A while back I had the pleasure of interviewing Nathan Prendergast of Ignition Productions.

Nathan knows a thing or two about motorsport, sponsorship and TV with his role as broadcast director for the V8 Supercar telecasts.

To read the full interview use the links below or continue reading to check out Nathan's top sponsorship tips...

• Motorsport, TV and Sponsorship - Part 1
• Motorsport, TV and Sponsorship - Part 2
• Motorsport, TV and Sponsorship - Part 3

Motorsport is expensive, very expensive. Without sponsorship many forms of motorsport simply wouldn't exist at the levels they do today.

Recently I caught up with Darren Morgan of Darren Morgan Racing, pilot of the AEG Power Tools Top Fuel Dragster and 2011 Australian National Drag Racing Association (ANDRA) Top Fuel Champion.

Affectionately known as Morgs, Darren is one of a handful of professional drag racers whose racing operation is completely funded by sponsorship and local investors. In Australia, the norm is for sponsorship to fund part of the racing program, with a significant portion often coming from a racer's business interests.

Darren was introduced to Top Fuel in the 90s while crewing for drag racing legend Graeme Cowin, both here in Australia and in the US. In 2004 Darren joined the Lamattina Top Fuel Racing team, putting together the total race package including training the crew, building the transporter, preparing the tooling AND taking on the driving duties, winning the 2005 Top Fuel Championship in the process.

One of the fundamental keys to getting sponsored is your ability to create a winning sponsorship proposal. It’s an important document in the process of going from sponsorship seeker to marketing partner. It can literally make or break the deal.

Creating an effective sponsorship proposal is probably one of the most asked for yet misunderstood facets of the whole sponsorship process.

Through personal experience, research and similarities to business proposals in general, I’ve come up with 10 essential steps to create a winning sponsorship proposal.

It’s easy to follow, methodical and will greatly improve your chances of getting sponsored. And to help organise your ideas I've included a Sponsorship Proposal Worksheet for you to download.

So let’s get started…

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that I'm a strong believer in building rapport with a potential sponsor before you attempt to talk about a sponsorship proposal or investment options etc.

I learnt this the hard (and time consuming) way.

One of the ways you build rapport with a potential sponsor is to have a recognisable brand and an audience of your own.

Apart from creating a potential market ready to go for your sponsor, having a recognisable brand gives you instant and independent credibility. You're not telling a potential sponsor how good (professional, articulate, affable) you are, you're showing them by the way you interact with your audience.

But, as an independent sponsorship seeker how can you cost effectively:

• Create your brand
• Build an audience and;
• Compete for sponsors with organisations much larger than yourself?

By creating your brand online using the tools that best serve you and your target audience.

Welcome to part 3 of my interview with Nathan Prendergast of Ignition Productions.

In part 2 of the interview we covered:

• Keep your eyes open for opportunities
• The importance of creating a personal brand
• Forget the camera and be natural

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Provide value and don't overrate your worth

Kym: What common mistakes do you see sponsorship seekers make?

Nathan: I would be guessing. But I would think that overrating their worth would be one of them. People can be a little bit arrogant about the way they approach things. Again, potentially, depending on who's evaluating their worth.

Kym: Does that come back to how you value a sponsorship? It's not about cost. It doesn't matter what you think you're worth. It's actually about how much value you can return to the sponsor?