How to WOW a Sponsor for Your Next VIRTUAL Event

When it comes to events, most can’t rely just on ticket sales to sustain the profitability of an event. You need sponsorship from brands that connect directly with the demographics of your attendees and the theme of your event. While we’re all going through uncertain times and most LIVE events have been put on hold for at least 2020, brands are still looking for unique ways to connect with their audience online.

While you begin to create your sponsorship packages to pitch to brands, keep in mind these 6 key components that will provide an unforgettable brand experience.

1. Event Production: How unique is your VIRTUAL event? Will your attendees be able to interact with the product brand in some way?

2. Branding: What online branding opportunities are there? Keep in mind that brands want to see their logo placed on the website, invites, on social media etc.

3. Marketing: What is your marketing strategy that includes the brand? Do you have a newsletter campaign in place that will include the brands logo or will you send out a dedicated newsletter campaign for the brand?

4. Advertising: Are you advertising the event on traditional media or other websites?

5. Public Relations: Will you be doing any press outreach to local or national media and how will the brand be included? Can you use a key brand executive as a spokesperson for your event?

6. Social Media: Have you developed a robust social media campaign that includes dedicated posts for your sponsored brands? What about including a contest with the brand?

These are all important items you can use to not only create a unique brand experience, but to also leverage the sponsorship dollars for your event. The more you can provide, the more funding you can ask for, but remember, it comes down to how many attendees and eyeballs you will reach with both your marketing and day-of event attendees, as well as the demographics of your attendees. Brands are being more specific than ever on WHO they support, so make sure that you understand who they want to target from gender, age range, ethnicity and beyond!

For more information, please contact Natalie@retromedianyc.com and follow us on Instagram at @retro.media.nyc

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Top 4 Ways To Create An Authentic Personal Brand

When it comes to personal branding, there's a fine line. Too little, and you get lost in the sauce of countless others trying to grab a piece of the spotlight. Too much, and people may think you’re just bragging.

Here are the top four personal branding tips: 

1. Dedicate yourself to two or three social media networks

Pick two or three platforms to concentrate on and really establish yourself, rather than trying to be on every network possible.  One huge mistake people make is spreading themselves too thin by trying to be everywhere. They try to be on every social media platform and soon burn out because they can’t keep up. It’s a recipe for disaster.

I chose Facebook, Instagram and Twitter because they are suited for the demographic that I want to target as well as my clients.  I also have a Linked In account but that's for professional networking.

Once you have mastered these platforms, then you can consider another platform.

2.  Build solid relationships with people

Blasting self-promotional posts to a complete stranger isn’t going to work.  Remember this rule: It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.  Start building solid connections with influential people within your industry.  Creating meaningful relationships will get you a lot further than having 20,000 fans on Facebook.  Invest your time in connecting with real people, real time.  Be authentic and allow people to get to know your personality and what you're about.  Don’t try to be anyone but yourself.  Take a genuine interest in what they do and show them how you could help them and in return they will want to help you.

3. People want to do business with people, not faceless corporations

It's all about creating an experience.  Personal branding is about showing that a real person is behind a business.  Don't just be a company, be the face of your company. People want to do business with people, not corporations.  It also helps in outwitting Google’s algorithms, because think about it, How many people in your industry have the same name as you?  Aside from the famous comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, I'm pretty much in the clear.

A social media post or blog article from the founder of a company is way more powerful than a post from a company profile, so get out of your comfort zone and don't hide behind your screen.

4. Dedicate yourself to your personal branding strategy

People tend to think that building a brand happens over night.  I assure you that is not the case.  Building a social media presence takes a lot of time, some money and effort.  You really need to put aside a solid amount of time each day to your social media networks.  Connect with your fans, respond to posts, comments and create engaging content.  Connecting with the right people will definitely open doors and support your personal branding efforts. 

To sum it all up, personal branding should always be about being authentic and providing a real life experience. You want to really show your followers your dedication, authenticity and most importantly your PASSION for what you do. He was passionate about connecting with people. He loved every bit of it.

4 Ways to Launch a FREE Public Relations Campaign

- Natalie Maniscalco

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, finding the budget to launch a savvy public relations and marketing campaign can be a challenge; however, I cannot deny how instrumental it is in creating a successful and long-lasting business.  If you do not have the budget to hire a publicist (like moi), which can often be quite costly, I’ve put together a few effective ways you can do on your own.  But before you embark on your launch, first develop a strategy and a schedule to help manage your time.  Execution and management of a PR and marketing campaign takes time (a lot of time for that matter) and in order to do it right, you must create a plan of action.  First, think about your audience and your objectives or goals.  Write them down and specifically answer, “Who do you want to reach and what do you want to achieve?” Once you have these in place you’ll be able to smoothly dive into these four ways to promote your business on a non-existent budget.

1.  Create a news hook.  Reporters are looking for good stories with a good angle.  If you're just looking to publicize your product or business, then take out an ad, but if you're looking to provide an experience or a human element to your business, develop a story idea that your audience will want to read.  The way I explain it to clients is, you have a square, but in PR, you need to create a circle, and a triangle and all other different shapes from what appears to be in front of you.  Really think about what makes you unique.  It could even be a personal triumph on how you started your business.  For example, maybe it’s a rags to riches kind of story; a pivotal moment or struggle in your life that brought you to where you are today or you can even hook it to a specific holiday.  Think outside the box.  Once you have a news hook, you can then pitch your story to reporters and producers.

2.  Develop a nose for news.  Read the news every day and know what's going on in your industry.  Best way to find the right reporter to connect with is to google key words about your industry or business, hit "news" and search through the variety of articles that pop up and are relevant to your business.  Once you identify a reporter that covers your industry, check to see if you can find their email address.  Sometimes it's located under their names or at the bottom of the article.  If not, google them or search for them on Twitter where most journalists post their stories. You can even connect with them on LinkedIn, an excellent networking tool that will give you complete background information on the reporter.  Once you have defined your news hook, email the reporter and make sure to reference the article they've written and include why they would be interested in you as a feature story or even why you might be an excellent source for their next article.

3.  Be organized and respond quickly.  Once you've initiated a relationship with a reporter or producer of a TV show, do everything in your power to make THEIR lives easier.  Provide them with expert quotes or information that are clear and concise; check spelling and grammar.  The easier you make their job, the more often they will want to continue to work with you and with time will start contacting you directly for help, whether it's for a TV spot or to act as an expert source on a relevant news story.  These are both excellent ways to build your brand and image.

4.  Connect with celebrity publicists.  If you manufacture a particular product the fastest way to garner awareness is to get a celebrity endorsement.  More often then not, many celebrities want to be paid for their endorsements but every so often you may get lucky!  You can research publicists who represent celebrities through websites called whorepresents.com and contactanycelebrity.com.  Both website provide contact information for publicists.  You can reach out about your product and see if they are willing to accept a free sample.  Politely ask if they are willing to post a photo up on social media and if there's room for some budget, you might want to invest in a legitimate celebrity endorsement.