I’ve seen quite a bit of interest lately from people wondering what I do. When I tell them I’m completely ad supported…they give me a blank look and ask me how that’s possible. So I figured I’d share what I do here.
Recently, my site ChurchStageDesignIdeas.com has hit a tipping point where I actually have many advertisers contacting me, interested in advertising. But it wasn’t like that a couple months ago. I’ve been running the site for the last four years on hard work and hustle.
And I’m still running my other ad-supported sites that way. So, to give you an idea of what I actually do, here are three ways I approach advertisers to sponsor my sites.
1. Cold Call. This is my least favorite method of getting advertisers, but sometimes you just have to cold call people. That means I look through magazines or search on Google, and I find companies that I think would be a good match with my sites. I then email them letting them know about my site, about my prices, and why I think they should advertise. If I get any response at all, it’s usually a no. But on occasion I’ve actually gained advertisers this way. Some have even become longtime supporters of the sites.
2. Leveraging Relationships. This sounds like such a “networking” term. But it’s not. When I “leverage my relationships”, I merely ask a friend if they’d want to advertise on the site. Or I ask them if they know some people I should approach to advertise. I often ask for introduction emails so I don’t have to cold call their friend. This used to be a real struggle for me, because I felt like I was using people. But I’ve begun to realize that my friends want to support what I do. They like me. Why wouldn’t they want to? And as long as I make it easy for them to say no, it really isn’t a betrayal of the friendship. It’s actually a betrayal of the friendship if I don’t give them the same opportunity I give to strangers to be involved with what I do.
3. Radar. This is perhaps my most favorite way to approach new advertisers. I get notifications on my Twitter app when I get new followers. I see all the comments that come into my blog. When I see it’s a company commenting or following me, I reach out. They’ve just put themselves on my radar. They’re interested in what I’m doing. Why not give them the opportunity to support it?
The thing about each of these techniques is that it requires me to ask. And I get a lot of “no thank you” responses. But I’ve learned not to take those personally.
My responsibility is to give them the opportunity. Theirs is to decide whether or not they want to take it.
Imagine if you approached all your asks that way…
