Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Finding Event Sponsors. Who And How To Contact?

Posted by Anonymous on 9/28/2009 at 1:46 PM ET 250 Points
Hi, I need a little direction on how to contact companies in effort to sell sponsorship/advertising at golf outings across the country. Who do I contact? The marketing dept.? Any specific title? Do I cold call or email? How would I go about finding who to email? These companies can be of any size and stature. I do not need to contact the golf courses or outing hosts at this time, just selling the advertising right now. What is the best course of action?

Thank you!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by michael on 9/28/2009 at 2:35 PM Member
    Maybe marketing, maybe sales....maybe the CEO. Really depends on the type of company you are targeting.

    I would actually START at the golf courses. Outings are down quite a bit and they might be interested in what you offer....and could give you a list of past participant/advertisers.

    Names and email address are the simplest things to get.

    Michael
  • Posted by michael on 9/28/2009 at 2:36 PM Member
    Hey...just thought of something. Go to your local promotional products company. Find out who is ordering golf-related promo stuff.

    Yeah...that's the ticket!

    Michael
  • Posted on 9/28/2009 at 3:43 PM Author
    Thank you Phil, I intentionally left out specifics because my last post got so off topic the question was never answered. I am a professional sports photographer specializing in golf outings. I mostly do corporate outings but I see alot of other outings that sell sponsorship with amounts in the range of $5000.00 for just the beverage cart. All they seem to gain in return is... name on banner, signage at a hole, name in program and website hyper link, this does not even include entry to the tournament. With my product (Commemorative CD's) they would receive what I feel to be better name recognition for their money. Each foursome receives 4 CD's containing a slideshow of pictures including there foursome, candids around the tee and 7-15 consecutive action shots of them teeing off. They have copyright privileges so they may print any of the pictures and save them to a computer. What the sponsor would receive would be... Name/Logo on the front of the CD, signage at the hole, and a 30 second commercial before the slideshow runs. All of this will go HOME with the participants and most likely will be kept forever. I have never had an outing host turn down free photography and gifts for their participants as well as advertising on the CD.
    I have and do work with courses and tournament directors but I can't rely on others to make me successful, so I am looking for more avenues to create more oppurtunites. Any more direction would be appreciated.

    Thanks again,

    Dave Rice
    www.gophotos.net
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 9/28/2009 at 5:18 PM Accepted
    I have done many sponsorship events and know how little 5K or 20K buys a sponsor. There are a lot of other benefits than what meets the eye, and amazing how much someone will pay for their name on a bag, or even something as disposable as the plastic hotel room key.

    But, I think you should target the event managers. If Big CO wants to sponsor a golf outing- he'll be working with the event manager. There is no reason for him to work with you to go to event staff about the benefits he wants. Not that its all set in stone, but I don't see the 3rd party being brought in that way. Its the event group (and committee) that decides the level of sponsorship and benefits the sponsory recieves.

    I do see how you can benefit the event and add value to the organizers that will help them attract sponsors. That is the angle you should work.

    For example, if the golf outing benefits Cystic Fibrosis-- then you call the local chapter and ask who is heading that event. If its Joe's car dealership-- its director of marketing. If the director isn't handling this, they can point you to the right person.

    And, you should make the contact by phone. It'll give you the quickest and best results.

    With all the competiton out there for shrinking sponsorship dollars-- you may have a real window of opportunity.


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