How to Approach a Sponsor (DO NOT SUSTAIN UNBROKEN EYE CONTACT) (Patreon)

A reader recently asked how Oh Joy Sex Toy went about finding sponsors and I'm thinking this could be the perfect opportunity to recycle my own words (nice!) AND share some of the sponsor graphics I drew up!

So, first things first: Magic Wand is OJST's official sponsor this year with additional support from individual patron David Levine.

The really cool thing about Magic Wand is that rather than focusing on how much traffic we could send them and how many sales we could directly net them, they instead wanted to focus on celebrating the history of their product and showcasing how it's an integral part of the sex-toy-using community. So basically, they just want to collaborate on communicating that message, which, like, we already were doing anyway because the Magic Wand is fucking legend and we already had a bunch of comics saying just that already. I mean, OJST launched with a review of the Magic Wand in 2013. By the way, check out this compilation of all the Magic Wand comics we've run so far, years before we had a sponsorship from them.

Ok, so to start with, the sponsor spot at the top of the page changes size depending on how large the viewer's browser is. Play a fun game and go to the site and drag the width of your browser window skinnier and wider, watch as the image transforms! 

-------------------------------------

Q: How do you approach brands about sponsorship and ensuring they're on the up-and-up, not shady? 

What we did was muster up our courage and just cold-called a bunch of companies and organizations we already liked and who had some kind of connection to our sex/sexuality/gender/relationship/health field.  

We explained what service our site provides for free to users (sex ed, sex positivity, a platform for diverse identity representation) and why we needed additional funding to help us continue providing that service.  We asked for an amount of money primarily as an altruistic support for our free community resource (as opposed to seeking a business/marketing/advertising transaction), but did still offer some token rewards (their name at the top of the site credited as our sponsor, customized graphics in our house style, other collaborative projects, etc) and said we were open to their ideas as well.  

(Editorial notes from Matt on my first pass at inking the pencils)

When soliciting a potential sponsor, tell them specifically why their company/org is special and why you two would be a uniquely good fit for each other, why it would benefit their brand or reputation to have their name associated with yours. It’s not just about what THEY can give YOU, it’s about how you two will mutually benefit each other.

(Matt played around with placing my drawings, slightly tweaking limbs and pieces as needed)

Be gracious if they turn you down, genuinely thank them for the time they spent considering your proposal and responding to you. Leave a good taste in their mouth, you never know if you might connect again later for another project or even a later sponsorship.  You can also ask for their recommendations to other companies who may be a good fit, if they are not able to partner with you now.

(I went in, re-inked drawings that had been tweaked, Matt colored them, and then, Bam! He turned them into banner designs!)

And thus concludes the advice I sent to somebody else and am now sharing with you! A few of the other illustrations got used on the sponsorship page itself:

I feel compelled to add that I wrote this post without contacting our sponsor first? Like, this post isn't part of the sponsorship deal. I just wanted to show you how Matt and I put together the graphics for it and share this incredibly baller advice I gave to another person who's finding their legs in the sex industry. So. Uh. DISCLAIMER OVER.