Knowing where to start with sponsorship can be difficult, especially when you have never dealt with it before. Here are 3 tips on where and how to get help:
- Make use of your existing team or recruit a new member of staff to help with research, engagement, and managing sponsors. Finding sponsors can be time consuming due to the amount of follow-up involved. Paying an outside broker or agency to only find sponsors has a few downfalls:
- They are the ones building the relationship with the sponsor; when they leave, the sponsors leave.
- There will often be a conflict of interest. They may be approaching the same sponsors for multiple asks.
- It is expensive due to the time it takes, plus they don’t have the passion or drive for the activity that you and your company do. Paying someone just to find sponsors is like paying your lawyer to do filing. It is a huge waste of resources and cash flow. Your money is better spent recruiting someone to join your team or splitting elements of sponsorship internally. It won’t consume as much time as you think if it is done right and you are consistent.
- Update your knowledge of sponsorship. Get clarity on what your value is and don’t use outdated techniques to approach sponsors, otherwise you will just blend in with 100’s of other people asking for sponsors. Sponsorship is not difficult and there are lots of resources both in person and online that can help you, such as workshops, webinars, blogs and infographics. In fact we will be running a FREE 5-Day Sponsorship Challenge on July 24th – Sponsorship Basics, How To Get Started. To register, sign up here.
- Have a plan for approaching sponsors – include follow-up and how to make your communication consistent. If you don’t you are setting yourself up for disappointment. When you have a strategy/process that you take potential sponsors through, other members of your team can step in too, so it doesn’t have to all fall on you.