Sponsorships are accessible to a broad range of individuals, from artists to athletes. While it may seem simple enough -- you allow yourself to be associated with the company in exchange for free clothes, equipment or other goods or services -- it’s a highly competitive market.
Along with the validation that comes from being sponsored, a host of opportunities are available. Depending on the sponsor and the agreement, you can get straight cash; products such as clothes, shoes, sporting equipment, nutritional supplements, computers or software; they can cover travel and hotel costs or pay for a health club membership, health insurance, auto insurance or even a cell phone and monthly call allowances.
At all levels of sponsorship, the sponsor’s goal is aligned with the bottom line: Achieving a good return on their investment. They expect certain benefits from their association with those they sponsor, including brand awareness, distinguishing their product from the competition, showcasing existing products or launching new ones.
Whatever the case, in order to get sponsored, you need to sell yourself in alignment with the marketing needs of the companies you approach. If you can’t present a company any exposure to a pertinent audience, you have nothing to offer.
Finding Sponsors
You can attract sponsors by maintaining high visibility in your field or community. For example, athletes should participate in as many tournaments as they can to raise their profile. However, it’s more likely that you will have to seek out those sponsors.
Research is vital. Knowing who to approach and who to avoid can save you a lot of time down the road. Some companies, such as Levi Strauss & Co., are direct and make it clear they choose their sponsorships and do not accept unsolicited requests. Your time is better spent elsewhere. Furthermore, you may have better luck starting locally. For example, if you’re into motorcross you might have luck approaching a local garage and offering to wear some advertisement on your bike in exchange for free repairs.
Learning about a company’s sponsorship history is crucial as well. If they have no such history, they may not be aware of the many ways to sponsor an individual or precisely how it can benefit them.
Don’t overlook your friends and family with regards to potential contacts, and don’t overlook your current employer -- you might know very well precisely the kind of sponsorship that could benefit them.
Finally, some websites exist to facilitate the entire process. Many like SponsorHouse.com allow competitive athletes in a range of sports to create an active profile to attract and apply to potential sponsors.
Who to address
Once you’ve targeted the appropriate companies, and assuming you don’t have the benefit of a personal introduction, consider marketing directors or corporate or community affairs directors. Larger companies may have sponsorship managers or brand managers.
Additionally, some may have product placement departments, whose sole job is to put their products into high-visibility and high-traffic events. If you’re about to be interviewed on television or in print, product placement departments might be interested in putting some of their products on you, which can lead to a larger sponsorship opportunity.
Making a direct pitch
Again, ideally sponsors would approach you, but in these early stages it’s not likely. To that end, if you’ve ascertained that a company will accept a direct solicitation or if you’ve finagled a connection within the company, your pitch ought to include:
Background: A brief description of yourself and your abilities, including your esume if germane, including your past accomplishments, future plans and even video footage of you doing your thing.
Benefits: How will the sponsor benefit from its association with you? For example, how much media coverage can they expect? If you lead weekly hiking expeditions that typically draw large crowds, or you have people lining up to take lessons from you as an art instructor, you might be able to leverage that reputation into a modest sponsorship.
Alternatives: Consider the many alternatives to cash or equipment as indicated in the intro like insurance and travel costs.
Specific upcoming opportunities: Timing may be everything, and presenting a company with a specific opportunity for product placement may be the best way toward building a bigger relationship. For example, if your band is scheduled to play a large music festival like South by Southwest, you can frame your pitch around this event. You have a better chance of attracting sponsors, such as clothiers or instrument manufacturers, since the potential exposure at such a festival is easily understood and calculable for virtually any business.
What to ask for
Always operate with flexible and realistic aims. Expecting a small company to dole out heaps of cash is unreasonable, especially if they can’t perceive how what it is you’re offering matches up to your request. To that end, use the size and visibility of the company and their sponsorship history as a means to ascertain what they may be able to spend on a sponsorship.
Your best bet may be to target something that may cost them little or nothing at all. For example, it would be far cheaper for a cell phone company to sponsor you by giving you a cell phone and a monthly call allotment than to fork over cash.
What they want to see
Every sponsor is different and they will have their own objectives and expectations. Yet whether you’re seeking money, products or services from a sponsor, they are seeking a few select things from the individuals they sponsor. You should shape your approach accordingly.
Visibility and exposure: Sponsors want to know that those they sponsor are providing them with unique and revenue-generating exposure. If you can’t provide one-time or consistent brand visibility at germane events, competitions, festivals or art exhibits, you have little to offer a company in terms of long-range sponsorship.
Image compatibility: You’re the embodiment of their company; you should fit the idea of the image they’re trying to promote, not the other way around.
Community involvement: Businesses benefit when they are identified with a commitment to their local community. It may be in your best interests to approach them from this angle.
Personal availability: Depending on a variety of factors, a company may want to use you to endorse a product by making appearances or advertising on their behalf.
Seeking Sponsorship
Keep in mind that although, by definition, sponsorship is not advertising -- an advertisement is direct promotion through the media. By allowing yourself to be sponsored, you are advertising a brand. As such, take caution: Approaching this as no more than a means for free stuff is not only the quickest way to rejection, but an unwitting opportunity to sell your soul.
Resources: http://sponsorship.uksport.gov.uk
www.sponsorhouse.com
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