SaaStr Sponsor Insider's Guide to High ROI Media Sponsorships

success stories in paid media as well as some ancillary events. So just to give you guys more of an understanding and their perspective on that. So without further ado, Kevin and David, I pass it over to you.

Awesome, awesome. Thank you, Amelia. Yes, super excited to be here with everyone today. We see a ton of folks coming in. So as we're going through it, of course, if you have questions, you have comments, anything at all, please throw that in the chat. And we will definitely make sure to get to you. So we are going to dive right in. And so, um, let's see, David, are you seeing that? I just want to confirm.

I see it. Yeah, it looks good.

Amazing. Okay, cool. So we're going to dive on in for you today. Um, today we're going to cover off, as Amelia said, on two things. We're going to give a little bit of a media update and really want to be able to share some of the, the success stories, some of the great things we're seeing that our sponsors are doing that are driving awesome results for them. Always want to share that with our sponsors and then also talk around some of the best ancillary opportunities that we have coming up at SaaStr Annual. So as all of you pretty much, I'm sure, familiar with, or if it's new, fantastic, SaaStr Media. This has been really, really great for us. As you know, on saaStr.com, it's where we house all of the amazing content. that we produce, whether that's content from Jason M. Lemkin, content from our amazing speakers, it all gets housed on sasser.com. Um, and this is where we see about 2 million page views every single month. So tons and tons of traffic there. Um, and of course the super popular, the SaaS podcast, right? We've got great content, great guests. Um, and it's one of the top, uh, 1% most followed podcasts on Spotify, which is super cool. And the number one rated podcast in SaaS. And so Those are the different kind of channels that we have. Um, when it comes to driving traffic to saster.com, we're doing that, um, in a couple of different ways, but through 3 primary newsletters. So we have the SaaStr Weekly. Um, we've been running this for, for a number of years now. It's one of our best newsletters. Um, the audience has been growing incredibly well over the years, and this is really going out every single Sunday to CEOs, founders, cloud execs, and really talking about some of the top news from the week, some of the best content that's been produced. I remember this was definitely part of a lot of my Sunday planning sessions. I always would make that a part of it. So great, great newsletter. Also have the Saastr Daily. This is going out 3 times per week. This is new content, fresh updates, a lot of really, really great kind of breaking news, if you will. And this is geared a little bit more towards, of course, CEOs, founders, but because the content's a little bit more revenue, sales, marketing driven, CS driven, Definitely hits a lot of revenue professionals as well. And of course, the always favorite and popular SaaS Insider. This one's super cool. Of course, this has a little bit of a LinkedIn newsletter, an email newsletter feel. And too, if you like more of that like billboard, large ad format style, this is a great one. So you can see it reaches really, really large audiences, especially those, right? Even our events, we get great attendance, right? 4,000+ at Europa, 10,000-12,000 attendees at Annual. This allows you to reach an even further audience than just the events itself. So David, I think we're going to pass to you now. I know you've seen some really great success with some of our sponsors, so why don't you dive in, share some of the success you've seen.

Yeah, great, thanks Kevin. Yeah, no, it's been, it's been a lot of fun working with sponsors and media assets. It's been a great way for them to kind of extend their reach. You know, most sponsors I've worked with kind of use it in conjunction with with sponsoring our events. And one of those sponsors has been SAP. They were a SASTR annual sponsor back in 2022. They're coming back in 2023. And in between, to kind of bridge that gap, they didn't want to go dark on our community. So they're finding different ways to stay in touch. And one of the things that I thought was really cool is they were having their own event. It was a growth summit that they were putting together. Really helping entrepreneurs, founders grow their business. And so they had a live event and they leveraged Saastr channels to promote their event and drive our community to their summit. And so they actually leveraged multiple newsletters at the same time. So like you couldn't miss this event if you're in the Saastr community. So I think it was back in March and April, they were advertising both in the Saastr Daily and the Saastr Insider. And so that gave them like probably the most impressions we've seen of any sponsor this year in terms of who they were able to reach. And so again, they promoted the Growth Summit in the lead up to it, up until the event, and then even on the day of they were running ads. So they were, if you see that top ad there, it was in the Saastr Daily and it was like the Growth Summit is happening live today. So that was able to drive a lot of signups for them and a lot of success. And they were running that across, again, multiple newsletters at the same time, which is something that our sponsors can do, right? If they really want to promote something heavily, they don't have to limit themselves to just one of the newsletters. They can hit multiple newsletters in the same month. So that was pretty cool. They were happy with it. We were happy. And yeah, that was a pretty good one.

Yeah, I think it's really interesting too how you mentioned with SAP in particular, like they use it as a touchpoint in between the events. So not looking to go completely dark, but I'm sure they're using it to kind of build momentum even up towards the events. So once they get there, they see a little bit more success as well. So super interesting. I know we have another one that you were really excited about. I know this one in particular, you were pumped to share with everybody.

Yeah, yeah, no, Instruct is a really great company. They just, they actually just raised a Series A. And they're based out of Europe, and they're gonna be joining us for the first time at SASTR Annual this year as a sponsor. So that's really awesome. They coupled their sponsorship of the event with a couple months of media. And so that type of bundle is something that's been really effective. So they're really introducing themselves to the SASTR community ahead of the event instead of just showing up for the first time. So that, that's, I think, one really good technique that we've seen a lot of success with. But I was really excited that their ad has been one of the top performing ads across SaaStr we've seen so far this year. And you know, they put together something, if we look at their ad unit, that really resonates with the community, right? Obviously they're talking about PLG. That's something that's been a hot topic for several years now. It's what their product aligns with. And so there's a really strong alignment, but they're really speaking directly to the community and the SaaStr audience, right? Scaling your SaaS company faster. With the right model. And so it's a real learning, it's a real value-add piece that they're offering with this guide. So one, I think that's really cool. Two, the way that they kind of crafted the headline, Definitive Guide to 6 Product-Led Models, it kind of plays off the way that SaaStr is often writing content. You know, Jason M. Lemkin does these great 5 interesting learnings, these teardowns that he's producing. All the time, which is, you know, I learn a ton from them. I hear great feedback all the time on those interesting learnings of publicly traded SaaS companies, and I think they're great. And I see this as them really playing into that tone, right? 6 product-like models, get a guide to that. So that's worked really well, and we've seen great numbers. So it's only been running for like 2 weeks now, but yeah, so far some of the best numbers of any advertisers so far this year.

Yeah, this is interesting. I think you're right, like that the headline, it fits in really well with a lot of other SaaS headlines and then even having a little bit of that text. Again, it's not like a true native ad, but I think when you think about newsletters, like this is as native as it can get, which I think really makes it help with the performance. And the thing I loved about this one too, I love the fact that they highlighted some of their key customers and have case studies around all that. So anything that's like social proof or can really like show pure examples of how you've done this for other companies is really, really exciting. So amazing. We have like tons of these, but go ahead, David.

No, I was just gonna say, they're gonna be getting— look, they're getting leads from this. They're getting top of funnel leads. Their team's gonna move them through the funnel. They're gonna have the opportunity to touch base with those folks leading up to annual. So many of our annual and, and Europa attendees are on our newsletters, which just makes sense. So it's just a great kind of one-two punch.

Amazing, amazing. Yeah, and I think this is a topic we want to do more of. I know we've talked a lot about the media options and offerings that we do have. We want to bring more of these proof points, our own case studies to the table to share best practices, and again, whether it's brand awareness exposure you have something new that you want to shout out about on the podcast, or even, you know, generate more leads to help you get to that number this quarter. Again, depending on the goals, our team is here to support, answer questions, and guide you the right way. So awesome. David, any last thing on the media?

I think actually you just brought up a really good point, which is, you know, before someone runs media, it's great to, you know, we love to have conversations with them, talk about their ideas, what they want to promote, what we think works better, what, what what has the best chance of success. So, you know, we're here to help and we see all the ads, we see what's working, what's not working. So lean into us, right? Lean into me, lean into Kevin, reach out to Poya and, you know, we're here to help. So, and yeah, look, in terms of, look, availability is limited. We have these 4 media assets. We have the news, 3 newsletters and the podcast. They fill up pretty quickly. There's a couple spots open, in the coming months. So for June, there's like only one spot available in the weekly and only one in the daily. By spot, I mean, we limit the number of advertisers per month to just a handful. And so again, there's room for one more advertiser in each of those for the months listed here. Insider is sold out for June, but you can still get a spot in July or August. So, you know, let us know if you're interested. I think they're great ways to, again, engage with the community, make announcements, promote events, downloads like what Instruct was doing. And then of course, don't forget the podcast, right? SaaStr podcast, it's a really effective medium to connect with the community, great for branding. It's also really low lift for a sponsor, right? It's a 15-second script that you draft and then we do the professional voiceover. It's really easy and I think there's probably no more effective way to get your story out to the community.

Yeah, absolutely. I, the thing I love about the podcast too, it lives on forever, right? Like I know even myself, like I'll go back to podcast episodes 3 months ago, 6 months ago, because a lot of that content, it's evergreen content. You can always go back, listen to it, learn it. It's always relevant. So again, you'll, you'll see a huge lift in the short term, right? But at the same time, it's going to live on forever as folks go back and we constantly see people going back and downloading and listening and engaging with, with previous episodes. So Very cool. So we're going to shift gears a little bit at this point.

So, Kevin, one thing, there's one question from the audience, and actually we're about to answer it, which is, will there be any information about Europa or Annual on this? And so whoever you are, anonymous attendee, we're about to jump into that. We're going to talk a little bit about Annual now. So I just wanted to acknowledge the question. Yep. Great.

Yeah, definitely keep an eye on that. We're gonna dive into some ancillaries here for Annual. Of course though, if you have very specific questions about Annual, other opportunities, Europa itself, again, please don't hesitate, reach out to us and we're more than happy to facilitate a conversation and answer those questions for you. But David, why don't you kick this one away? 'Cause I know this is one that you get really excited about. It's one of your fan favorites.

Yeah, no, this is a really great ancillary opportunity. And so ancillary is just to kind of take a step back. Obviously every sponsor at SaaStr Annual Europa has their core sponsorship, you know, that really includes their booth, their presence in our sponsor hall. Some levels include speaking opportunities, and they also include tickets and promoting and branding. So that, that's kind of the core sponsorship, but then we offer these ancillary opportunities to add on, right? And so this one I think is fantastic. It's the VIP green room, VIP/green room. So you're kind of like getting two spaces in one. So what I guess first of all, why would somebody wanna do this? If you ever been to SaaStr, most people on this call have, we have the best lineup of speakers from the top SaaS companies, thought leaders, investors. I mean, they are like the A+ community within SaaStr and it's why most people, you know, one of the big reasons people come is to see our speakers. And so if you as a sponsor wanna engage with those speakers, often enterprise-level, top, top companies, the green room is the best way to do it. They all spend time in the green room. They all come there to prep. They all come to get ready for their session before they go on stage. So every speaker passes through the green room and/or the VIP lounge. So as a sponsor, what you can do is you have the opportunity to really put your brand on the green room And then if you see there what Calendly did, they gave out really high items, high-value swag item to the speakers. So there it was this really nice backpack. I forgot the brand. It was a really good brand. They gave out the year before a Herschel bag. So like they really did something high-value, high-touch for those speakers. And so they, again, they got to connect with every speaker, put something valuable in their hands, and just a great way to kind of connect with that community within the community, our speakers. So really like this one.

Amazing, amazing. I think too, like, the, the high-end giveaway, if you will, um, you know, I've always thought the best sponsors at our events, or really any event for that matter, are those that can make it a memorable experience. And I think this one definitely hits that nail on the head for, for this particular audience. Um, one of, one of my favorites, um, is our puppy adoption sponsor. And, and I think A, we may be the only event in the world that has a puppy adoption sponsor, but it's, it's a really cool part of Annual. It's part of, I'd say, the overall vibe, the festival feel of what we do. So we actually do have a puppy adoption center right there on site. It's a part of the event. As you can see, like, tons and tons of people love going over there. Who doesn't love to take a little bit of time out of their day to go decompress a little bit and hang out with some puppies, right? And so It's a really cool opportunity. Again, something a little bit very unique, a little bit more experiential, I would say. And with this, right, there's tons of branding opportunities for you just to kind of surround your brand within that audience. And so it's a great way to get a little bit more, I guess, you know, I like lion's share of the eyeballs, a lot of, a lot of good impressions from a branding perspective. And it's a great way, especially too, if you're kind of bundling any of these with your other sponsorship, right? It's definitely going to be able to drive more foot traffic, people are gonna know you're there, wanna explore who you are. And so with this one, of course, we wanted to share a couple more photos because it's just so amazing and so fun. And so—

That could be you, right? That could be your brand on the puppy house. Yep. I mean, who doesn't want that?

Exactly, exactly. So super cool. Again, I'd say something that's a little bit more unique, something that's very, very fun, and it can definitely align with your brand and your culture internally. And so this one in my eyes is really fun and one that definitely has has great results for our sponsors. David, the big party. This is another, I think, experiential, really, really fun one. But why don't you take this one away?

Yeah, this is probably the ultimate experiential one for SaaStr. Yeah, look, I've been to— I've had the good fortune to work with SaaStr for the past 2 SaaStr annuals in 2021, 2022. And yeah, I mean, the big party was just a ton of fun. In 2021, it was sponsored by ClickUp and it was just like ClickUp everywhere, right? It was like there are swag. Bag. They gave out light-up accessories, and it was just super fun. They got to bring guests to the VIP area for— at the time, it was Cash Cash. So, we brought in these really cool DJs, and it was just a ton of fun. I mean, thousands of people under a big tent for a huge party, and their brand was just front and center for fun and for just providing a great experience for the whole community. Last year it was sponsored by Payhawk and it was amazing. We had Duke Dumont, who our team met at Coachella and then brought to SaaStr. So like, again, we're bringing like top musical guests and it's just a ton of fun. It's a great party and the sponsor gets like just a ton of like brand awareness, a ton of goodwill from the community for like bringing this awesome party to life.

Yeah, it's, it's super, super fun. Again, I think something that's very unique for this one in particular too, I think the opportunity to create a VIP experience, right, for— and this can be your key customers in an era where everyone really wants to build deeper relationships, secure that renewal, secure that expansion opportunity. So you have that opportunity to really like engage with, you know, your top prospects, top customers, create a cool experience. And at the same time, we can create some really cool activations around that, whether that's games, different challenges. So it can also be a really great opportunity for lead generation. And of course, branded giveaways, different things. But I would say this is definitely, to your point, one of the fun ones for sure.

And we have a question. We had a question on that about who's the musical guest this year. So that's a really good question. We have not selected that yet, and usually we do that in conjunction with the sponsor. So as a sponsor, you have an opportunity to put forward some ideas there and, you know, lean into that. So, you know, we would work with you, or at least obviously take your ideas. So if someone's interested in this, we can definitely huddle up and talk about musical guests.

So amazing, amazing. Awesome. And then I think one of the— another really, really powerful one is the Cantina sponsorship. And so at SASR, especially at SASR Annual, right, at the Cantina last year, as you can see in the photo on the bottom, it is usually shoulder to shoulder, tons and tons of folks. We had two stages of content last year. We had an area for networking. We served coffee. We have happy hours. So The Cantina is probably one of the more highly concentrated areas of the entire event. And so what we're able to do is we do put tons of branding, tons of signage around this entire area for you. So when it comes to, again, eyeballs, tons of exposure, tons of branding, I don't think, you know, this is probably one of the best locations to, to sponsor and really get that brand out. And at the same time, like I said, a lot of these, although have a big brand feel, also puts tons of awareness that, hey, you're at the event and people are going to want to go seek you out, learn more about what you're doing, and ideally driving more traffic into your booth. So the cantina to me is, is definitely one of those really, really high impact ancillary opportunities for us. David, when it comes to the cantina, anything I'm missing? Anything you want to add?

Yeah, no, the way I think of the cantina, it's kind of like the beating heart of the SaaStr event, right? It's like the center. Yeah, from the cantina, people are going there, they flow in, there's all these great tables. People are having meetings and conversations and networking, and it's just the center of the action. It's kind of like the heartbeat. You always go end up there. Yeah, yeah, it's the hub, which is a segue to the next one, Kevin, because if this is the hub—

Yeah, I was gonna say, I think the cantina, every time I would get a text from somebody, "Hey, let's meet up," it was always like, "All right, let's meet at the cantina." You're right. So it's like the hub.

100%. That's the place. And if that's the heart, right, then this is the brain, right? Brain Dates. So Brain Dates is something really awesome and special that we do at SaaStr that is super popular at all of our events. If you're coming to Europa in, what, about 3 weeks, Brain Dates are filling up for that event. So essentially what Brain Dates are, it's like a structured networking opportunity where all of the attendees can log into a digital platform called Braindates, and they can do one of two things. They can host a Braindate, which is a topic they want to talk about. So Kevin, you can go as an attendee or a sponsor of SaaStr and host a Braindate on a topic that you're really good at— how to hit quota, how to lead a sales team, right? Things that Kevin has done at a startup. So you could host a session or you can peruse all the sessions and attend one, right? Oh, I wanna join a session that someone else is hosting. As the sponsor, you are basically bringing Brand Dates to life. Your brand is on all the tables where people meet. Your brand is at the welcome counter where people come and check in for their Brand Dates that happen in person at our events. And your also brand is in the online platform where people can go and host their Brain Date topic or choose to attend one. So you get a lot of branding in the online platform and then at the in-person event. Yeah, I had the good fortune to work with the sponsor last year, SAP, and they loved it, right? All the conversations and networking that are happening at SaaStr around topics— again, one of our most popular aspects to the event was brought to you by SAP last year. So it was fantastic. They loved it. The attendees loved it. So hope I explained that all right. What did I miss, Kevin?

No, I think, I think you absolutely nailed it. The only thing I would add, just to reinforce more or less the popularity, right? Like, this is so foundational to why we put these events on, right? SaaSR exists to pay it forward, to help one another overcome growth challenges, to learn, to collaborate, and to share, right? And so These have actually been so popular, the Brain Dates, for us, we've actually had to even from time to time move them to larger areas of the venue so we can just accommodate, right, just the actual participation. And then also the popularity is what sparked our Workshop Wednesdays, our ongoing, you know, workshops that we host every Wednesday virtually. So Brain Dates, it's a foundational piece of the event and super, super popular. And then of course our hydration stations and water bottles, right? I think this is also a really, really popular one for a few reasons, right? Obviously at any event, especially too with SASSR, we're like indoor-outdoor festival style, staying hydrated. I think that's one of the core things we always tell all of our attendees or sponsors, like make sure you're staying hydrated throughout the day. So we put these water stations all over the venue, right? And what you also have the opportunity to do is have these co-branded water bottles with, with us. And so all the different water stations will have your branding all over it. Again, having that co-branded water bottle, I can't tell you, we get emails and comments all the time from folks who are like, I lost my water bottle from, like, can you send me a new one? Right? And so I think, I think that take-home piece is really cool, right? Like, you want to have create opportunities where your brand kind of lives on forever and has like a long tail impact. And so This is definitely a really cool take-home, I would say, sponsorship and opportunity that again we've seen really, really popular and really impactful over the years. And then David, here's a quick glance at some of the ones remaining. Are there any others that you may want to highlight, touch on?

Yeah, I mean, look, so we have here in the deck, anyone who wants it can get this deck, and this is what's still available. We've probably sold about half of the ancillaries already for Annual, but, you know, we just reviewed the ones that I think are some of the most high impact. One of the ones that we didn't talk about is Saster Square Park, and that's going to be, you know, really featured this year in terms of a place for people to be networking and hanging out. We have some live music there, so that's like a really cool, like, part to put your brand in a high-traffic area. So that's something we didn't talk about, but I think that's a really good one too. And then I think there's one more slide, Kevin, right? Yep. Yeah, something else that I think is worth looking at is the happy hours, right? I think happy hours are always great. Everyone goes to them, a great way to put your brand. We usually do like a custom drink, right, for the sponsor. So that's pretty cool. And yeah, look, I also think the D&I sponsorship is a really also effective one, a powerful one. Something we do at Saastr that's really special is we give out hundreds and hundreds of tickets to underrepresented groups. I think it's something that I haven't seen any other event do. It's core to SASTR's DNA and our culture and making sure that it's an inclusive event and we bring together a really diverse community that reflects the tech world, right? And so it's a core value of ours. And look, as a sponsor, you can really underwrite tickets for underrepresented groups. You can come to our D&I luncheon. Put your brand there, really fantastic opportunity for recruiting, aligning your brand with some really strong values. And so that's something that I think is a winner also, and I wouldn't overlook.

Amazing, amazing. Yeah, so these are a lot of us. So again, any specific questions you have, ideas, you may have specific goals or objectives, and you're like, hey, there's, there's lots of sponsorship opportunities here. Which do you think would be the best to help us, you know, make this become a reality? So feel free, shoot us an email. We obviously would love to talk to you, answer any questions, all that kind of great stuff. Amelia, before we sign off, anything that we may have missed, anything you want to add?

Yeah, I think you guys did a great job. It's very fun banter with you guys. And no, I think if anyone— I know there are a few Europa annual sponsors on the call, so if you guys have any specific questions about maybe things David and Kevin didn't touch on that you're wanting to get answered for Europa, because I know it's just a few weeks away. You could drop it into Q&A. We will next week be doing a last formal walkthrough for all sponsors on Europa, so we'll have lots of great information there. Bianca's asking, any news on lead scanning at Europa? Yeah, you're actually going to get an email on Monday. So with the information on lead scanning, again, there's nothing to do now. You can't scan anyone. There's honestly nothing to really set up on the backend. It's more of we just need your POCs. We'll set it up. It's the same system we've used at annual. So I think you're already familiar with it. So same sort of idea there. So yeah, you'll get that email Monday. The reason we're waiting till Monday is because starting today, actually for our Europa sponsors, many of you are gonna get your booth proofs today. So that is exciting news. So you'll look for that either today if we got like basically everyone's back or tomorrow. If you're one of the like, if you submitted later, you'll probably have it tomorrow or Monday. So yeah, and then on Monday everyone will get their kind of POC lead scanning email. And next Thursday this webinar will be all about Europa. So we'll answer any and all final questions, give everyone a final walkthrough. What hopefully you guys are registered now. I would say that's the biggest reminder for any of the Europa sponsors on this call. Do make sure you're registered because that is how you get the attendee emails. Those are packed with great information. I know sometimes they're long, but yeah, those are packed and chock full of information. But yeah, so any other questions on Europa, let us know. We'll give it a minute.

I'm excited for London. It's going to be awesome seeing everything happening from this viewpoint. It's going to be an amazing event. It's a lot of good energy, a lot of great attendee numbers are awesome. Yeah, speaker list is like A+. It's going to be great. Yeah. Are you packed, Kevin? You packed?

Agree.

Am I packed? No, but I am— I'm not— I would freak out if I was one of those last-minute packers. So I will be I'll be packing early. I'll be ready.

I knew you're an early packer guy. I knew you're that kind of guy.

Yeah, I'm all over the airport. I literally— yeah, I'm thinking of just buying clothes in London.

I gotta plan those outfits, man. I'm already packed. All right, guys, thanks for hosting. Thanks everyone for your great questions and for your attention. Thanks for spending half an hour with us. Again, we'll see you this time next Thursday. We're going to do a full Europa last note before you go. If you missed anything, if you have any questions, so invite everyone from your Europa teams, invite folks from your annual teams. A lot of this is crossover information or good things to think about. So if you have any other questions, email us, let us know, chat us, and we'll see you next week.

Bye. Bye, everyone.