Tips for seeking sponsorship for National Youth Week events
Sponsorship can be an alternative way of funding a project or event. Sponsorship is a joint marketing activity which marketers use to achieve an emotional connection with their target audience. The following steps are suggested to obtain sponsorship for your project or event.
Identify opportunities for sponsorship
Sponsors can offer support for projects and events in different ways:
- financial contribution
- in-kind services such as printing promotional materials or discounted travel
- promotional support
- use of equipment
- human resources support
All of these are valuable in their own way and you should carefully consider the value of the contribution as well as the benefits your event can offer a potential sponsor in exchange for sponsorship, remembering that exclusive rights are worth the most to a sponsor. Some benefits may include:
- linking sponsor's name or logo to a youth project or event
- involvement and recognition in the youth project or event
- acknowledgement of your sponsor in media releases
- introduction to new target audiences
- development of new business opportunities
- opportunity for product sales or demonstrations at your event
Develop a sponsorship marketing plan
A sponsorship marketing plan outlines the viability of seeking and providing service to sponsor/s for an event or project by outlining the costs, benefits and risks of sponsorship. The plan should include:
- a brief description of the event or project including participants and target audiences
- goals and/or objectives of the event or project
- the benefits of the sponsorship and how the benefits will be used
- any potential sponsors or categories of sponsors to be targeted
- proposed methods of seeking sponsors
- potential benefits to be offered to sponsors
- pricing
- costs of seeking and providing a service to sponsors
- risk assessment
- planned approach to managing and evaluating the sponsorship
Finding and researching potential sponsors
The most effective way to find potential sponsors is through direct contact. Use your networks. Among the team organising your event, identify a list of contacts that work with organisations that might be interested in supporting the event.
If you don't "know someone who knows someone" it can be difficult to find the right person in an organisation or decide on the best approach to take. This is where research can be helpful.
A good place to start is to have a look at other youth projects and events in Australia and overseas where a sponsorship arrangement exists. Organisations supporting other youth events may be open to expanding their commitment to the youth market.
You could also investigate organisations that identify themselves with or appeal to the youth market:
- visit their website
- look through their annual report for statements about their corporate goals and objectives, target markets, mission statements, corporate commitment, social responsibility, competitors, marketing and communication strategies and past sponsorship activities
- you may also find the names of key contacts in marketing roles listed on the website
- if you have difficulty finding information, call the company directly and ask for the information you need.
This research will help you to develop a list of possible benefits the organisation will gain in the event of sponsorship and will assist in developing a written proposal.
The proposal
It is ideal if you are able to meet with a representative of the organisation face-to-face. However, this is often not easy to arrange. You will need to rely on your research information to develop your proposal for each organisation. Be sure to include:
- an outline of the sponsorship opportunity, including a description of the event
- details of planned media coverage on radio, television, print and community access
- other event promotion strategies
- audience profile (highlighting how it matches the sponsors)
- an explanation of how the opportunity will produce positive outcomes for the sponsor
- suggestions on how they can leverage the sponsorship through offers to customers and staff
- a list of the rights and benefits you are offering.
The proposal should be as brief as possible, but contain enough information for a company to understand what they are being offered, how much it will cost and who they are dealing with. The proposal is the starting point for negotiating a successful sponsorship agreement.
Follow up with a phone call about 10 days after you send your proposal to ensure that it has been received and reviewed.
Always say thank you
Even if you get a "thanks, but no thanks" response, send a letter of thanks for reviewing the proposal. You can always approach them next year.
Be prepared to negotiate
If your proposal is of interest to a sponsor, they will usually want to negotiate on price and benefits. Just remember a "win-win" outcome is essential to an enduring relationship with the sponsor:
- be honest about the sponsorship opportunity
- undersell the opportunity's benefits then over-deliver after signing the agreement
- be realistic with what's being offered
- be sure that you can deliver the agreed benefits
- make sure you know your minimum acceptable sponsorship fee and if the sponsor wants to pay less, consider repackaging the proposal.
The sponsorship agreement
All the terms and benefits agreed upon during negotiation should be formally documented in a sponsorship agreement or a formal letter. Including this step will protect both the sponsoring organisation and your organisation, as everything is written down in black and white.
Servicing the sponsorship
The following suggestions will assist in providing an effective service to the sponsor:
- develop a sponsorship implementation plan
- provide the sponsor with a single contact point
- get to know the sponsor wherever possible
- acknowledge the sponsor
- keep them informed of any other sponsorship arrangements you put in place
- observe naming rights
- prepare a sponsor report after the event to detail all the benefits received
- seek feedback from your sponsors