Great content can come from any direction. Google Hangout’s is a tool you can use to distribute that great content and the people love it! Sure, written articles have been the “go-to” format for quite some time now, however, with Google’s new take on how we can push this content out to people has given the term “content” a whole new meaning.
I have been fortunate enough to carve out a niche for myself that is highly needed in this marketing era we’re coming into, and that is Relationship Marketing. If you haven’t caught any of the shows, I highly recommend you go watch a couple on my YouTube channel and see what it’s all about because it will definitely change your way of thinking!
Since I started the show, people have asked me how did I land such a huge company sponsor with PicMonkey, so I thought I would take the time to share that with you in this article.
Choosing the Sponsor
As bad as I would like to tell you that PicMonkey came to me and begged to be my sponsor, it just never happened! I had to go out and find them on my own, and you should too.
When you first start the journey of monetizing your Google Hangout with sponsors you need to make sure that the sponsor is relevant to your target audience or something you really love and could promote it flawlessly. In my case, PicMonkey, where it’s an image editing site, was getting used all of the time in my marketing efforts to create better images that drew attention to my social media posts.
Making the sponsor line up with your followers and viewers is a crucial play. Because when the time comes to direct people to the link, it’s got to be something that they’re going to be interested in or your sponsor isn’t going to stay around long.
My suggestion is to first think of all the tools that you use to build your own social media or website or business online in general and write these companies down with your most favorite first. After you have done this, take a little time to try and find something new about the product. Perhaps there is something they do that you don’t know about. Before you can get ready for the approach, you have to understand the company fully.
The Criteria
It’s been my experience that people/companies that you are wanting to sponsor your Hangout need to have an active Google Plus page or profile. The reason for this will be that since they are already on Google Plus, they’ve heard of Hangouts on Air and they know the value that it brings. The comments on the event page, the description in the event page, banner images, etc. If they are active on this platform, you’re halfway there.
They’re not all going to jump out at you. One reason may not be what you think it is though. You may think that they’re not jumping on the bandwagon with you because you didn’t write the pitch good enough, but in reality, they won’t respond because they’re just not active.
You can tell whether someone or their page is active on G+. Just go to their stream and look to see how often they post, and what kind of engagement they are doing with their followers. You may find an active page that has no engagement, and that usually means that the person/page is using some form of scheduling like DoShare. If that is the case, all hope isn’t lost yet. That may simply mean they’re not finding the time to have a personal experience on the platform (which you can remedy).
As I said before, if the companies that you have written down do not have active G+ pages, then they won’t see the value of advertising this way with you. This is not to say that it can’t be done, it’s simply easier to “sell” someone when they’re already here and know what you’re talking about.
The Protection
Some people are comfortable selling people anything and promoting anything to make a buck. I recommend that you ask these questions to yourself before approaching that company for sponsorship:
- Do I use this product?
- Can I proudly promote this product to my followers?
- Will this product help my followers in any type of way?
- Does this product have any type of scams anywhere that could possibly take my followers money?
- Are there any bad reviews about this product?
You get the point. Don’t create a bad bridge between a product and your following. You are the protector and it’s up to you to shield these great people from anything that may not seem legit….but you already knew that, right?
The Approach
This is actually where all of your homework comes into play. All of that research is getting squeezed into the timeframe of five minutes while this person reads your pitch. You’ve got to know your stuff.
For the sake of time, I have created a downloadable template that you can use. All you need to do is edit in the right places and tweak it a bit for your pleasure, and this will help! This was the exact model I used to bring in PicMonkey as a sponsor. Please know that not every company will respond the same way these people did with me. This is not the rule to approach companies, just some help. Remember, you don’t talk money on the approach. This is to simply get them interested! Click the link to download!
Take the class to get your Google Hangout Sponsor today!
Template for Google Hangout Sponsor
View it on SlideShare:
Once you send the above to your company, wait for the response. If one does come, then the rest is pretty easy to do. If that helped, I would love it if you shared this with your followers and told me so in the comments!
Wade Harman
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