How to Approach Brands for Sponsorships as an Artist

par Elinore Trompeter

The relationship between brands and public figures (artists, influencers, athletes, celebrities) has always been a strong one. Partnerships for the purpose of building a bigger name for oneself and promoting a cause has been a common practice since the advent of modern media. But now that “influence” carries an entirely new meaning, the concept and execution of sponsorships has taken on a life of its own and grows evermore present and frequent, and on every scale of magnitude.

1. Why Get a Sponsorship?

Sponsorships allow you to make valuable exchanges. In most cases, public figures seek out brand partnerships to expand their reach, augment their credibility, and/or receive payment. Here’s what we mean:

Reach

This could come in a number of forms depending on who you’re partnering with and what they sell. You could get reposted on their social networks, asked to participate in a photoshoot for a print or TV advertisement, mentioned in a magazine or online publication, have your music played in association with them, and so much more. By nature, as a brand, they can reach promotional corners that you may not be able to as an individual, thus reaching an audience segment presently unavailable to you. 

Credibility

We are all highly influenceable, and seeing a well-respected platform or company support and promote someone can do wonders to our subconscious brain and how we view that person’s career. By “we”, I also mean other brands. Getting sponsorships sends a message to the public and other companies that you have influence, are climbing the ranks in your domain, and are worth spending resources on. With enough partnerships, this area of your career will be the hand that feeds itself.

Payment

It goes without saying that payment is always welcome. There is no shame in looking for a sponsor to fund your current projects and lifestyle. If you are less interested in the reach and credibility a partnership could offer, financial compensation is often the simplest exchange to arrange with brands.

2. What Do You Have to Offer?

Understanding what you bring to the table is a necessity if you want to pitch yourself to a brand and strike a good deal. Create a list of the things you possess that brands may be interested in getting a piece of. 

Big Following

Take note of your follower count across all of your socials. The bigger the following, the more likely the sponsorship. It goes without saying that there is a positive correlation between your number of followers and the number on the check you receive afterwards. Do not forget to take note of the traffic on any other online platform you’re active on. Check your streaming platform artist pages, website visits, and anywhere else you may get a lot of clicks

If your online presence is your biggest asset, you can offer to post branded content on your social media, mention the brand on your website, throw in their product name in a song lyric (it happens more often than you think), or whatever else you can think of. Get creative with your proposals.

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Can you spot the product placement?

Particular Demographic

Brands sometimes reach out to people with a specific type of following that they want to tap into. For example, let’s say a brand that sells women’s clothing wants to shift demographics and make their target market young women between 20-30 years old as opposed to their current 30-40 year old consumer base. If you are Taylor Swift, this brand might be interested in a sponsorship so they can reach your large audience of Swifties who fit their target profile. If you know a brand that would do well in marketing for a specific demographic that you know follows you, use this to propose a partnership.

3. Do Thorough Research – This Is a Must

Do not cut corners in your preparation for conversation with a potential sponsor. For myriad reasons, you should be extremely prepared before going into a deal. 

First and foremost, figure out who it is you want to work with and what they sell (product or service). You will essentially be advertising for them in some way, so figure out what type of business makes the most sense for you to be partnered with.

Do they:

  • Sell a personal product (ex. Alo)
  • Sell a digital product (ex. Audible)
  • Sell a service (ex. SeatGeek)

There are some classic influencer brands for you!

Relevance

Make sure the brand you choose is relevant to you and your work. Unless you’ve been raving about how much you love hiking recently, partnering with Arcteryx won’t make sense for either you or them. You must be able to provide each other with something valuable that both of you can benefit from. Will your followers take interest in and connect with what the sponsor has to offer? After all, they are what the copmany views as potential customers.

Values

Once you’ve found a couple brands you see yourself working with, another must is to research their mission and values. It’s important that they align with your own values, as you wouldn’t want to share your platform with a brand that stands for something you do not believe in. You should take your audiences into account as well; would they mind if you were to promote a fast-fashion brand? PR is fragile nowadays – be smart about who you associate yourself with. Brand-awareness is of the utmost importance.

Current Standard

Finally, research what sponsorships between brands and people with a similar following to you usually entail (especially payment rates). This way, you’ll know whether or not you’re getting a fair deal if you receive an offer.

4. Reach Out

Alright, preparation is done and you know who you want to start talks with. Reach out to them yourself or have a manager contact their partnerships department. Email is preferred, though you can DM them on Instagram as well. It’s likely that they ask you to email them from there, but at least you will have gotten an initial response.

Elevator Pitch It

In your message, tell the brand who you are, why you like them and why you think you should work together. Why would a partnership make sense and how would it benefit the both of you? Outline what you can offer the brand, what you’d like in exchange (without getting specific) and ask if they are interested. 

When explaining what you bring to the table, use numerical data. Numbers are your best friend here. You can include your follower count for each or all platforms, engagement rates, views, monthly listeners on Spotify, website visits, subscribers, and any other data point you’ve pulled from your previous research. Add hyperlinks to anything relevant (socials, artist pages, website) so they can check you out themselves, and above all, keep the message short and sweet. You do not want it to come off as though you need them more than they need you. You simply want to pitch a proposal.

To summarize:

  • Who are you?
  • What do you do?
  • Why do you want to work together?
  • What can you offer?
    • Use data
  • Where can they find you?
    • Use links

As mentioned earlier, sponsorships don’t have to be just monetary compensation! When reaching out, tell them what you’re really looking for. Sometimes, they’ll be happier to give you resources and connections than they would be to pay you for a mention.

5. Remember What You Came For

In the event that they wish to talk further, remember to keep your best interests in mind as you go back and forth. Don’t agree to anything that might compromise the image you’ve built for yourself just because it’s been offered to you. Leverage what you can to get the best deal for you. With every deal comes negotiation, and nothing is set in stone until there is a written agreement – don’t be afraid to negotiate any terms you’re not happy with. 

Let’s say you’re striking up a deal with a brand that wants you to post about them on social media. Firstly, they’ll give you a list of “deliverables”. These are the assets they’ll want you to be posting along with relevant details for each (context, hashtags, mentions). Here’s an example.

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Seems pretty simple, right? Once again, deliverables can be negotiated. If you know your followers well enough to guess that they’d be bothered by that many sponsored posts, propose a counter-offer of less posts for a smaller rate, or more story posts and less feed posts… whatever makes you comfortable. 

Finally, keep in mind that the people you’re negotiating with are human. Be kind and respectful during your interactions to maintain a good relationship with the brand. Who knows, you may work together again one day!

Now that you have a partnership under your belt, learn from it. You can now move forward with a minimum rate (since you’ve been paid that amount, you know you’re worth the equivalent or more), more leverage for future partnerships (since you’ve already had a sponsor), and experience negotiating your terms. You’ve knocked over the first domino, let the rest follow.

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