The War Wagon

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a one-woman or one-man shop or you’re trying to build a large company. There is an alternative to the traditional connundrum:

Do I bootstrap it or give up equity to an investor for funds?

I attended one of my client’s seminars this past weekend: Christine Comaford-Lynch’s Rules for Renegades Summit. The information I learned there was priceless. And this is the first of a series of articles where I’m going to share with you exactly what I learned there.

I was blown away when one of Christine’s speakers, Brendon Burchard, delivered an inspiring and informative speech about how we can fund our marketing initiatives and gain massive media attention without spending a dime of our own money or giving up equity to an investor. And listen up all you consultants out there: this is a genius approach you can implement for a client and receive a percentage of the funds you secure…

Partner with Non Profits and Corporations

At first I didn’t see the immense leverage in this, but think about it:

• Would you rather build your business from scratch, or launch your business off someone else’s?
• Would you rather fund your company yourself (or sacrifice equity and control for investors), or use another company’s money?
• Would you rather struggle to build your own credibility or borrow another person or organization’s credibility?
• Would you rather fight for every new customer or access an organizations pre-existing customers and members?

I think you get the idea.

“But Why Would a Big Company or Organization Need Me?”

That’s easy. Because they’ve already exhausted their reach. Multi-million or billion dollar companies have largely done all they can themselves to reach their market. They need your unique content to access their audience in a new way. Additionally, many corporations can’t partner with a non-profit unless they have a particular good message or free offer for the organization’s members. But if you have that great message or free offer (such as a free special report or some free copies of your new book), then you become the bridge that allows that corporation to access the non-profit’s market. And they’re willing to “Sponsor” your free offer or message for that access.

Additionally, aligning yourself with your favorite cause does several things:

• You feel good about what you’re doing
• It gives you a great story to go out to the media with
• 86% of people say they prefer spending money on an offer aligned with a charity or cause vs. one that isn’t
• You’re making a difference in the world

Plus it’s not that hard to go after these partnerships. 56% of them begin with a cold call or email!

How to Secure a Partnership or Sponsorship

First, research organizations and causes you’d like to support. If you’re not sure about the right cause you want to back, consider causes that mean a lot to your audience or that target your same audience. I use CharityNavigator.org to research possible charities. I like this site because I can use the advanced search to filter by national organizations, budget, and keyword (cause). Save the organizations you like to your Charity List.

To research corporations, use Hoovers.com or Sponsorships.com. Again, make note of possible partners. Think of companies that share your target audience.

To pitch a non-profit, you want to give them a live call - THEN follow up with an email and proposal. Title the proposal a “Royalty Recipient Packet,” as non-profits are always looking for ways to increase royalties and the proposal needs to be how you’re helping them and not the other way around. Particularly, share how your idea for partnering with them will help raise awareness and funds for their cause.

To pitch a corporation, begin with an email briefly and compellingly introducing your offer. Invite a call and/or ask to send them your proposal. Title your proposal a “Prospectus” and deliver it as a PowerPoint Presentation. If you don’t have Microsoft PowerPoint, you can download OpenOffice for free, which has a compatible program. Brendon points out that corporations have to make decisions in board rooms and to approve your sponsorship request, they need to present your Prospectus in one or more meetings, which will require a presentation.

In both cases, make sure the proposal is no longer than 10 pages and cover:

1. Your Executive Summary
2. Project Overview
3. Your Profile
4. Promotion Plan
5. Partner/Sponsor Results
6. Partner/Sponsor Requests

Write it based on what you can do for them when you have what you’re asking for, not based on what you can accomplish at this point (without what you’re asking for).

In this way, you can raise funds for marketing and PR expenses, and more importantly, you can access the marketing, media, and administrative resources of your partners so that you don’t have to handle these tasks yourself.