While working out of Conjunctured today, we got into a brief conversation about sponsorships and the best way to go about attracting them. Here’s how I would attract sponsorships and keep them. But first:
Why do companies give?
It seems to me that their are several reasons that it would benefit a large organization to give to a charitable or smaller project:
- Promotional Reasons. You’ll notice that a lot of the sponsorships that you are familiar with are focused around events that generate large audiences. The reason that you can’t find a sporting arena, music venue or roller coaster that isn’t sponsored by a company is because those types of venues see hundreds of thousands of people go in and out of their gates on a yearly basis. If you can generate a great deal of traffic to whatever it is you are doing, landing a sponsorship becomes easy.
- It looks good and it feels good. Fortunately, you don’t HAVE to get 100,000 people through your doors every single day to get a company to consider sponsoring you. If you are a charitable organization, you’re in luck. It is very commonplace, if not an unwritten rule, these days that companies give back to their communities. Many companies only exist because of their underlying community. So, when someone in that community is in need, most are willing to give back a little something. It looks good in the papers, the company blog and their website. Employee morale goes up because they feel like they are doing their part to help the community around them because they work for a company that cares. And, of course, let’s not forget that giving really is the best policy. Every business plan should include some way to give back.
- Niche groups with similar interests. Another reason companies give is because they share the same common interests with a smaller niche organization and it is beneficial to them to see this smaller niche organization succeed. You’ll see this, for example, when a small programming firm, working on a niche segment of computer software is sponsored by a larger organization, who in return for providing sponsorship, get access to data. Or a young athlete, who shows potential, will receive a sponsorship from a sporting goods company to continue their training on the hope that they will become a champion and then be associated with their brand. This type of sponsorship is the “nurture them while they are young, then watch them grow up to be big and tall and we’ll be so proud” approach.
- People like People. Finally, the old saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is especially true when it comes to sponsorships. Often times, companies will have a certain number of dollars each quarter or year that HAVE to be spent on sponsorships of some type. Sometimes this is just part of the corporate mission statement, other times it is because those sponsorships are needed as tax write offs. Whatever the reason, many companies will give to a cause, simply because they know someone involved. And here you were, trying to avoid that fun run next weekend! ;)
Here’s how I would attract a sponsor?
Alright, now we know what sponsors are looking for, so how do we attract them? Well, you can fall into any of the above categories and have a real shot at landing something, but to swing things even more into your favor I might try some of these things:
- Put together a press kit, or something similar that is geared toward explaining to prospect sponsors why your organization is a good fit with their organization. You’ll want to include any recent press here, because a company is much more likely to sponsor someone that is receiving a lot of press, than someone no one has ever heard of before.
- Get to know your prospect companies. Don’t pitch to companies in which your organization is not a good fit. It’s much better to do some research and pitch to a few companies, than blindly pitching to many. And remember, you might be amazed at the links you have to a specific company. Do you know an employee of the company? An employee’s family member? The more support you have on the inside the better.
- Throw an event. This is one of the easier ways to gain sponsorship. Events have to be promoted, otherwise no one would show up and it wouldn’t be any fun. One of the easiest ways to get a sponsor is to imagine the greatest event of all time, pair it with some great marketing, PR and a little advertising and then get the sponsor to pay for it all. This is a win-win because the sponsor gets to put their name on all of the marketing material associated with the event and you essentially get a TON of free publicity and credit for throwing an awesome party. Play your cards right and you can turn sponsors from just an event sponsor to a full-time sponsor, even after the event is over.
- Offer up property. A big part of companies sponsoring something is being able to see where their money went. So, allow them to slap a logo on something. Running a 24/7 operation? Get an energy drink to sponsor the office webcam and stream it live over the web 24 hours a day with their logo bug in the bottom corner of the video stream. Got a conference room? Guess what? Now, it’s the Office Supply Store Think Tank. Do you get a lot of people hanging out in your lounge? Pride yourself on the music played? Post playlists online and share them, but label them “Playlists from the Rhapsody Lounge.”
- Be creative. Some of the ideas here might work and some might not, but the key is to always be creative. Companies want to be creative and cool more than anything else, which is why so many are willing to waste millions of dollars on ideas that some ad agency told them were “cool.” If you can be creative and come up with a cool idea, then finding sponsorships will become easy.
How to keep sponsorships?
This one is pretty easy. If you were able to get someone to sponsor you initially, then getting them to continue to do so is just a matter having good relations. Get to know the people sponsoring and invite them to be a part of what you are doing. People like to feel needed, so get your sponsors involved in the projects you are working on. If they are personally invested, they aren’t going to want to cut off your funding because they’ll be having too much fun. A lot of people will tell you that sponsorships only continue if an organization is seeing an increase in public awareness, but most of the time, you can keep a sponsorship for a long time just by getting key members at your sponsors organization involved in your project. How hard was that? ;)
What has your sponsorship experience been?
That’s how I would do it, but sponsorships come because of many different factors. What has your experience been? What worked for you and what didn’t when you were attracting sponsors? What are you trying to find sponsorship for right now? How can we help? I’d love to hear all of your sponsorship hardships and hurrays, so tell your story in the comments section of this post.
All this talk about sponsorships at 3 o’clock in the morning has me thinking…perhaps an energy drink should sponsor ME. ;)
And remember, just because you want a larger organization to sponsor you, doesn’t mean you can’t give back, as well. My Charms for Charity is a great example of how you can create a business model that gives back no matter what size company you are right now.
Just trying out some new types of writing to those who read this far. Apparently, I’m a writer now, so that means I have to find a voice, supposedly. Feel free to tell me exactly how you felt about this style, story, content, etc. Hurt my feelings if you want, I just need the feedback or the people who pay me money will beat me with a bone whip. And if you're enjoying this blog, consider commenting or subscribing for free.
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