Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Sometimes I like to say that no one purchases Pardot because they want a security solution; they do it because they want a secure solution.
One of the attractive features of our cloud model is that Salesforce engineering experts manage the security and trust of the software and its infrastructure. This frees you from maintaining servers, firewalls and security patches so you can focus on growing your business on a platform you can trust, with your data and your reputation.
What’s the difference between security and privacy?
I think of security as the protection of assets against deliberate attacks and inadvertent failures. Security is a prerequisite for privacy — it’s necessary, but not sufficient.
Privacy takes security a step further by implementing practices that protect personal data through mechanisms such as:

minimizing collection and retention of personal data
using data only for the purpose for which it was collected
giving data subjects control over their personal data

Here’s another way to differentiate the two: Security concerns itself with technical controls that protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. Privacy includes technical and non-technical aspects of personal data protection.
For example, privacy laws like CCPA enforce technical security measures because privacy is breached when security fails. But not all privacy breaches are due to technical failures — a breach can also result from mistakes such as mishandling personal data.
Who’s responsible for security and privacy?
Pardot customers’ main security need is for data to remain available and protected. By protected, I mean that data remains accessible only to parties who are authorized to access it, and the integrity of data is safeguarded from illicit modification.
Cyber attacks compromise the integrity of customer information. If you’re a Pardot customer, this could happen in two ways:

attacks on the Pardot cloud infrastructure
attacks on your account

At Salesforce, we go out of our way to protect the cloud infrastructure, relieving you of this burden. But what about the security of your individual account?
The short answer is that, on both the privacy and security front, it’s a cooperative effort between Pardot and you.

On the security side: While Salesforce identity management goes a long way in protecting user accounts, you still have a responsibility to protect your computers and passwords. This goes a long way in preventing cybersecurity incidents. But we can help with that, too! Pardot security features like multi-factor authentication via Salesforce Single Sign-On help to protect your account and keep information safe.
On the privacy side: Security needs and requirements for customers tend to be uniform: “Keep my data safe and help me keep hackers out of my account!” Privacy is different because customers operate in different compliance environments, and privacy and consent requirements vary around the world.
To allow you to meet your particular requirements, Pardot provides rich consent management options. We also provide tracking features that allow you to manage tracking based on your specific compliance environment. Going beyond compliance minimums, Pardot adheres to some baseline standards, such as never aggregating data across customer boundaries or selling customers’ data.
Part of my job as a security and privacy product manager is to understand trends so we can proactively offer features that allow you to establish trusted, compliant privacy practices for your organization. I’ll be speaking more about privacy with a focus on the web ecosystem at a webinar on April 15.
Register today for Pardot Release Highlights: ABM, Privacy, and More
Where can I learn more about Pardot’s security and privacy promises?
When it comes to security and privacy, it’s our job at Salesforce Pardot to give you what you need to do your job. Here are a few references you may find helpful:

Pardot Trust & Compliance Documentation: This is one of the best resources for learning about the security and privacy promises we’ve made to our customers. These documents describe guarantees about how we keep your data secure. Customers refer to these often during auditing and compliance reviews.

Data Protection and Privacy Knowledge Article: Learn more about data protection, privacy and how to implement workflows for privacy compliance.

Pardot’s Permission-Based Marketing Policy: Trust is our number one value. This is a key example of how we protect our customers by maintaining a trusted, compliant product.

Do you have questions, needs or stories to share? Join our Trailblazer Community, where we can collaborate together.
This blog post is part of our security, privacy, and technology series.

How can you make your blog more profitable? This is a question most of us are searching for an answer to. And while advertising and affiliate links will bring in some money, what if you could generate more?
If you have a loyal following and are producing great content, you might consider creating a membership site to offer your audience exclusive content and perks while also boosting your profits.

Membership sites can be customized in a myriad of ways, but here are some of the most common models you’ll come across.

1. Paywall
If you often read the news online, you’ve likely come across a paywall. A paywall blocks content until a reader is logged into their account and has a paid membership to access the content.
You can offer some of your most premium content behind a paywall to earn more money and create better engagement with your most loyal audience members. After all, they are paying to access exclusive perks, meaning they are likely to be invested in what you are offering.
2. Communities
Most of us love finding a group of people online with common interests or goals. If your audience is always engaging with your content, and with each other in the comments, consider creating a community membership model where users can create profiles and have a platform to interact with one another.
This could mean access to an exclusive app, a Facebook group, or a forum on your website.
3. Courses
If your audience can’t get enough of your content, they might also have an interest in learning about your topic of expertise from you directly. By creating membership courses, you can offer some of your knowledge for a fee.
You can offer courses for a one-time, upfront payment or an ongoing subscription for access to a library of courses that generates a steady stream of profit from your membership site.
4. Products
Outside of knowledge, what do you have the talent to create and sell on your website? Perhaps you can create WordPress plugins or blog templates, or maybe you can offer social media graphic templates or unique budgeting spreadsheets.
Whatever you’ve decided to create, you can earn money for your creativity and hard work. You can sell products individually to members, or offer them via a subscription model where users can access the product as long as they have an active, paid subscription.
5. All-in-One
The all-in-one model is exactly as it sounds. This means your membership site includes most, if not all, of the standard membership model options.
While this could mean multiple streams of income from people subscribing to various parts of your site, it can also become a lot of extra work for you.
Creating exclusive content and perks for varying memberships could be hard to do alone, meaning you might need to spend more money hiring others to help you. Also, it might be off-putting for a user to visit your site and see they have to sign up — and pay — to access nearly anything on your site.
Pros of Starting a Membership Site
Starting a membership site can create a secure, steady stream of revenue for your blog. If your audience already enjoys your content, it’s a logical next step to offer them more for a fee.
Once they’ve started investing money to access your content, you might also find them engaging more, too.
Cons of Starting a Membership Site
Because memberships are so customizable, there aren’t many negatives to starting one. But if you are already strapped for time creating your normal content and managing your site, you might find it hard to create exclusive content as well. This will also add another component to your site to maintain.
Once you’ve decided to turn your blog into a membership site, you can follow these simple steps to get started.

1. Choose your model.
Select the model that works best for your site from the list above. With an active and engaged audience, a community model might be the perfect fit. If users are always asking for your advice, you might consider creating products or courses with a subscription attached.
Or maybe your content is increasing page views so you want to create more in-depth content to offer behind a paywall. Weigh these options carefully to find the right fit for your brand.
2. Find a membership plugin.
If your blog is operating on WordPress, you can add a membership plugin to make your work easier. There are many options available, and you’ll want to find one that will work with the model you’ve chosen. Some of the top picks by bloggers include MemberPress, Restrict Content Pro, and Teachable.
Once your plugin is downloaded, you can configure it by visiting your WordPress dashboard menu, selecting your plugin, choose ‘Options,’ and adjust settings as needed.
3. Set up payments, levels, and rules.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to the menu and select your plugin. From there, you can find payment, levels, and rules settings. Under ‘Options’ > ‘Payments,’ set up the payment amounts and types (such as credit cards and PayPal) for each membership level.
To set levels, go to the plugin, select ‘Memberships’ then ‘Add New’ for each level. You can name each level as well as define prices and restrictions.
Finally, it’s time to set the rules. Go to the plugin in the WordPress menu, then select ‘Rules’ and ‘Add New.’ This is how you shield your exclusive content from non-paying members. Just be sure to mark your exclusive content as ‘paid’ in WordPress as you create it.
Save all of your settings as you go before moving on to the next step.
4. Create content for launch.
Your paid subscribers will likely expect immediate access to some exclusive content right after signing up. Be sure to prepare whatever written content, videos, audio books, templates, or other perks you’ll be offering before launching your membership site to avoid frustrated subscribers.
5. Add a membership page to your site.
This can also be easily handled via the plugin settings on your dashboard, but you’ll need to create a page where your website users can view pricing and membership models, sign up, and log in to access the content.
Once this page is ready, you’ll be ready to launch, and users can start signing up and accessing your content or products from your blog.
Boost Blog Revenue By Adding a Membership Site
A membership site can be tailored to fit your needs and generate more money for your blog. Once you’ve evaluated whether or not a membership site is right for your brand, you can review the different models to find which path is the best for your blog.
Plus, you’ll be able to exercise your creativity and offer the best content possible to your most loyal and engaged followers.

Big Idea or Enduring Question: How do you provide a way to clone Chatter group with members to your users?  Chatter Group is primarily geared towards boosting collaboration among users within an organization. Similar to a public group, a Chatter … Continue reading →
The post Getting Started with Salesforce Flow – Part 59 (Clone a Chatter Group with Members) appeared first on Automation Champion.

 

 

According to Harvard Business Review, acquiring a new customer is 5 to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. That’s why keeping your customers close pays off not only in terms of maintaining loyal relationships but also in economic terms. With that in mind, I guess the question you should ask yourself, is how do you keep your customers coming back? 

 

In this article, I’ve highlighted the Top 7 reasons why your customers don’t return, even when you do your very best.

 

1. The product is causing dissatisfaction

 

As hard as it may be for you to admit, your product may just be unsatisfactory. Either it’s a service or an item that for some reason doesn’t meet your customer’s expectations. The good thing is that it is really easy to deduce what is causing the dissatisfaction by checking the reviews on various websites. 

 

Now, if it is an issue with the quality of the product delivered, you don’t want to cut corners on it. With the enormous competition and market expansion, it is crucial to provide the highest quality when it comes to products or services, otherwise, you will face a huge churn of your customers. 

 

Another reason might be that the product does not do what is expected of it. For example, someone buys a winter hat, and it turns out not to be as warm as it should be in the customer’s mind.

 

3. Disintegration with brand values 

 

Customers inevitably have their own preferences when it comes to certain views, and now more than ever they look for brands to validate their opinions. As an example, numerous customers are switching to a more sustainable way of living, as 67% of them now identify as environmentally aware. But when the brand previously chosen by those who care about the ecosystem does something against their values, they simply switch to the one that is closer to their perceptions. 

 

It’s obvious that not every brand can meet the needs of every customer, whether it’s political, environmental, religious, or even ideological beliefs, but listening, calculating, and analyzing the needs of your target audience is a real milestone for keeping them with you for the long term.

 

3. Blatant lies

 

Lies are bad, we all know that at least I hope we do. But there is one more very common sentence, saying: Everybody lies. Everybody, but companies should not, to maintain the trend of returning customers. Sadly, companies often abuse their customers’ trust by saying only half-truths or just dodge the facts. Need an example?

 

One of the clothing brands wanted to simply trick their customers by promising t-shirts of the best quality, sewn locally from high-quality materials.  Fortunately, the truth will always come out and customers realized that the shirts were actually store-bought from a very popular, cheap company, using materials that are poorly sourced.

 

So yes, just be careful with your promises, and if you do make them, make sure you fulfill them.

 

4. Annoying shipping fees and slow delivery

 

One of the advantages of online shopping is that it uses fewer resources than traditional shopping, so it is often chosen over shopping at local stores. Although customers realize that it will take some time to deliver their purchases, they expect it to be faster rather than slower. 

 

Buyers have a general understanding that shopping for a product online involves shipping charges and delivery time, but their patience is wearing thin. Make sure you don’t charge extra for delivery and that the shipping time is not exceeded. If there is no way to skip the extra charges, at least make sure package arrival will be on time, otherwise customers will switch to shops with cheaper and faster delivery.

 

Tedious return policy

 

While on the topic of shipping, let’s stop here and talk about returns. A customer wants to return a product they got from you, no matter the reason. When they tumble upon almost a minefield they have to cross to return the purchase and in fact, it seems much easier to just buy another one, you can be sure you’ve earned yourself a churn.

 

6. Customer Service is simply bad

 

Customers often have questions, and who better to answer them than good old-fashioned customer service? Just a quick phone call, a question, an answer, and done! Another customer is happy, and the world seems to be a bit better place. 

 

Well, easier said than done. In fact, customers with questions sometimes spend hours on the phone trying to reach any available consultant, and when they finally hear a voice from the handset, it turns out to be an automated “no consultants available at the time, please try again later” message. 

 

Trust me, that drives people crazy. Crazy enough to turn away from your business.

 

7. Ignoring the feedback

 

This one might as far be the absolute worse, since ignoring customers’ feedback is a clear statement that their opinion is simply irrelevant to you. The thing is, statistics clearly show that customers love the personal approach. 68% of customers expect brands to demonstrate empathy. Therefore, if you see the feedback, that something could be conducted better, take it into account and don’t ghost your customers.

 

Conclusion

 

These examples are the most common when it comes to why customers don’t return. If you consider yourself a reliable entrepreneur with a reputable company, surely you know how to handle things, to keep both, you and your company pleased. But if you want to skip some steps by ignoring customers’ opinions and engagement as well as their needs, be careful! You might end up as an example in the next list of why customers do not return.

Hey! What new good automatic tools/bots are in the market? Are they useful when working on various social networks with multiple accounts? Also, how well do they perform while using social media proxies? I currently work with social marketing tasks and want to expand my possibilities.
submitted by /u/Internationalsoap2 [link] [comments]

An email list is one of the most important assets a company can have. Unlike social media, where you depend on algorithms that sometimes seem like a fortune wheel, with an email list, you have ownership over what you share and when. 
A few years ago, the Internet was flooded with headlines about the death of email marketing. But one thing is for sure: Email marketing still works flawlessly today. In fact, it’s one of the most effective tools. As research shows, email newsletter subscribers:

Arrive onsite from direct links at a higher percentage than search engine results or social media
Spend 80% more time at a site than other visitors
Are twice as likely to buy a product or service  

However, before you can reap these benefits, you must build your email newsletter distribution list. And the easiest way to capture emails is using signup forms. 
Why should you use an email signup form?
When done right, email signup forms can bring significant advantages. Before we get into the ways to implement a signup form with no coding experience, let’s talk about the reasons why you should use it in the first place.
First and foremost, when people are filling a signup form, they’re welcoming you into their inbox. As a result, you get more opens and clicks. 
The average unsubscribe rate for an email list is 0.1%. However, with permission-based signups, you can build a list of subscribers who want to hear from you. This way, your attrition rate decreases, your open rates increase, and your conversions are more meaningful and robust. 
Besides this, a well-designed, catchy signup form will directly contribute to increased subscription rates. So, instead of chasing readers that don’t want to receive your emails, you can attract the right audience. 
Bottom line: Email signup forms can help you balance out attrition rates and grow a list of permission-based, engaged subscribers.
How to build your newsletter list with no coding experience
For many business owners, signup forms are like a black box. They seem complicated and daunting.
But what if you can build your newsletter list with signup forms that don’t require any coding experience? 
Let’s look at a few.
Attract website visitors to sign up
There’re many ways to implement a newsletter signup form on your website. From a pop-up that opens the moment visitors land on your website to signup forms from the side or at the bottom of your page, you can easily create a form that will help you grow your newsletter list. If you’re not sure what is the best decision, you can always A/B test your signup form placement.
With Campaign Monitor creating a signup form is simple and straightforward, and it doesn’t require any developer skills. You can easily customize the headline, add a logo, change the background color, button text, and decide what fields you want to include. After the basic settings, add a thank you text, and you’re ready to go.

Create a separate page
Signup pages are standalone web pages with a unique URL you can share online or add to an email signature to attract new subscribers. Same as signup forms, you can easily create and customize a signup page with no coding experience. You don’t need a server to host a signup page because Campaign Monitor hosts it for you.
After you customize the signup page using the editing tools, you can click Save and generate a link.

Turn followers into subscribers
Why limit yourself to gathering email subscribers on your website only? If you have significant social media followers, you can use that opportunity to convert followers into subscribers. 
With 2.74 billion monthly active users, Facebook is still the most popular social network in the world. You can encourage Facebook fans to sign up for your email list by posting a link to your list’s signup form directly to your Facebook page. Besides this, you can use third-party integrations such as Facebook Lead Ads by Zapier, Leadsbridge, and Integromat to connect your Facebook audience to Campaign Monitor.

Source: SXSW
Get customers to sign up in-store
We live in an omnichannel world. Instead of relying only on digital channels to grow your email list, think outside the box and use your store to engage customers in conversation and ask them for their email address. You can turn a regular iPad into an email collection point and have customers enter their information while the cashier rings them out. 

Source: (screenshot from a CM demo)
Best practices for high-performing signup forms (with examples)
Now that you know how to create signup forms in just a few clicks let’s talk about the basic principles that will help you make them more effective.  
1. Keep it simple
Clear is better than clever. From the number of fields asking for information to color schemes and even vocabulary, your form should be straightforward without being boring. The fundamental mistake many companies make is trying to get all the information in a single email signup form. Rather than adding too many fields, keep your focus on the goal — getting the email address. 
The British jewelry brand Monica Vinader has a simple, minimalist signup form that promises subscribers to share style tips, exclusive sales, and private events in exchange for their email address. 

Source: Monica Vinader
2. Get the context right
You would be surprised how many businesses bury their signup pages somewhere on the “Contact us” page or at the bottom of their website. Instead of playing hide-and-seek, place your signup form in the upper part of your website, where visitors can easily find it. Have a clear call-to-action and try not to make it too intrusive. 
The coffee roaster and retailer Blue Bottle Coffee uses a simple signup form. It’s the first thing you notice when you open their website, it’s in-line with their brand, noticeable but not intrusive. Visitors can add their email address or decide to scroll without having an unpleasant user experience. 

Source: Blue Bottle Coffee
3. Tell them why should they subscribe (and deliver on the promise)
Transparency is a sign of respect. Clearly state what information you’ll be sending out as well as its frequency. Set expectations right from the start and always deliver on the promise. If you want to build a future-proof newsletter list, you want people to subscribe for the right reason. If you promise one thing and then deliver on something completely different, expect frustrated subscribers and a high attrition rate. 
The manufacturer and retailer of cool socks, underwear, and swimwear, Happy Socks gives visitors all the reasons they should subscribe. Besides the 10% discount on the first purchase, they promise to share special promotions and early access to new collections. 

Source: HappySocks
4. Offer an incentive 
People love free stuff, discounts and gifts. It’s human psychology. If you want to grow your newsletter list, offer your new subscribers something tangible for signing up. It can be a discount or a gift. In some cases, it’s free content. From ebooks and guides to checklists and printables — offering something in exchange for an email address can help you grow your list faster. 
If you decide to use this approach, make sure to follow up with a strong email nurture program to keep subscribers engaged and turn them into loyal readers (and customers).
The DTC underwear and loungewear brand MeUndies gives visitors a 15% discount if they sign up. The form is simple yet in-line with the playful brand identity, so it doesn’t go unnoticed. 

Source: MeUndies
5. Include social proof
The first thing we do when buying a product is navigate to the review section for reassurance. We want proof that we’re making the right decision. The same is true for newsletter subscriptions. Showing that others found value by joining the list or buying the product or service encourages people to do the same. 
This behavior is rooted in psychology and the so-called bandwagon effect. In other words, a person’s tendency to adopt some attitude because everyone else is doing it. Being part of a community of like-minded individuals gives people the affirmation they’re constantly looking for. 
The project management tool monday.com uses the power of social proof to convince people to join for a free trial. The fact that more than 100,000 teams rely on monday.com for their project management needs can be the spark that will urge people to sign up.

Source: monday.com
6. Use a catchy call-to-action
Standing out from the crowd and getting people to give you consent to email them can be challenging nowadays. You need something catchy. Something to draw visitors’ attention and make them eager for what they’ll receive.
Having a teasing call-to-action intrigues people or makes them laugh. Either way, you reach your goal: a new email address on your newsletter list. 
The delicious protein bars RXBAR makes their signup form hard to resist by offering customers an exclusive new offer for signing up. Instead of lengthy forms with unnecessary fields, they focus only on getting the customer’s email address.  
 
Source: RXBAR
7. Respect user privacy
User privacy is one of the biggest concerns in today’s digital-first world. This is key to building trust as well as following General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines for user information privacy and use.
When asking subscribers for personal information, you should be able to answer a simple question: why? Why do you need the information, and how do you plan to use it? 
If you visit the website L’Oréal Paris, you’ll notice a signup pop-up form that asks for your first and last name, email address, and birth date. Before entering the details, visitors can read the Privacy policy L’Oréal states that they collect information to provide tailored and personalized content, services, advertisements, and offers to customers.

Source: L’Oréal Paris
For more tips, tricks, and best practices to power your email marketing strategy, watch our webinar on how to get the most out of a signup form.
Wrap up
Email marketing is one of the best ways to find customers who are interested in purchasing. In order to effectively reach out and grab the attention of potential subscribers, it’s essential to have a strong email signup form.
Use the tips in this post to create the most effective signup form and set the foundation for future business growth.
You don’t have any more excuses. Create a newsletter signup form and start building your list today.
 
The post How to Create a Signup Form with No Coding Experience: 7 Best Practices to Get More Subscribers appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

Looking for the best email validation and verification tools? Check out these top performers that integrate with GetResponse’s all-in-one marketing platform.

A webinar is a video presentation, seminar, lecture, or workshop delivered over the internet.
Although once declared dead and outdated, webinars are very much still relevant. Many businesses are now rethinking the benefits of a virtual event, especially during the time of social distancing. In fact, ON24, a virtual platform, hosted 19,292 webinars in April of 2020 alone, which amounts to roughly 640 webinars per day.
Given their popularity, you may be interested in getting on board. In this post, we’ll give the most heavy-hitting statistics about webinars that make a case for using them in your marketing strategy.

Webinar Stats To Know
General Webinar Stats

67% of marketers in 2020 were increasing their investment in webinars. (LinkedIn)
The global webinar market is estimated to reach 800 million by 2023, up 253 million from 2015. (MarketWatch)
Marketers say that webinars are cost-effective as they help lower the cost-per-lead. (ON24)
95% of survey respondents said webinars play a key part in their marketing efforts, and 38% consider webinars critical to their digital communications. (ON24)
53% of marketers say webinars are the top-of-the-funnel format that generates the most high-quality leads. (Demand Gen Report)
Professionals say that video-based learning is their preferred learning format, and 85% prefer the video to be webinars. 94% of respondents also report viewing webinar content monthly. (BrightTALK)
Viewers in 2020 watched three times more webinar content than they did in 2019. (ON24)
91% of webinar marketers in 2020 say they’ve been successful, which is a 10% increase from 2019. (Wyzowl)

Webinar Conversion Stats

76% of marketers say that webinars help them reach more leads, 75% say it extends brand reach, 69% say it helps scale marketing efforts, and 49% say that it helps them reach targeted accounts. (ON24)
A survey from April of 2020 found that webinars had a 61% registration to attendee conversion rate, up from 55% in 2019. (ON24)
Webinars hosted on a company domain generate 3x more audience participation. 91% of professionals who watch webinars say their next step is to visit a website for more info. If they’re already on your site, you’re increasing the probability of conversion. (BrightTALK)
Communication webinars have the highest conversion rate (67.05%). (ON24)
Email is the top promotional channel for webinars. Up to 57% of registrations come from that channel, and the conversion rate is 27% higher. (GoToWebinar, BrightTALK)

Webinar Content Stats

81% of marketers use Q&A as an engagement tool during webinars, 69% provide resources for download. (ON24)
When asked what they’d most like to see in their webinars, consumers reported that they would most like (22%) to see a host or presenter that takes questions from the audience. (HubSpot)
Survey respondents rate webinar video integrations as a 7.8 in importance on a scale of 10. (ON24)
60-minute webinars attract more attendees than 30-minute webinars, and the average attendee viewing time is 57 minutes. (WorkCast, GoToWebinar)
Thursdays are the best days to host a webinar. (MegaMeeting)
Marketers prefer webinars that are live and on-demand. (Statista)
Consumers reported being most likely (27%) to sign up for a webinar that teaches them something about a hobby or passion, and 18% would attend a webinar that taught them something about their career or industry. (HubSpot)
Consumers report that the most engaging webinar format is a presentation that teaches them how to do something specific. (HubSpot)

Webinars Are Here To Stay
As these statistics demonstrate, webinars are not dead; they are here to stay. Case in point, 53% of marketers say that they plan to include webinars in their 2021 video strategy, up 11% from the previous year.
If you’re interested in learning more about using the channel in your marketing, read this guide to understand how to create compelling webinars and learn from experienced marketing HubSpotters on their best practices for taking webinars from good to great.

When I only worked from home occasionally, I would spend all day shifting around in my uncomfortable dining chair. Once work from home (WFH) became an everyday thing, I knew my current setup wouldn’t cut it, so I bought a great office chair.
I didn’t pay the extra money for assembly – a decision I’m convinced furniture companies want you to regret – and three installation attempts later, I have my chair.
Yeah, the backrest is a tiny bit crooked, but it still works as intended, giving me the extra support and comfort I need to do my job. That’s what I imagine corporate sponsorships feel like, minus the crooked part.

When your business needs additional support and resources for events and projects, corporate sponsors can make a huge difference. But it’s not as easy as just reaching out to companies you want to collaborate with.
Find out how a corporate sponsorship works, how to secure one for your next event, and how to write a sponsorship proposal.
While financial support is usually synonymous with sponsorship, that’s not the only way a company can contribute to your event. Here are three main types of sponsors:

A media sponsor will help your event or project gain the publicity needed to attract attendees. The sponsor may invest in ads in the local newspaper, TV commercials, or other marketing efforts to help you gain exposure.

An in-kind sponsor will offer things other than money. Looking for a venue? They may provide that. Need food vendors or prizes? That’s another way they can contribute. They could even help you secure a keynote speaker. This type of sponsor provides the resources you need to accomplish your event goals.

A digital sponsor will assist in the execution of tech-related activities for your event. This can be providing the hosting platform or an app.

So, what’s in it for the sponsors? For one, associating with a company that has a positive brand image can be an effective way for a brand to improve its market perception. It’s also an opportunity to gain more exposure and reach audiences they may not yet have access to.
On the sponsored side, attaching your company to an established brand can also boost your credibility and help you reach more consumers in your market.
Examples of Corporate Sponsorships
1. Essence’s “Dear Black Men” event

Image Source
In June 2020, Essence held a virtual summit designed to celebrate the Black community and Black men in particular. The “Dear Black Men” event was sponsored by Bevel, a consumer goods brand whose target audience reflects the event attendees.
The second sponsor was Advancing Black Pathways, JP Morgan Chase & Co.’s fellowship program that centers its work around empowering members of the black community.
Given the topic and the target audience, these sponsors were a great match for this event.
2. A Free Bird, Org

Image Source
Storage Mart is a nationwide storage company that’s core values include supporting philanthropic initiatives. A Free Bird is a nonprofit organization helping children battling cancer find joy in the arts.
One thing to note is that A Free Bird has a webpage dedicated to sponsors. In addition to reaching out to sponsors, your company can also proactively set up a page to attract and direct companies interested in supporting you.
3. Victoria Film Commission

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Victoria Film Commission (@visfilmcommission)

Both companies have more in common than just the name “Victoria,” and that’s locality.
The Victoria Film Commission is a nonprofit with a mission to promote Southern Vancouver Island as a film destination.
In a statement, Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites revealed that supporting local businesses is a part of their mission, given that it is owned and operated by a local.
How To Get Corporate Sponsorship for an Event
1. Plan internally.
Before you reach out to sponsors, there’s a lot of prep work to complete. Start by gathering all the information you’ll need to attract sponsors.
The first is the vision for the event or project: What is the purpose, and what do you want audiences to gain from it?
Say you’re the newest affordable office supply company in the market. You may want to host an event to solidify your brand as a go-to store for office items.
Next, what are the goals of your event? How will you measure success? This is an important factor to consider, as it will inform which sponsor you choose. You’ll want to work with a sponsor with event goals in sync with your own.
What comes after is figuring out your attendees. How many attendees do you expect, and who are they? This is arguably the most important factor for your sponsors, because they’ll want to know if your audience aligns with the persona(s) they’re targeting.
As a furniture company, you may expect professionals between 20 to 30 years of age who have recently entered the workforce and are looking for affordable supplies to stock in their office. A brand that also targets young professionals would be a great sponsor.
If you’re a nonprofit fighting world hunger, for instance, you’ll want to find a company with a mission that includes philanthropic efforts like these.
Another big selling point are your event assets. How are you attracting consumers to your event or project? This could be a well-known speaker, interactive activities, or innovative presentations.
And lastly, based on these factors, what resources are you missing? This will help you determine the type of sponsorship your brand needs so you can draft your proposal using the right language.
2. Build a nurturing workflow.
Getting a sponsor can be a long process that requires a lot of relationship management.
You can’t just send an email to your sponsor and consider it done. It may take a few (or more) conversations to secure an agreement. While that may seem tedious, both parties need to ensure it’s the right fit.
Before you even reach out to your sponsors, build a workflow to streamline the communication process. Here’s an example of the automation you could set up in your CRM:

Reach out to X sponsor and include a link to schedule a call with Y team member. If scheduled, the team member will receive an email with the details of the sponsor and preliminary screening questions.
Send follow-up email in three days if contact has not responded to initial reach out.
After the initial call, send event details over to the sponsor.
Follow-up with X sponsor to ask thoughts on event details if no response after three days.

These are processes you can automate in your CRM platform to facilitate communication between you and potential sponsors.
3. Decide what brands to reach out to.
Now that you’re ready for outreach, decide who is the best fit for your brand.
Don’t know where to start? Look at brands that have already sponsored other businesses in your industry. This creates an easier point of entry. You can also look at your competitors. What type of brands are they collaborating with?
Once you have an idea of who to contact, do some research. Look at the company’s mission and values to see if they align with your own. What about its audience? Is there an intersection between your target audience and theirs? That’s a selling point you’d want to highlight in your sponsorship proposal.
Track the company’s current brand perception – you can leverage this information to convince them why partnering with you would be positive for their image.
You’ll also need to evaluate their local presence. If your sponsor has no presence in your region, they may not be the best fit, as you’ll want your sponsor to bring more exposure to your event.
In addition, be sure to check that the companies you’re considering have sponsorship guidelines. Some brands have strict eligibility rules, and you wouldn’t want to waste your time reaching out if you don’t meet their requirements.
4. Find out what your sponsors are looking for.
Learn everything you can about the company to see if it will be a good fit for your event. This means reaching out to the company and asking questions like:

Who is your target audience?
What are your marketing goals?
What do you look for in a company you sponsor?
How do you measure the success of a relationship with your sponsor?

These questions will help you get to the heart of what your potential sponsors are looking for and write a proposal that speaks directly to that.
5. Prepare your sponsorship proposal.
Your sponsorship proposal can make or break your chance of getting a sponsor. So, you want to take your time tailoring it to each sponsor you’re reaching out to. Every proposal should have:

An overview of your brand
Event details
A breakdown of what you need from the sponsor
Incentives
A personal touch

Let’s dive into each of these points here.
6. Start your sponsor search.
It’s time to reach out – where do you go?
The easiest place to start is online. Websites like SponsorMyEvent are designed specifically to bring brands and sponsors together. You can start there during your initial search to narrow down potential companies.
If you’re going the traditional offline path, use LinkedIn to identify the right employee to call or email. You don’t want to waste any time reaching out to employees who aren’t in a position to discuss the sponsorship.

Corporate Sponsorship Proposal
By including the following elements in your proposal, you will make sure your proposal stands out and get one step closer to securing your sponsors.
1. Brand Overview
When reviewing your proposal, the first thing your sponsor will likely ask is, “Who’s this brand?” This is your opportunity to make a great first impression and WOW your sponsor.
Tell a story about your brand, your mission, your values. You can dive into how your company got started or focus on your company’s recent path. Either way, you want to aim for emotional appeal.
You can get into the nitty-gritty later. This is where you capture their attention and make them want to sponsor you.
2. Event Details
This section is where the meat of your proposal starts.
Describe your event or project. What is the goal, and what does success look like?
Then, cover your attendees. Who is the target audience for this event? Your sponsor will want to know if your event will allow them to reach their key demographic. If not, focus on how your event will help them accomplish the marketing goals they outlined during your initial conversation.
3. Required Resources
When it comes to asking for what you need, don’t beat around the bush.
Describe exactly what resources your team will need from the sponsor and how they will be used.
Let’s say your team has determined that you need a $10,000 contribution for your upcoming event. You’d include that along with a breakdown of the cost allocation, as follows:

Location rental: $2,000
Keynote speakers fees: $5,000
Decor: $1,000
Food vendors: $2,000

If your team needs a non-financial investment, outline what you’ll need and why it’s important for the execution of the event.
4. Incentives
One question potential sponsors may have when reviewing your proposal is, “What’s in it for us?” This is your turn to highlight how they can benefit from working with you.
During your initial research and preliminary contact with the company, you should have learned what the company is looking for. This could be a better brand image or exposure to a target segment. Use your proposal to highlight how this event will help them accomplish their goals.
Many brands can also be incentivized by being included in the event in the follow ways:

Adding their logo to all event marketing collateral
Giving them a designated booth at the event
Offering a presentation slot

5. A Personal Touch
Finally, your proposal won’t be complete without adding a personal element to your presentation that ties right back to the sponsor.
There’s nothing worse than a generic pitch. Make sure to include elements in your proposal that connect you to the sponsor. Whether that’s their market entry story, their values, or their latest initiatives. Include anything that can help close the gap and convince your sponsor you’re meant to work together.
Securing a corporate sponsor requires a lot of planning and strategy. But if done right, not only will you gain a partner for your next event, but you’ll foster a relationship with a brand that can continue to support you in the future.

Determining your audience profile is a critical step in ensuring your campaign is successful.
An audience profile can help you personalize your campaign’s messaging to reach those most likely to convert, and limit the amount of spend you might’ve otherwise wasted on underperforming ads.
Here, we’ll explore the information you need to include in an audience profile, how to write an audience profile, and audience profile examples.
Plus, we’ll dive into a media audience profile and how that type of profile can help you increase the success of your paid ads campaigns.
But first — what is an audience profile, anyway?

What information should I include in an audience profile?
When creating an audience profile, you’ll need to include the following:

Demographic information: This includes personal attributes like geography, age, education, occupation, and income.

Psychographic information: This includes attributes related to personality traits, interests, attitudes or beliefs, and lifestyle.

Goals, challenges, or pain points: For this section, determine your audience’s goals, challenges, or pain points as it relates to your product or service. How can your product or service meet your audience’s needs? What search queries does your audience use to find your product or service? For instance, if you’re selling an 8-week mindfulness program, then your fictional character likely has a big challenge with focusing and finding time to ground himself in the present moment.

Values: What does your target audience value? This includes bigger-picture values and motivators, such as “nature”, “socializing”, “a sense of belonging”, or “autonomy at work”.

Preferred channels: What channel(s) does your audience spend the most time? This could be social channels, such as YouTube or Instagram, or search engines like Google. The preferred channel depends on the type of campaign you’re running. If you’re running a paid advertising campaign, for instance, you’ll want to determine if your audience spends most time on Facebook, Google, or somewhere else.

Preferred content type(s): Once your audience finds your content, what format would they prefer it in? E-books, blog posts, or case studies? Or podcast? Video? Determining the format will help you best serve your audience.

Buying behavior: Is your audience impulsive, or do they need weeks — if not months — before making a purchase? Are they open to your product or service anytime during the year, or only during a certain season? If you sell beach chairs, for instance, your target audience is likely relatively impulsive during the summer months, when a beach chair is most necessary.

It’s important to note — an audience profile is different than a target market, or buyer persona.
A target market includes every single prospective buyer for your product or service. For instance, perhaps you sell software that can be used for different use cases in different industries. In this case, a target market includes the prospects in each industry who could benefit from your product — all with different needs, goals, challenges, and beliefs.
An audience profile, on the other hand, is one fictitious person who you’re targeting with an upcoming campaign.
An audience profile also isn’t a buyer persona. A buyer persona is the final person who will ultimately purchase your product or service, but in many cases, you’ll want to market to anyone who can influence the final buyer. For instance, your audience profile might be a social media manager, even though the buyer persona is a company’s CMO, since she’ll have final sign-off.
Next, let’s dive into how you can write an audience profile.
How to Write an Audience Profile
1. Determine the goal(s) of your upcoming campaign.
Before writing your audience profile, you want to know who you’re targeting with your marketing campaign.
For instance, are you creating high-intent advertisements to target buyers with your products or services? Or, alternatively, are you hoping to increase attendees at an upcoming marketing event?
You’ll make a different audience profile depending on your goals. If you’re hoping to increase sales for your product via a social media advertising campaign, then your audience profile will look similar to your buyer persona.
If, instead, you’re hoping to increase views to your YouTube channel, then your audience profile will look like a fictional character based off your YouTube analytics to determine who enjoys watching your content.
2. Dive deep into analytics.
Once you’ve determined your campaign goal, use data and analytics to create a prototype of your persona.
Start with Google Analytics to explore demographic information related to your website visitors. Take note of age, gender, location, and types of device — additionally, figure out from which channels your audience arrives. Is it typically organic search, a social channel, email, or paid advertising?
You can also use CRM data to further explore what customers convert at the highest rate. For instance, you might use your CRM to determine which industries convert the most, or which pages have the highest conversion rate, to refine your audience profile depending on existing customers’ behavior.
Finally, use channel-specific metrics to fill in the missing pieces. If you’re planning on running a Google ads campaign, you might dive into past high-performing ads and who clicked on those ads.
Alternatively, if you’re running a Facebook campaign, you can use Facebook’s lookalike audience feature to reach people who are similar to your best existing customers.
3. Use qualitative metrics to determine your audience’s biggest challenges.
To fill out the challenges/goals/pain points section of your audience profile, it’s a good idea to take a look at customer reviews or focus group intel to determine the biggest challenges your prospects and customers face.
You can also use keyword research to find high-intent keywords related to your products or services, which might help you determine your audience’s biggest challenges, as well.
For instance, let’s say you’re creating a new advertising campaign related to a social media listening and scheduling tool.
You might first leverage Ahrefs or another keyword explorer tool to determine questions people ask related to a given search query. In this example, I searched “social media tools” to find similar questions related to the search keyword:

I also searched “social media tools” on Google and looked at the People Also Ask feature to dive deeper into questions, pain points, and challenges related to social media tools:

Combined with your qualitative, customer-focused research, you’ll be able to uncover the biggest challenges of your audience, and how you should tailor your campaign to target those pain points.  
4. Collect psychographic data using Google Trends or influencers in the industry.
If you work for a B2C company, consider consuming content from top influencers in a given industry to determine psychographic data for your audience profile.
For instance, if you’re selling fitness gear, take a look at the social profiles and blog posts of top fitness influencers. What do they care about? What do they value? What activities do they do in a given day? These characteristics can help you round-out your audience profile.
If you’re working for a B2B company, you might read industry case studies, reports, or join webinars to determine the interests, values, and behaviors of your target persona within a given industry.
An example of this might be reading “2020 Trends in Sales Management” if you’re hoping to target sales managers at your target companies.
Ready to get started creating your own audience profiles? Let’s take a look at two examples you can use for inspiration before you create your own.
Audience Profile Examples
1. B2B Audience Profile Example: Marketing Maria

2. B2C Audience Profile Example: Athletic Andy

Media Audience Profile
Media planning and buying can’t happen without an audience profile.
For instance, media buying — buying campaign or advertising space on various channels, or sharing targeted campaigns and ads — can’t happen without media planning.
And media planning, at its core, is “determining how, when, where, and why your business shares media content with your audience. The process includes deciding what media will be shared on what channels to boost reach, engagements, conversions, ROI, and more.”
Ultimately, then, both media planning and media buying need pre-defined audiences to be successful. If you haven’t taken the time to create an audience profile before purchasing ad space, you risk wasting money and resources on audiences who ultimately won’t convert anyway.
An audience profile can affect where you place your advertisements. Once you’ve created an audience profile, for instance, you might find your audience persona spends most of her time on LinkedIn. LinkedIn advertising solutions, then, can help you best reach your target audience.
An audience profile also influences the design of your ad. You’ll want to design ad copy around your audience’s interests, pain points, and preferences — something you can only do once you’ve created an audience profile.
For instance, The Economist might’ve created an audience profile and determined their audience likes education and knowledge, but doesn’t like getting bogged down with too much negativity, particularly from news outlets. As a result, a simple tagline, “Brighter days ahead”, helps attract and convert the right audience through their ads.

Ultimately, your audience profile is a vital foundation for ensuring you’re effectively attracting and converting those best-suited for your brand.
However, an audience profile can vary depending on each individual campaign — so feel free to keep this post bookmarked for the next time you need to alter your audience profile for a new advertising or marketing campaign.