You’ve spent the past few months behind your computer, building an online community while streaming and created an online personality that might be interesting for brands to work with. Time has come to reach out to them, but… how do you actually draft a sponsorship proposal?
We already covered how marketers evaluate them, but now we’ve gone ahead and built a checklist you can follow to start building your sponsorships!
Clean up your digital trail
Your user/player name. Most of us have been playing online for a while now, meaning we created our social media and gaming handles when we were around 15 years old. Chances are pretty high that we had a very stupid or maybe even offensive username. If this is the case, we’d advise you to rebrand your username, because a sponsor probably wants to communicate about you… which won’t happen if you’ve named yourself xpussydestroyer69x.
Your social media. We’re going to Google you and look at all of your social media, because that’s how you’re going to promote the company and the product. If your tweets/posts/stories don’t align with the brand’s image, it’s a no. Don’t expect a lot of response when you only use your social media to flame on other creators or brands.
While you’re at it, this might be the time to Google yourself and delete any embarrassing images you find, delete outdated social media channels, toxic comments on blog posts, or even revise your facebook privacy settings. Remember: The first impression can make or break this proposal.
Drafting the proposal
Take your time. You only have one shot, so preparation is key! Take your time and open a word document or powerpoint presentation to develop a structured sponsor proposal. Tip; Download our powerpoint template.
Treat this like a job interview. If your pitch is written on your phone, and looks lazy, that’s all we’ll see. We can only expect you to be lazy in our partnership, too, so we won’t be interested.
Tell them about you. Take the time to introduce yourself as a person. Marketers want to know who you are, see insights about your stream and community, and hear why you want to work with the brand.
Be descriptive, but concise. Tell them about the genres you play, but don’t describe the games. And don’t write an essay mentioning each one of the 100+ games that are in your steam account.
Language. Chances are that the marketeer or brand manager you’re contacting is from another area, or that English isn’t your first language. Negotiating in your own language is tricky, so how on earth are you going to negotiate in a language that is not your own? That’s why we think you should mention the languages you speak in your proposal, because they might speak the same as well!
Don’t belittle yourself. Don’t tell marketers that you’ll probably get turned down, or that you think you’re too small. If there isn’t a followers quota, fucking go for it. Some marketers prefer creative content instead of a crazy follower count.
Confidence will get you farther than you think!
Pitch deck. We’ll look at the content you create; from your stream clips to your Instagram stories. We’ll analyse your statistics and we’ll calculate your engagement rate.
Do yourself a favor and create a pitch deck with your favorite projects. This way you can guide them to content that you’re most proud off! If you want to help us see the best of you, make sure it’s ready to be seen. Tip: Download our powerpoint template!
Talk about your achievements. Talk about your community, let them know about your successful charity events, and tell them about your achievements. Everything that might show them that you can mobilize your community. If you’ve had success with other brands, you’ll be showing them the return on investment (ROI). And for a marketer, the ROI is literally the end goal. They’ll be focussed on how you can help him increase the sales volume.
Don’t lie. This might be the most important part of your pitch. Don’t lie about your stats! If we’re already partnering with streamers, we’ll definitely have tools to show literally everything about your stream. If a marketer has any doubts you inflate your CCV by viewbotting, artificially boosted your chat activity, or cheated on any other way, it’ll be an immediate no. If they can’t trust you, they won’t work with you.
Do your homework. You should always know who you are talking to, what their target audience is, and how they are currently achieving their goals. This way you can build your proposal around it.
Leveraging yourself.
Ask them what’s in it for you. This one is to show that you won’t just blindly promote. Your channels are YOURS. If you’re going to promote something, you should be compensated. You shouldn’t have to earn the ability to get commission.
Here is a list of possible partnerships you could request:
- Affiliate: You are compensated by the sales you generate. No sales? No money! The compensation might vary from company to company, so here are a few important questions you should ask them:
- Do you make a commission per sale, per click on a link, or per code use?
- Do they have the option to eventually provide a Cost Per View deal?
- Do you have access to a dashboard to keep track of your sales/clicks/earning?
You should ALWAYS be able to see what you’ve done and how much you’ve sold. If they don’t have answers, or get aggravated by your insistence on being in the know, it’s a red flag.
The thing you should realize: You might have been promoting a product for months, but if it didn’t generate any sales you’ve advertised for free.
- Brand Ambassador / Advocate: You help to give the brand a human face. They’ll probably give you free products, and in return you’ll have to show it off on your channels via product placements.
- Sponsored influencer: Working as a sponsored partner means that you’ll be paid for all of your time spent working for a brand (not just for the sales they bring in). It also allows you as a creator to get more creative with the way you incorporate products into your content, which typically results in a more organic video with better performance.
Sending the proposal
Stay professional. Check the company’s website for a contact form, but whatever you do; don’t slide into an employee’s DMs with “Hey”, “Hi” or my personal favorite “Hey buddy”.
Hunt for contact details. The contact forms funnels things into one professional spot to be dealt with, but some websites might not have one. That’s when you see if can find a PR specialist or CM on social media. Politely ask them if there’s a place to contact in regards to the sponsorship program you’re interested in. Whatever you do; don’t DM your pitch to them, unless they ask you to. The reason you don’t want to pitch them is because they are gatekeepers; it’s not their job to handle sponsor request and they are not the decision makers.
Have patience. After all is said and done and you’ve submitted your pitch, the last bit of advice is patience. Wait a week, then message again, politely, to touch base. Don’t ever chase them the next day!
Conclusion
Getting partners is a very delicate process, and it depends on many different factors. It’s definitely not easy to find a partner, so make sure you bring your A game! If you want an extra head start; download our free template now.