Know-How Exchange : Other

Dear Ericha154,

That all depends on what one will be asking one's sponsors to sponsor.

First, if there's a logical or community connection of some kind between your potential sponsor and whatever cause you are championing, that often makes a huge difference in a company's inclination to offer support when they are asked for it.

Why?

Well, for three reasons:

First, because from the potential sponsor's viewpoint, there needs to be some worthy degree of visibility that connects them to you in the minds of your supporters and in the minds of their customers. A logical fit would be a pet food company and their local animal rescue centre.

Second, your cause needs to be significant enough for your potential sponsor to connect their message with your message: the two messages need to be mutually supportive in some way. Not always, but mostly.

Third, it's helpful if there's some kind of tax or accounting benefit for your sponsor that encourages them to hitch their wagon to you and the things you stand for.

So, how does one go about contacting sponsors?

Dear heart, one picks up the phone or one calls in whatever marks one has, and one lays it on the line! Brainstorm with colleagues and ask who they know that might be willing to help. Use local press and radio to promote your cause and put the message out they you need help.

See if there's some kind of local connection in the guise of a group, as association, or a society of some kind that connects to your cause in some way and approach them.

But to be really effective and to look as poised and as cool, calm, and connected as possible, it's better if you first of all figure out a sponsorship package of some kind. By this I mean some scope of exposure to offer said sponsors in exchange for their support.

As in the typical swan, it matters not one jot if you're paddling like buggery under the water, just to stay in one place: what matters MOST in the eyes of the people you'll be asking for help is that on the surface you represent the epitome of calm!

The more you offer in terms of logo exposure and name recognition and so on, the more you can reasonably request in terms of a pledge of support.

So, you could tell your potential sponsors that at Silver level they'll get their logo on signs and leaflets, but not on an event program. At Gold level, they get all the Silver benefits, plus their name on the program and the ticket stubs. While at Platinum level, they get all of the aforementioned perks, PLUS, they become LEAD sponsor, mentioned in all radio ads, PSAs, press releases, and so on.

The trick is to egg the pudding sufficiently to make it appealing enough to sponsors with differing price points, while also giving bragging rights to those in the position to be able to pay and pay handsomely.

In your message, in your presentation, you need to make the benefits of supporting you tempting and beneficial enough to outweigh potential sponsor's hesitation to hesitate to commit.

But once they DO commit, treat them like gold ... but work within the rules of common sense by not offering them everything.

Think of approaching businesses about sponsorship in the same way you'd approach a good friend or a relative if you needed to borrow their lawnmower, or a cup of sugar, or if you needed a ride to the airport: you engage the rules of reciprocity and make those rules work in your favour AND in the favour of the person you are asking for help.

They do something for you, you do something for them: the deal must be seen to be and must be thought to be equally beneficial to BOTH parties, otherwise, the relationship sours in a lop-sided tangle of goo, which is never good.

Be clear on what you need. Be clear on what you'll give in return. Get everything in writing. And be sure to adhere to any and all logo or brand requirements (and if you can get these BEFORE any contract is signed, all the better for your much maligned designers, poor lambs, for it will be they who have to strain the logo soup!).

So, connect and align your cause with your target's corporate aims.

Offer and request reasonable concessions.

Don't be afraid of asking for help, and if you can offer sponsors the chance to provide gifts in kind, in lieu of direct financial support, you win and so do they they.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA

In addition to Gary's thoughts, consider if you want a single event-based relationship with a sponsor or an ongoing one. Many companies put their logos and names in sponsorship PR, but it is sometimes too easy to overlook the sponsors. Instead, an ongoing relationship that's a win-win for both you and your sponsors can be a good thing, especially the next time you have an event -- you already will have sponsors ready, willing, and able to help you out.