How to Keep Track of Your Sponsors (Without Losing Your Mind)
One thing about blogging that can get out of control and stressful really easily is sponsors. As soon as you start offering sponsorships, there is automatically added responsibility that can be overwhelming if you aren’t prepared for it. But I’ve come up with a system that really helps me keep track of my sponsors, and today I’m sharing that system with you…including a free template!
The first thing that I do when I get a notice about a new ad spot purchased is that I add the start and end dates to my Google calendar. This is especially helpful for a spot that is starting later because then I am reminded to do the rest of my system when that person’s spots starts. If the person’s spot start immediately, I send a welcome email explaining what their spot comes with, and thanking them for sponsoring me. If the spot starts later, I send them an email letting them know when it starts and that they will receive their official welcome email then. It’s important to acknowledge the purchase in some way, so be sure to do something!
When the spot starts, I go into my “Sponsor Info” Word file and update the information on the sheet. Because I am a perfectionist, I actually change the dates on each sheet every time, as well as type out their info. Because I do not do shout-outs on weekends or holidays, I always mark those days as N/A. Then I print the page out, and tape it into my sponsor notebook, in order by date purchased. As I do shout-outs each day, I mark how many I did, making sure to hit the amount stated in the ad description.
As you can see, the shout-out tracker also has words next to some of the dates…those are for email reminders! I send four emails to each of my sponsors: a welcome email, a check-in email (about halfway through), a one week expiration notice, and a thank you when it’s over. As I hit these marks and send the email, I always cross it out to remind me that I sent it already.
If you would like to use the document I’ve created, here it is! Feel free to edit it and use it however you like. You can always put day 1, 2, 3, etc. instead of dates if you want it to be just a print and go thing.
Another thing that helps me tremendously is keeping my sponsors in a bookmark folder on my browser. I also keep them in the same order as they appear in my sponsor notebook. That way, in the mornings, I can just open a new tab for each of my sponsors, check and see if they have new posts up, and give them love if they do! Then I can just mark the shout-out and move on to the next one.
What do you do to keep your sponsorships from making you lose your mind?
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