Overview
I get approached by ATV riders who are looking for us to provide sponsorship. And most times, I just say "No". Maybe it's because I'm older now and don't have the patience to walk people through the intricacies of what a sponsorship means and what I'm looking for, or maybe I'm just a miserable SOB! That's what this article is about, not me being miserable, but why you always hear "No" when you ask if we can sponsor you. I want to sponsor you and all your friends but only if it makes sense to build that relationship. How do I know if it's worth building the relationship? Don't start the conversation with "Will you sponsor me?"
What Sponsors Need
When you approach a potential sponsor, understand that they want you promoting their brand and their products and services. This is a no-brainer. It's why we're in business and we're all proud of what we've built but we need your help to spread the word about how awesome our businesses are. Companies like Nike would be nothing without the support of not just the superstars, but all the unpaid influencers that use their product. For example, when I was running track and field in high school, the best athlete on our team was sponsored by New Balance. Guess what brand of shoes we all looked for when we started each season?
The point here is, you don't need to sell us on the need for marketing and advertising. We all want it, we just don't want to pay too much for it!
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Building Your Pitch
One of my favorite things is sponsoring riders so getting in the door with Dirty Life for sponsorship is actually pretty easy, but you have to make the dialog easy for me. Like I said before, don't ask me for sponsorship because frankly, I care mostly what you can do for me. One of the most successful pitches and resulting relationships was with Mainville ATV & Outdoors. (If you aren't familiar with them, please check out the Mainville ATV & Outdoors YouTube channel and their website to see their accomplishments and resulting media business called Mainville Media.
Kyle approached me with a phone call one evening, and here's basically how the conversation went:
Kyle: "Hey Mister, I heard about Dirty Life and I work with the Renfrew ATV Club. We have about 5000 members and I'd like to start giving your name out to people there. Do you think that would be ok?"
Me: "Ummm...ya, of course. What's the catch?"
Kyle: "No catch, we have a YouTube channel and I just want to advertise your name on our channel and maybe start working together."
Me: "Ummm...ya, of course. What's the catch?"
Kyle: "No catch, you have great products and you sell a lot of things people are always asking me about."
And 3 years later, the relationship still works because we support each other. We do what we can for them and they do what they can for us.
Notice in how the conversation went that Kyle was wholly focused on Dirty Life and what he could do for us. He never once asked what Dirty Life could do for them, and that made it very easy to start working together. Of course, when Kyle needed (a lot of) parts for his Can-Am Outlander and Cass' Yamaha Kodiak, I gave him a great deal on the parts they were buying, but Kyle didn't ask for that, it was just a natural thing for me to do.
So, when you're getting ready to approach a company looking for sponsorship, make a list of things you can do for them. How are you going to spread their name? How will you be a strong influencer representing their brand? In what ways will you promote their brand? (Remember, it doesn't always have to be through social media.)
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I Don't Care How Many Followers/Subscribers You Have
The number of followers you have is actually not that important if those followers aren't being influenced. Anyone that's watched Instagram grow knows many influencers bought accounts with thousands of followers or simply abused the IG lax rules to manufacture followers (a loophole that's largely been closed now). Having a large number of followers is great if you're representing the brand well.
In 2018, when we launched, as many of you know we worked closely with Job from EhTV who had a YouTube channel that was really hitting its stride. Job didn't have a huge number of subscribers at the time, but I loved his energy and the energy in his videos. Because he was local to Dirty Life and I was looking for someone new and fresh to help us launch our new company, Job seemed a good candidate to help us grow Dirty Life. Through his riding with parts we supplied, and the large number of videos he was producing with Dirty Life as one of two primary sponsors, the Dirty Life brand and the more exclusive products we offered began to scale quickly. But remember, it wasn't the number of subscribers that was attractive to us, it was the fact that his channel was growing which meant a constant feed of new faces for our website.
You don't have to have thousands of subscribers or followers, you have to show that you're truly dedicated to growing our brand along with yours.
Tell Me About Your Goals
In order for you to make our brand successful, you have to be successful yourself. The best way to explain to a sponsor understand how you're going to help them be more successful is to have clear goals and a plan to reach those goals. Most sponsors are eager to help you achieve those goals so also be prepared to explain how their support aligns with where you want to be and in what timeframe.
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Always make your sponsors aware of your milestones before you reach them so they can help you celebrate and even do a little advertising on your behalf. We love to support our sponsored riders with the occasional post or just by sharing posts. The most successful sponsor relationships will always involve both sides working together for mutual growth and benefit.
