| Another Great Marketing Dog Article Topic: Getting Sponsorship Money by Slash Coleman |
Before you try and start a relationship with a sponsor, it helps to know yourself or your product
pretty well. If you only have a promise of a show in your head or one without a script or if you
don’t have a business plan or at least a rough sketch of your plan for your product, or even a
press kit with some decent press, then you’ve really got no business courting sponsors. In fact,
since first impressions rule, if you don’t have a plan before you approach sponsors, it can
actually hurt your chances for the future. Even if you decide to forgo my recommendations for
“having all your ducks in a row” and court sponsors anyway, you may find that potential
sponsors that seem "hot for what you’ve got" suddenly go cold or back away. That’s the sign of
a lack of planning on your part. After all, an investment in an asset is something a sponsor
won’t go hot and cold over if you’ve presented it in the right way.
What is a sponsor?
I had one main sponsor for four years who funded all my projects: from the rental fee on a
1,200 sq ft studio, to production and tour costs, to massages and steak dinners.
One thing to know is a sponsor is a person first and a company second. An investor third and
consumer fourth. Most importantly, sponsors believe, as mine did - “There are two kinds of
people. Those with something and those that want something from those that have something.”
On the left side of my sponsor’s desk there was always the “ever-replenishing stack of
envelopes” - requests for money from people who had none. When I first asked my sponsor
about them, he ripped one open and read an unusually formal letter from an inventor. He then
pushed the entire stack of envelops into the trash. He said that 99.9% of all of his requests
ended up in the trash because the requesters failed to see that he wasn’t a money machine. He
was a person.
Through the years I’ve been blessed with the ability to have almost all of my projects funded in
some way or another. Most people would say I’m lucky, but luck has very little to do with it.
When I’m walking around with my finished product paid for by someone other than myself, and
I’m the envy of my artist friends, planning rather than luck has everything to do with the
outcome.
WIIFM?
What’s in it for me? That’s what your sponsor will want to know. Will it:
• Link their name to a good cause?
• Put their name in front of more of their own target audience?
• Put their name in front of a new target audience?
• Make them some money?
For my shows, I map out my demographic and make predictions about audience numbers.
Your sponsor will want to know these things. In the next year, will your tour place you in front of
10 people or 10,000 people? Will your audience members be Christian children or seventy
year old African American college professors who are divorced? You need to know your
demographic because it can mean the difference between a yes or no with a sponsor.
The demographic that your potential sponsor is attempting to reach may influence whether
he/she gives you financial support. As I said above, can you help them reach a wider
membership of a similar demographic or can you help them reach out to people they aren’t
able to reach otherwise?
Also, will their name be appearing on stage, in a program, plugged during media events, on a
website? If so, how visible will their name be? It all comes down to numbers my Dear Watson!
WIIFY?
What’s in it for you? That’s what you should know before you approach a sponsor. What are you
going to do with the money? If you haven’t thought about it…..you should. The money should
in some way help you reach a wider audience, unless, of course, you are seeking a specific
sponsor to provide products for your event, such as Gatorade for a race or a musical amp from
Peavy. With that in mind don’t approach Kroger to help you pay for a cordless microphone.
You should approach a microphone company for that. And if your asking for a cordless
microphone, know the brand, cost and company where you’d like to purchase it from.
If you are seeking free advertising for an event, call the newspapers advertising department first
not the local grocery store and know the costs of ads by size and the length of time you’d like to
run it for.
So, do you think you’ll use the money to pay your troupe? If so, it’s the wrong answer. That
would be like saying you’re going to use the sponsor’s softball shirt money to pay your softball
team instead of buying them their team shirts. Hello! Your troupe or team has already agreed
to play for free!
If you say you want the money to defray travel costs, then you should have a budget for your
year in place and be able to give your sponsor some educated guesses as to how much they’ll
be helping you. Will their money help defray travel costs? lodging?
Once again, if you haven’t done so already, you need a decent business plan in place before
you go sponsor hunting....and oh yeah, a killer press kit truly helps.
So, what’s the big deal about sponsors?
Above all else…money talks! And if all you need is some ch-ching, sponsorships may not be
the way to go….at least not a sponsorship in the traditional sense. Sponsorships are something
to seek if you have a tried and tested true product or show or an event that’s at least a year old.
Sponsors, like investors, aren’t fly-by-night. They know it takes time for an investment to yield a
return and so they won’t even look your way if you don’t have some stability linked with your
name. If you have something that has some longevity to it, like a 3-5 year potential run for a
show, then by all means court a sponsor.
For anything less, I recommend selling advertising in your show programs. This is a good short
term investment for many businesses and it will help you develop a strong rapport with a
company that may eventually become a full-fledged show sponsor. The great thing about
program advertising is that once you pay for the programs you can keep selling ads and use the
extra money for whatever you need it for.
One last note - Family and friends make great non-traditional sponsors. If you’re needing
money for a costume or a loan, get a loan and pay them pack off the top of your ticket sales.
pretty well. If you only have a promise of a show in your head or one without a script or if you
don’t have a business plan or at least a rough sketch of your plan for your product, or even a
press kit with some decent press, then you’ve really got no business courting sponsors. In fact,
since first impressions rule, if you don’t have a plan before you approach sponsors, it can
actually hurt your chances for the future. Even if you decide to forgo my recommendations for
“having all your ducks in a row” and court sponsors anyway, you may find that potential
sponsors that seem "hot for what you’ve got" suddenly go cold or back away. That’s the sign of
a lack of planning on your part. After all, an investment in an asset is something a sponsor
won’t go hot and cold over if you’ve presented it in the right way.
What is a sponsor?
I had one main sponsor for four years who funded all my projects: from the rental fee on a
1,200 sq ft studio, to production and tour costs, to massages and steak dinners.
One thing to know is a sponsor is a person first and a company second. An investor third and
consumer fourth. Most importantly, sponsors believe, as mine did - “There are two kinds of
people. Those with something and those that want something from those that have something.”
On the left side of my sponsor’s desk there was always the “ever-replenishing stack of
envelopes” - requests for money from people who had none. When I first asked my sponsor
about them, he ripped one open and read an unusually formal letter from an inventor. He then
pushed the entire stack of envelops into the trash. He said that 99.9% of all of his requests
ended up in the trash because the requesters failed to see that he wasn’t a money machine. He
was a person.
Through the years I’ve been blessed with the ability to have almost all of my projects funded in
some way or another. Most people would say I’m lucky, but luck has very little to do with it.
When I’m walking around with my finished product paid for by someone other than myself, and
I’m the envy of my artist friends, planning rather than luck has everything to do with the
outcome.
WIIFM?
What’s in it for me? That’s what your sponsor will want to know. Will it:
• Link their name to a good cause?
• Put their name in front of more of their own target audience?
• Put their name in front of a new target audience?
• Make them some money?
For my shows, I map out my demographic and make predictions about audience numbers.
Your sponsor will want to know these things. In the next year, will your tour place you in front of
10 people or 10,000 people? Will your audience members be Christian children or seventy
year old African American college professors who are divorced? You need to know your
demographic because it can mean the difference between a yes or no with a sponsor.
The demographic that your potential sponsor is attempting to reach may influence whether
he/she gives you financial support. As I said above, can you help them reach a wider
membership of a similar demographic or can you help them reach out to people they aren’t
able to reach otherwise?
Also, will their name be appearing on stage, in a program, plugged during media events, on a
website? If so, how visible will their name be? It all comes down to numbers my Dear Watson!
WIIFY?
What’s in it for you? That’s what you should know before you approach a sponsor. What are you
going to do with the money? If you haven’t thought about it…..you should. The money should
in some way help you reach a wider audience, unless, of course, you are seeking a specific
sponsor to provide products for your event, such as Gatorade for a race or a musical amp from
Peavy. With that in mind don’t approach Kroger to help you pay for a cordless microphone.
You should approach a microphone company for that. And if your asking for a cordless
microphone, know the brand, cost and company where you’d like to purchase it from.
If you are seeking free advertising for an event, call the newspapers advertising department first
not the local grocery store and know the costs of ads by size and the length of time you’d like to
run it for.
So, do you think you’ll use the money to pay your troupe? If so, it’s the wrong answer. That
would be like saying you’re going to use the sponsor’s softball shirt money to pay your softball
team instead of buying them their team shirts. Hello! Your troupe or team has already agreed
to play for free!
If you say you want the money to defray travel costs, then you should have a budget for your
year in place and be able to give your sponsor some educated guesses as to how much they’ll
be helping you. Will their money help defray travel costs? lodging?
Once again, if you haven’t done so already, you need a decent business plan in place before
you go sponsor hunting....and oh yeah, a killer press kit truly helps.
So, what’s the big deal about sponsors?
Above all else…money talks! And if all you need is some ch-ching, sponsorships may not be
the way to go….at least not a sponsorship in the traditional sense. Sponsorships are something
to seek if you have a tried and tested true product or show or an event that’s at least a year old.
Sponsors, like investors, aren’t fly-by-night. They know it takes time for an investment to yield a
return and so they won’t even look your way if you don’t have some stability linked with your
name. If you have something that has some longevity to it, like a 3-5 year potential run for a
show, then by all means court a sponsor.
For anything less, I recommend selling advertising in your show programs. This is a good short
term investment for many businesses and it will help you develop a strong rapport with a
company that may eventually become a full-fledged show sponsor. The great thing about
program advertising is that once you pay for the programs you can keep selling ads and use the
extra money for whatever you need it for.
One last note - Family and friends make great non-traditional sponsors. If you’re needing
money for a costume or a loan, get a loan and pay them pack off the top of your ticket sales.
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If you feel like you've been
spinning your wheels with your art
career, this book will give you
practical steps to make changes
that you will see instantly >more
spinning your wheels with your art
career, this book will give you
practical steps to make changes
that you will see instantly >more
| © Slash Coleman 2006 |
