10 Things that will destroy your sponsorship success

Most major corporations get hundreds of requests for sponsorship daily, some even hourly.  To make sure you don’t destroy your chances of success, check you don’t do ANY of the following.

1. Sending over your sponsorship proposal in your introduction email. Why? There are several reasons, but the main 2 are: 1) How do you know they are the decision maker, and if they have the final sign off? 2) You don’t have confirmation on their goals for sponsorship, so how do you know what they are looking to achieve?
2. Not following up. If you don’t have a follow-up strategy, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. You are way down on their to-do list.
3. Sending the same Gold, Silver, and Bronze packages to all potential sponsors. You need to tailor to their needs. Gold, Silver and Bronze packages show you didn’t listen or are not interested in what they want to achieve.
4. Not knowing your community. If you don’t know who your community is, your sponsors have no reason to partner with you. You will need to match your community to their target audience.
5. Focusing your proposal on how great your event is going to be will not impress your sponsors. They are not interested in your amazing speaker (unless it is them), or that you have ordered these special decorations that will wow everyone there.
6. Focusing your proposal on the great work that you do.  Your attendees are interested, but your sponsors aren’t.  Sponsors are only interested in the marketing opportunities with their target audience. 
7. Posting on social media that you are looking for sponsors and expecting potential sponsors to start calling straight away.  This may work on a small, local level, but no major sponsors are scouring social media for sponsorship opportunities—they are trying to deal with the 100+ requests coming in daily
8. Approaching sponsors the month before the event and expecting them to sign up.  Now this will depend on your ask. If you are looking for a couple $100 then this is feasible, but major sponsors will require months of follow-up and prep, normally six months to a year
9. Not confirming whom the decision maker is before you negotiate the deal.  Nothing is worse than thinking they are about to sign off a sponsorship, only to find out that it has to go to their boss first, who has a different set of goals, and you have to start all over again
10. Not doing your research to make sure the potential sponsor is a good fit for your community.  A great sponsorship not only brings you funding, it also supports and adds value to your community.

If you would like to learn more about how to avoid these mistakes, then join us in Milton on June 14th, for a workshop on Successful Sponsorship.