When to Reach Out to Sponsors

 Do you need a sponsor for an upcoming episode? you’re going to need more than a couple of weeks.  

Welcome to Podcast Workflows where you get daily tips to improve your process, grow your show, and maybe even make some money. Each week, I also do a daily dive into the process of the world’s most successful podcasters and reveal their tools, processes, and systems to help you simplify the production of your own show and reclaim hours in your day. You can improve your own podcast production process by seeing how the pros do it. I’m your host, Joe Casabona. And today we’re going to talk about when to reach out to podcast sponsors. It’s longer than you think.

When it comes to podcast sponsorship outreach, nay, any sponsorship outreach, really, you likely think you’ll need a few weeks lead time. But you probably need a month or more. 

So, today’s tip. Start way before you think you need to. 

Most brands or sponsors aren’t ready to drop money as soon as you email them or even within the same week. Sure. It’s happened for me before, but I already had a relationship with those sponsors or they reached out kind of called to me, ready to spend the money. 

But most of the time, you’re going to need to get approvals and you’re going to need to do some negotiation. And bigger brands might even have a net 30 or net 60 payment schedule for invoices. Meaning, that money isn’t going to come for a while. 

So don’t start when you see that you need sponsors for upcoming episodes. You should have this sort of sales funnel for regular outreach. I’ve had brands decline, then come back in 6-12 months. So, what you should do is reach out in the middle of the current quarter for next quarter, and at the beginning of quarter four for the following year.

You want to catch brands as they’re getting ready to spend for the next round of spending. They have usually already used their budget for September or October if you reach out to them in September or October. And this is important because again, most organizations are setting budgets at the end of the year.

I reach out to all previous and potential sponsors in late September, early October to lock up sponsorship for the upcoming year. So make sure to put that date on your calendar. And again, make sure to follow up. make sure to reach out again. I’ve told my students and coaching clients that I will keep following up until the person I’m emailing says never email me again. So continue to follow up until you get the definitive, No. And put reminders in your calendar to start reaching out a few months before you need it. Because here’s the thing. There’s no harm in selling inventory early, but if you wait too long, your going to have leftover inventory. 

That’s it for this episode. I hope you liked it. Let me know what you think. I’m @jcasabona on X, formerly Twitter and Threads, and maybe Mastodon. I think I’m @jcasabona at Mastodon social. I’m not really active there. Just do X and threads. Or if LinkedIn is your thing, you can find me. I’m Joe Casabona.

Thanks so much for listening. And until next time. I can’t wait to see what you make