always going to be the industry leader. And that can be kind of confusing because I know when I first started podcasting, that's what I started was a chat podcast where I was having a chat or a conversation with someone else. And I just felt like I could talk to anybody, just like old Joe Rogan. Right. But I quickly learned that as an independent podcaster, as someone just starting that being very niche down was absolutely critical.

Sara Lohse [00:03:54]:

Especially if you're going after a very targeted brand to sponsor the show. And that's how you're going to get more, like, more money from these sponsors. One of the things that I always recommend looking at is not just what the company is, but what is the product that they're going to be promoting or that they want to sell via your show or your brand. Because if it's something that's like they'll make $2 off of a sale, you might not get a huge amount of money out of them because that's going to take a lot to recoup that investment. But if one product that they sell could be thousands in revenue, something like a financial product that is being sold to financial advisors, those are massive ticket items. So if they sell one, they can recoup their entire investment. So looking at that and not just having. Because a lot of people say, like, what should my one, like, sponsorship package offering be? Or what should my like, offerings be as a package? And I usually say to not make a package ahead of time because you want to be able to really tailor it to the person that you're talking to the.

Sara Lohse [00:05:03]:

To the brand that you're talking to. The same with pitching yourself to be on a podcast and same with writing a resume and a cover letter. Don't just have it be generic. You need to tailor it to who you're talking to. Because you can pitch a $5,000 sponsorship to two different brands, and one of them will say, that's outrageous. And one of them will say, oh, yeah, we can do that. So you really want to know who you're talking to and make sure that they know who your show is talking to.

Larry Roberts [00:05:30]:

So how do you convey that message? Do you convey it just with episodic content on your podcast, or should you put together a pitch deck, and if so, what's that look like?

Sara Lohse [00:05:41]:

I recommend a pitch deck or a media deck, whatever people want to call it. And you want to bring in as much information as you possibly can. And by doing that, you can even bring in sponsors and brand deals before a show even launches. If you're able to leverage other numbers outside of just your download numbers, because it's really the download number of your show is just kind of the starting point. What else are you giving them? What other value are you able to present? What other ways of reaching your audience are you able to give? So before you even launch your show, do you have an email list? Are you sending out regular newsletters? What's the open rate for those newsletters? How many people are on the list? Do you have a social media page or social media group that's really active and people are constantly posting or commenting? That's a really active audience. On social, you can leverage that as well. So finding other places that you can just bring value. So instead of saying that, oh, we're expecting to get X number of downloads, or our show does get X number of downloads, you can say, we get that, but we also can send out an email blast to our list of this many, and we can send out social posts to this many people? So.

Sara Lohse [00:06:57]:

So you're able to just give them more and more value.

Larry Roberts [00:07:00]:

And how critical is it that that pitch deck be designed in a way that reflects the brand promise of your show?

Sara Lohse [00:07:08]:

I would say very. If I were to get a brand media deck, and it's, this looks very aligned. This is exactly what I want. And then the content comes out and it's something out of left field. And I had no idea what I was getting into. I'd be pissed. When you're choosing. When a sponsor is choosing a show, and even when you're choosing a sponsor, you want to make sure that branding is very clear because it is really a recommendation.

Sara Lohse [00:07:36]:

It's you saying that I Like this product, I'm going to recommend it to my people and vice versa. If I'm going to sponsor your show, that's me supporting your show. That's me saying that I like this show. I want to align my brand with it. So I, it can be really tempting to any brand that comes in that's offering you money to take it. But you have to remember you are aligning your brand with theirs, and that is a decision that you should not take lightly.

Larry Roberts [00:08:07]:

Well, and that's something too, that you got to consider, because depending on your content, you know, sponsors may want to come in and control the content as well. You know, maybe you have a particular guest on or maybe you're covering a subject matter that might be a little sensitive to that particular investor or sponsor. There's a good chance they'll come back and go, hey, let's, let's, let's cut that out or let's take that episode down or move our sponsorship to a different episode. So while it's great having sponsors and it's great getting those types of brand deals, you also have to be cognizant of the potential impact that it has on your creative freedom.

Sara Lohse [00:08:43]:

Yeah, and that is a problem that you can probably fix just in contract. So outlining it very clearly and whatever, like contract and paperwork you send to them that you have full creative control and outlining what they're able to suggest or if they're able to make any changes or suggestions. So you might be able to fix that. But at the same time, if they, if, even if they sign it and they don't like what you're saying, they can pull their investment. So it doesn't matter really what's in writing. You have to keep them happy because it's their money.

Larry Roberts [00:09:16]:

Well, and I think you kind of nailed something there, too. It's, it's so important that you not only have a nice, clean branded pitch deck, but you also need to have a nice, clean, detailed, very specific agreement slash contract with these particular sponsors as well. So with that in mind, I mean, do we need to hire a lawyer to put something together or, I mean, would like, I don't know, legalzoom.com or something work out for us? What do you, what do you feel about that, Sara?

Sara Lohse [00:09:44]:

See, that's a good question. That is probably over my head, all of my, all of my contracts, honestly, I've made them like Microsoft Word using templates. I know there are templates out there for things like this. If you, there's a lot of legal Creators who make things like this specifically for content creators, specifically for podcasters. There are lawyers out there that specifically work with podcasters. Gordon Firemark being one of our favorites. He's a friend of ours, so he can definitely answer questions. But just make sure you're protecting yourself, because even if it's something that you write out by yourself, you can write your own contract.

Sara Lohse [00:10:22]:

It's might not be recommended by the actual lawyer world, but if that's how you want to do it, just make sure that you're very clear on what you're offering, what your expectations are, and what their expectations should be. Because if you're just leaving it up to like, oh, we had a verbal agreement, that's not going to hold up.

Larry Roberts [00:10:41]:

Yeah. I just want to say that everything that was just stated was stated by Sara Losi, and it was not stated by Larry Roberts, and it's not intended to be legal advice. So with that, let's dial it back to a little safer topic and talk about.

Sara Lohse [00:10:56]:

Hey, you're the one who asked about it. I mean, here's our disclaimer. These are our. The opinions of our host do not reflect the opinions of Branded, though, that they do because it's us. But, yeah, something like that.

Larry Roberts [00:11:10]:

Something like that, you know, but go.

Sara Lohse [00:11:12]:

Ahead and help us.

Larry Roberts [00:11:13]:

Yeah, please, Gordon, help us. Gordon Firemark, you're our only hope. So, but if you get that reference, you're old enough. That's good. But no, I. It's. It's absolutely critical that you do have those agreements. You know, granted, this isn't the podcast to give you that legal advice to get those in place, but just as a.

Larry Roberts [00:11:30]:

Overview and guidelines. Yeah, just. Just spell everything out and make it very, very clear. But I, I think going back to a safer topic for us would be potentially the pitch deck, because that always throws people for a loop. You talked a lot about combining and laying it out in a way that shows overall reach. Are there any standards or best practices that you typically use when you're designing one of these? Is there, like a typical page count? Is it, you know, vertical or horizontal? Are there anything. And then how do we distribute it? Do we put it in a Word document and throw it at them? Do we put it in a PDF? I mean, what are some of the best practices there?

Sara Lohse [00:12:11]:

That was 14 questions in one. Thank you.

Larry Roberts [00:12:13]:

Well, you know, I wanted to cover it so I could shut up and just let you talk. That's kind of me.

Sara Lohse [00:12:18]:

Why. Why is this all on me? You know, this stu.

Larry Roberts [00:12:22]:

The thing. And I'm Throwing this on you because this is what you really specialize in. I mean, this is. You specialize in doing the creative decks. And I mean for our clients, you put the decks together, we talk about them together, but you end up putting it all together. So from that perspective, I do lean on you quite a bit. And that's why I was leaning on you once again to share your insights.

Sara Lohse [00:12:41]:

Yeah, I don't know if I necessarily have best practices as far as the format. I think it depends on the amount of content. So if it's a lot of content that I want to put in there, I might do it as an actual presentation. It also depends on how the client wants to present it. If it's something that they just want to send over for someone to look at, I might make it just a handout type, like one sheeter. If it's something that they want to present and really walk through it, then I'll make it as a presentation. But it's. We kind of, I think, overlook sometimes the basics that we should put in these.

Sara Lohse [00:13:16]:

Like we assume maybe while when we're talking about this that the brand knows who are, what our show is and everything. And they might not. This might be almost like a cold pitch. So you want to make sure that you have the unique listening proposition of your show. The an introduction to the hosts so that they know who is going to be talking about their brand. You want to have some information about who the audience is and not only the audience that you're actively reaching, like your download numbers, but what's the potential audience if your audience, like we were talking about women share is women financial advisors. How many women financial advisors are there in the country? Because that gives you some insights into some potential audience.

Larry Roberts [00:14:02]:

I knew the answer to that trivia question at one time because they actually mentioned it on their show.

Sara Lohse [00:14:06]:

I know it's.

Larry Roberts [00:14:07]:

I can't remember the number.

Sara Lohse [00:14:07]:

It's in their deck, the deck I made, so I should know. But it's been a while. But that's like that. That's a potential audience and that's a potential number of people that they could reach. Does that mean they're going to reach that many people? No, but it's potential and that's some good information because one of the things that you want to portray when you're talking to these brands is what you're going to be doing with the money that they're giving you. And some of that should be going towards paid promotions. So if you're giving us X number of dollars, it's not just going into our pocket. Like, this percentage goes into advertising so that we can reach a greater audience.

Sara Lohse [00:14:50]:

So if we're reaching this number organically, this is how, like, how many more we can reach once we start doing that promotion.

Larry Roberts [00:14:58]:

I dig that. I like that. I've never thought of that or heard of that. I swear I've never heard that before. But that's a really, really good idea, and I think it's a. A great hook there for potential sponsors going, hey, here's my reach. But we're going to be investing 15 of. Of your investment into paid ads and reaching a much larger audience than our typical episodes.

Larry Roberts [00:15:23]:

Dude, that's freaking. That's crazy. That's super smart.

Sara Lohse [00:15:26]:

I have my moments.

Larry Roberts [00:15:28]:

Well, they're brief, but that's one of them. Yeah, we'll log that one for sure. No, that's. That's a great idea, Ben. Seriously. So I. I think there's so many creative ways to start landing sponsorships and start landing these brand deals that if you sit down, you kind of put pen to paper, then you can kind of figure these things out and look at it from different angles. And looking at it from that perspective right there just really blows me away.

Larry Roberts [00:15:53]:

That's freaking amazing. But don't get caught up in the old school mentality of this is how it's done, because that. It's not how it's done. You know, it's how it's been done. And sure, that may still work, but, man, don't hesitate to get creative with these pitches. Don't hesitate to get creative with your offerings. You know, I know you said earlier that not. Not to necessarily have packages, but, you know, you could potentially have foundational packages that you could manipulate and switch around.

Sara Lohse [00:16:22]:

When I say not when I say I don't have packages, I think I mean that more. So as far as dollar value.

Larry Roberts [00:16:28]:

Yeah. Okay.

Sara Lohse [00:16:29]:

So don't, like, don't be like, this is our. This is firm. This is our pricing. Like, this is just. This is what we have. Because you want to be able to accommodate bigger or smaller brands. You don't want to, like, leave money on the table if you're talking to a much bigger brand. But you also don't want to lose opportunities when it comes to smaller ones.

Sara Lohse [00:16:48]:

So I think if you take some time to look at the products that they're promoting and the cost of those and almost like, kind of try to figure out what their margins are, all of that technical nonsense that I don't understand, but all those business terms yeah. Like if. If one sale from your show would make them $5, they're not going to give you $10,000 if you don't have a big audience. But if one sale could make them $5,000, they are much more likely, no matter how big or small your show is, to give you at least enough for one or two sales. So. Because that's a safe. Almost like a safe investment. I'm not a financial advisor.

Sara Lohse [00:17:29]:

Don't quote me on that. But no, you said something a minute.

Larry Roberts [00:17:33]:

Ago, man, that I was about to build on, and now it's gone.

Sara Lohse [00:17:36]:

Oh, God, what was it?

Larry Roberts [00:17:37]:

Oh, that's gonna be great. But now it's gone. And I can't remember what that was, but it was. It was very insightful. So tune into future episodes of Branded, because I remember between now and then.

Sara Lohse [00:17:47]:

Was it about the cost of the episode, of the products?

Larry Roberts [00:17:51]:

No, no, no. It was before that.

Sara Lohse [00:17:54]:

Size. Size of business. Pricing out. Leaving money on the table.

Larry Roberts [00:17:57]:

Oh, that's it. Leaving money on the table. Thank you. Yes. So what I was going to say is that, man, leaving money on the table is one of the easiest things that you could do. And I say this because over the last 18 to 24 months, I've left tens of thousands of dollars on the table because I was afraid to ask. I was like, shouldn't ask for that amount because I already made an assumption in my head that they could afford this amount. And then they were rude enough to tell me that they'd already budgeted X amount and it was considerably more than what I had the testicular fortitude to ask for.

Sara Lohse [00:18:33]:

So and so. Well, you're talking about for speaking.

Larry Roberts [00:18:36]:

So you're talking about for anything. It doesn't matter, you know, whether it's speaking, whether it's getting sponsors. Yeah, that happened to me specifically for speaking.

Sara Lohse [00:18:43]:

Yeah.

Larry Roberts [00:18:43]:

But at the same time, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what it is. You know, have. Have the audacity to ask. You know, we talk about big audacious Hairy goals or whatever that saying is. Have that big audacious Hairy goal for your sponsorship and don't be afraid to ask for it. You know what the worst thing they can say is? No, no. But it opens up the table for negotiations at least.

Sara Lohse [00:19:04]:

Yeah. That's what I'm gonna add.

Larry Roberts [00:19:06]:

That's where you can come and work with the client, work with the potential sponsor, and know that you're getting the absolute most for your value.

Sara Lohse [00:19:14]:

Yeah. And one thing that I've seen that women share does That I think. I'm not sure if this is part of their strategy or just how it happens, but even before a sponsor sponsors their show, they have them on as a guest, and it's a way to have, like a really good conversation and introduce the product or the topic to their audience and engage if it's something that they're interested in, things like that. So that's also something that you can think about is not only a sponsorship opportunity, but just having them on the show and starting the conversation and then going from there. Because if you need an in to talk to this company, that can be a good in, because you're off the. Like, just like from the beginning, offering them value instead of asking for something.

Larry Roberts [00:20:00]:

Yeah, exactly. And I mean, it's kind of the same with, with Scott Joseph from Business Bourbon and Cigars, who's a former client, still client and friend of mine. Everybody that he brings on his show is a potential client. So everybody that's coming on is a potential. We'll call it a sponsor. So there's. There's that opportunity to leverage your guests for that as well. So this kind of goes back to being creative, you know, and leveraging every aspect of your show and just using anything you can use to your advantage to potentially turn what you're doing, that's not only your passion, but also into your source of income.

Larry Roberts [00:20:34]:

So don't hesitate to start putting something together and start asking for these sponsorships.

Sara Lohse [00:20:40]:

Definitely. And don't feel like you need to wait until your numbers are off the charts. Just work with what you've got and find ways to really leverage the numbers, leverage the audience and all the different aspects that you can. Bring all the numbers together and make them as big as they can look. And you'll have a. What is what?

Larry Roberts [00:20:59]:

Nothing. Nothing.

Sara Lohse [00:21:01]:

I mean, like your spring, your social numbers and your email numbers, everything, just like, add them all together.

Larry Roberts [00:21:07]:

I got it. I got. I got it. Make it look as big as you can. I got it.

Sara Lohse [00:21:11]:

And this is Brandon. We'll talk to you next week.

Larry Roberts [00:21:13]:

If you found some value in this episode of the podcast, do us a favor, go ahead and smash that subscribe button and seriously get out there, start finding sponsors, start finding those brand deals and. And again, convert your passion into income. So with that, I'm Larry Roberts.

Sara Lohse [00:21:27]:

I'm Sara Lohse, and we'll talk to you next week.