Tobias Westfall Brøndum Community & Esports Specialist with Razer (Europe).

I had several talks with Tobias, and here are some of his best ideas on how esport teams and organizations can work successfully with partners.

When reaching out to potential partners, build a strong marketing deck that will explain who you are, what you do, how you can work with partners and where the business opportunity is.

Who are you?

Describe who you are in the leadership team, what you have done and why you are unique. How is the team composed? Have you worked with each other before? How high is the probability of success with your esport team or organization?

Show your details

Show the management team, but also the esports players and team. Show figures on social media reach, streaming reach and online reach, to help potential partners understand how far you can carry their brand and messages. Show opportunity to grow, it is great that you have a good reach on social media for example, but what are your plans for growth the next 1, 2, 3 years?

What do you have to offer?

Be very specific about which services your organization can provide to the partner. Logo placements, events, naming teams/activities. Streaming layovers, creative content creation, visibility on streams, social media and web – and so on. Be creative and intelligent with your packaging so potential partners easily understands the idea and understand how far you can take their brand and how easy it is for you to do so.

What is in it for the partner?

This is important to understand. You have to make sure that you understand the goals and visions of your partners. If your partner is looking for huge reach, you need to focus on that but if the partner is looking for activation or creative content creation, you need to focus on that. Therefore, it is very important to clear out expectations before signing the contract. When you understand where your partner wants to go, and where you can go together, you can get to work and plan, and execute.

Looking awesome!

Always use high quality pictures and video. Underestimated, maybe, but make sure that you use quality pictures and video content when you are talking to a partner. If you use poor quality pictures or video, the partner might think that you will put their brand into a poor-quality context as well.

What are you doing right now?

Show how you are activating followers via social media and streams, right now. How do you interact, how do you do events, and how do you talk to and activate your fans and followers?

Show how you are creating creative content, right now. Potential partners want to feel safe, working with you, and it helps them feel safe when you show them that you know what you are doing. Make sure that the content you produce, follows the partner’s marketing rules/guidelines.

Target audience

A few words on your target audiences. Understand that most partners are looking at markets: countries, languages, and target audiences. When you can be specific and show that your esport organization penetrates 66% of the US market, it will be easier for you to work with brands that wants to enter, or be present in the US market.

Partners are usually looking for:

• Reach: get their brand to as many (relevant) people, as possible.
• Brand Awareness: looking to become better known by the right people, to whom they will buy and speak well about their products.
• Quality: be part of esport teams and organizations, who promote quality in every category. (Values, Management, Players, Results, Marketing and Customer/Fan relations).
• Making a difference: Depending on the partner, most campaign managers or marketing executives are looking to make a difference. Either for their company, for themselves or for the team they are working with. If you can understand their inner motivation for what they do, you can help them be successful, and that will make them like you and prioritize your esports team or organization.

Razer™ is the world’s leading lifestyle brand for gamers. The triple-headed snake trademark of Razer is one of the most recognized logos in the global gaming and esports communities. With a fan base that spans every continent, the company has designed and built the world’s largest gamer-focused ecosystem of hardware, software and services.