Personal Sponsorship- The First Step

The Smart Girl’s Guide to Personal Sponsorship

Step One: Personal Sponsorship is all about Business.

What makes following your bliss even more blissful? Removing the barriers that keep us from our goals. You shared with us how difficult it is financially to attend. BlissDom is dedicated to empowering women and building up our communities. Let’s get the party started by taking the first step in acquiring personal sponsorship.

Who Are You?

It sounds so simple, and it really is. Defining your online brand starts with answering that simple question. Who are you?

Ask yourself these questions:

What three words define your online presence?

Some people are known for biting wit, a snarky style, outrageous statements, dedication to charity work, or brilliant articles. Others are known for beautiful photography, their delicious creations, or brilliant business advice.

Your personal brand is who you are. It is always authentic. The beauty of the digital realm and the social media sphere is that transparency is king. Developing your personal brand is simply putting your best foot forward naturally according to your individual strengths.

Take some time this week to examine the image you have established online. Even those who don’t intentionally develop a brand have a brand. It is the combination of everything you publish, tweet, re-tweet, and promote. Your personal brand is simply who you are.  The question is, are you displaying who you are in a clear light? If not, it is time to readjust your presence.

When I speak about personal branding I suggest that those who use Twitter print their Tweets. When reading the Tweets I suggest looking for patterns. Is the overall tone one of helpfulness, are the Tweets filled with ads and sponsored hashtags, are the Tweets conversational? Patterns quickly emerge. Be sure your online activity is a smart and a true representation of who you are. When personal sponsorship is involved, all online activity matters.

What is the focus of your website?

There are almost as many different website niches as there are websites- from personal blogging with a focus on cooking, to decorating sites, to blogs that cover the history of  rodeo clowns.  What is your site’s focus? What would be a smart choice in terms of officially aligning with a company on a project?

What can you do?

Sponsorships must make sense:

After you have examined your personal brand and defined the niche of your website, it is time to think about what business would make the most sense to promote.

If you are a proponent of natural foods and organic gardening, a business transaction with a snack maker would be silly. Look for businesses that would benefit from your promotion.

Research the options you have to propose a mutually beneficial business transaction with a company.

Define your ability to provide marketing for a company in return for sponsorship.

The trend of bloggers awkwardly handing out flyers or small items while at events is both bad etiquette and disrespectful to the official sponsors. Companies who make large events possible should be shown gratitude for supporting the event. How better to prove that bloggers are professionals than to behave in the most professional way?

The best way to deliver results for your potential client  is to leverage the influence of your voice on multiple platforms and use your website as your marketing tool.

A word of caution: If you are in an ad network with content restrictions, you will need to contact your ad network to discuss your options. All contractual obligations must be upheld.

To recap: Focus on defining your personal brand, assess your ability to provide a valuable service for a potential client using your website, and address any potential issues with contractual obligations to a third party.

Next week we will explore your specific  marketing options in greater detail, help  identify potential companies to approach, and begin crafting a professional business proposal.