Hi Reader,

Here are three updates from me before we dive into the newsletter:

🙋‍♀️ Did a fun AMA on Reddit about what I learned writing the Forte Labs newsletter for the past 2.5 years.

❤️ I'm 2 weeks into the Art of Accomplishment Master Class. Never experienced such a supportive and safe online course environment before.

🇪🇺 Just returned from a wonderful trip home to Germany and the Netherlands. Anyone else following the Euro Cup?

Now, here's what I want to share with you this week...

“Everything is Sponsorable!” Revamping Our Sponsorship Strategy with Justin Moore

As a brand, we’re still fairly new to the sponsorship game. Over the past 1.5 years, we’ve explored dedicated YouTube videos for brands like Notion and Milanote, and occasionally included ads in our weekly newsletter.

All of these sponsorships have been inbound, with the brands reaching out to us. If it felt like a natural fit, we’d give it a shot.

However, we know there’s significant potential to grow our sponsorship revenue and refine our strategy. That’s why we were thrilled to have the chance to be coached by sponsorship expert Justin Moore.

Here’s our eye-opening conversation:

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And these are my top takeaways from this coaching session:

• Everything is “sponsorable”: If you have an audience and their attention, various aspects of your business can be sponsored, provided it serves your audience. Think beyond the classic sponsorship models of YouTube, newsletters or podcasts. Even a book, a course, or community events can be sponsored.
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• Sponsorships should be a win-win-win scenario: They need to benefit the creator, the sponsor, and the audience. If the audience isn’t naturally winning from a sponsorship, it’s the creator’s job to engineer that win.
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• Involve your audience in the process before finalizing any sponsorship deals: Justin suggests conducting a survey to understand what products, services, and brands they are currently using or interested and identify other influencers they follow and would like to see collaborations with. You can then share the insights from the survey with potential sponsors to show them how their product or service aligns with your audience. This pre-emptive approach also ensures that the sponsorship will be well-received and beneficial to your audience.
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• Proactive sponsorship strategy: Justin stressed that moving from a passive, inbound sponsorship approach to a proactive, outbound strategy can yield more lucrative and strategic sponsorships. The best partnerships often come from proactively pitching to brands and aligning yourself with their objectives.
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• Focus on building relationships: When you focus on long-term relationships with fewer, more strategic sponsors rather than numerous short-term ones, you won’t burn yourself out trying to secure and manage sponsorships.
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• Custom proposals: Brands often reach out via email or DM asking for your standard rates. If the conversation stays limited to written exchanges, you’ll likely leave a lot of potential on the table. Instead, get on a call, learn more about their objectives and create a bespoke proposal tailored to their needs and budget, offering multiple tiers of engagement.

If you want to work with Justin, check out his coaching offer or sign up for his newsletter to get his best tips and strategies in your inbox.

Question of the Week

How have you contributed to the problem you’re trying to solve?

This question is from How to Know a Person by David Brooks – a new book on my reading list.

H/T James from my Art of Accomplishment Masterclass Connection Group.

Quote of the Week

Thanks for reading!

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