#081 – Charmaine Hammond on The Sponsorship Game Plan for Authors

Charmaine Hammond has been in the business of changing lives for more than 25 years. This former Correctional Officer (yup! She worked in jails) and Corporate Dispute Resolution Expert now travels the world teaching the principles of leadership, business success, and collaboration. In business 21 years, she has owned several businesses in Canada and the US.

She is a co-founder of the Evolutionary Business Council whose collective reach exceeds 140 million. She is also co-founder and co-host of the Global Influence Summit. She has sat on all four sides of the sponsorship table (as a Director of nonprofits seeking sponsorship, a specialist in government responsibility for funding/sponsorship portfolio, as an entrepreneur like you seeking sponsorship, and as a sponsor for other people’s events, projects, and dreams).

As a bestselling author (of five books & featured in six others) and Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), she has had tremendous success in finding corporate sponsors to fund her printing, graphic design, venues, travel, media, technology, hotels, even her pet food and dog poop bags! She has developed sponsorship relationships with 100’s of companies.

Tips:

  • Sponsors want access to your audience.
  • Sponsors are often more interested in engagement, not size of your audience. Get people engaged.
  • Sponsors are savvy. They know if you purchased followers or if you had organic growth.
  • Ask sponsors what they think would be meaningful for you to offer. Putting their logo on your website might not appeal to them. Take time to build a relationship with them, spend time asking questions to learn what matters to them and what type of recognition is meaningful to them.
  • Sponsor decision makers receive pitches and proposals all year long, Charmaine shared an example of a sponsor that receives more than 400 proposals a year. You can stand out if you do research on LinkedIn to find common personal connections, build a relationship with them and learn what their objectives are. You can help the sponsor while they are helping you.
  • Contact sponsors with LinkedIn, not email which feels spammy.
  • Sponsorships must feel mutual. Look for the best-fit partnerships. There must be alignment with your brand.

Website: Raise A Dream