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Can you really afford to be sponsored?

Ah, the allure of sponsorship. To have a corporate partner spend a few of their marketing dollars on your passion; to take it to the next level, to go the extra mile, to not have to pay the bills.

To live the dream.

Sounds great doesn’t it? In theory yes, in practice… mileage may vary. If you’re really keen on seeking sponsorship (and I don’t mean a hand-out from your mate who runs a successful spare parts business) you need to weigh up the cons before you’ll see any of the pros.

This may sound a little pessimistic, but I want you to go into the sponsorship game with your eyes open to the realities. That it’s not the goose that laid the golden egg and the answer to all your financial constraints.

It takes hard work, commitment and tenacity to be successful; all of which may take the ‘fun’ out of what you’re trying to achieve through sponsorship.

Motorsport, TV and Sponsorship – part 2

Here’s part 2 of my interview with Nathan Prendergast of Ignition Productions.

In part 1 of the interview we covered:

Exposure and being unique
Being prepared
Create and leverage your media opportunities

Keep your eyes open for opportunities…

Kym: So you’ve got to always be thinking. You can’t just focus purely on what you’re doing right now, but you need to be looking for opportunities, keep your eyes open?

Nathan: You can’t just sit there. You can’t chase the sponsor. They give you a check and go, “Great. Deal Done.” I can go race for the rest of the year because what benefit is a sponsor going to get out of that unless you win every single race, and there’s only a couple of people in our sport that are good enough to do that. I think you need to be constantly thinking, “Okay, how can I service this sponsor better?

Motorsport, TV and Sponsorship – part 1

Hi and welcome to the third interview here at Practical Sponsorship ideas. This week it’s my pleasure to introduce Nathan Prendergast, head-honcho of Ignition Productions.

Nathan has a long history with motorsport, growing up around race tracks his family owned and operated during the 80s and 90s. From the age of 16 Nathan began commentating at drag racing events at Eastern Creek Raceway. This led to opportunities to work in front of the camera on TV programs like Speed Week here in Australia.

Keen to work behind the camera, Nathan honed his editing skills by putting together drag racing promos. After demonstrating his abilities he was given the opportunity to become an editor with AVE. For close to ten years Nathan worked with AVE, learning how to edit, produce, direct and manage the cameras.

5 steps to finding that perfect sponsor

One of the key steps to securing sponsorship is doing your homework. You must get to know your potential sponsors and determine if you’re compatible with their target audience(s) and marketing objectives.

One of the worst things you can do is send an unsolicited, untargeted, irrelevant proposal to a potential sponsor. You’ll get absolutely nowhere and will waste your time and theirs.

Time spent doing your research now will pay you back 10 fold in the long run.

Before you begin the process of finding that perfect sponsor, I assume that you have a good understanding of your target audience – those people who are interested in what you do. Be it visitors to an event, members / fans of a sporting association or specific audience demographic etc.

The process:

Step 1 – Create a wish list of sponsors
Step 2 – Research each of the sponsors
Step 3 – Record the details in the Sponsor Research Template
Step 4 – Reality check using the Sponsor Compatibility Matrix…how compatible are you really?
Step 5 – Pick up the phone and contact your hot list of sponsors

Sponsorship opportunities are all around you…

Sometimes you’ve just got to stop what you’re doing, sit back and take stock…literally. If you take the time to really look you could spot sponsorship opportunities all around you.

At the moment I’m sitting here in my lounge room surrounded by brands and objects and things that I like. If you take the time to understand what motivates you to select one brand over other then you’re 1 step closer to understanding what you have to offer a potential sponsor.

Take a quick inventory of what you can see…

For me, I’m wearing my Tendence watch. I love this watch, though it’s a bit bigger than I imagined. One of the disadvantages of buying online – no frame of reference.

Brett de Hoedt – Interview Summary

Here’s a summary of my interview with Brett de Hoedt including common mistakes sponsorship seekers make, golden rules for a successful sponsorship and key points from the interview.

The full interview was pretty long so I divided it into 3 parts:

5 common mistakes sponsorship seekers make:

Bland proposals that don’t grab the sponsor’s attention.
The sponsorship proposal is all about logos on things. This is too simple and offers no value to the sponsor.
Not offering a range of options to suit a sponsor’s budget.
Not providing unique experiences for the sponsor, their staff and clients. Clients of the sponsor are often overlooked.
Sponsorship proposals are often too general or broad and don’t focus on discrete benefits for the sponsor.

How To Successfully Cold Call A Potential Sponsor For People Who Hate Cold Calling Potential Sponsors.

A great way to cold call a potential sponsor

I hate cold calling – it gives me the shivers. But if you’re going to be a successful sponsorship seeker it’s a skill you’ll need to develop.

After the dismal failure of my first sponsorship proposal I’ve decided on a new approach. I won’t put finger to keyboard until I phone a potential sponsor and I’m able to develop some familiarity and rapport with them first.

And here’s a technique that may just do the trick…

Brett de Hoedt interview – part 3

Enjoy part 3 of my interview with Brett de Hoedt of Hootville Communications.

In part 2 of the interview we covered topics including:

Provide unique experiences
Get their bloody attention!
Pursue multiple targets at one time

Provide lots of options to say yes

Kym: So position to say lots of yeses. But should you be discussing budget with them? Should you find out what their budget is or are you better off just saying, “This is the value that you’re going to receive,” and stick to that?

Brett: I think the latter. Give them lots of different options, from a small buy-in to a large buy-in. I am not sure, but I think plenty of times, especially at smaller potential sponsors, they might sponsor you X or they might sponsor you four times that much depending on how much they like you and relate to you and the potential they see in you. So I think when asked that, it’s an off-putting question as well from someone.

Brett de Hoedt interview – part 2

For you reading pleasure, here’s part 2 of my interview with Brett de Hoedt of Hootville Communications.

In part 1 of the interview we covered:

How to look like you’re worth sponsoring
Personal marketing techniques to attract potential sponsors
Creating a brand and having authority

Be very specific about your sponsorship opportunity

Kym: Turning to creating a viable sponsorship opportunity; what advice can you share with us in this area?

Brett: Yeah, look, I think apart from looking the part, be very specific about your sponsorship. I’ve seen organisations seek sponsorship in a general sense. “Just write us a check for our general operations,” which I think is far less appealing and far more confusing and likely to create more doubts than saying, “Sponsor us for X number of races,” one season, our opening round, six home matches. Break it down and estimate how much it costs to take the field or take the track or hire a staff member and offer sponsorship that one specific project. I just think that’s more appealing and less intimidating.

Rob Sharp – Interview Summary

Recently I had a very interesting chat with Rob Sharp from YBI Creative. The interview is divided into two parts:

But for all you time-poor sponsorship seekers I have summarised the interview below…

5 common mistakes sponsorship seekers make:

Poor spelling – have your sponsorship proposal proof read by someone other than yourself.
Sending the sponsorship proposal to the wrong person – make sure you have established a relationship with the person who can say yes.
Sending a sponsorship proposal before making a meaningful connection.
Not abiding by their sponsorship and brand guidelines – use the right logos and colours etc.
Not finding out why you were unsuccessful – use this as an opportunity to improve your sponsorship seeking skills.