A list of publications put out by the department's service areas.
Obtaining sponsorship for your club needs some thought. Clubs need extra money to expand, provide a better participation experience, conduct events, upgrade facilities, attract talent and develop talent, amongst other things.
Evidence suggests that:
This information has been designed to help clubs that may not have had much experience in gaining sponsorships.
Decide what it is you want the sponsorship to achieve, then decide what the best sponsorship arrangement for your club might be.
Which of the following does your club need sponsorship to cover?
Clearly define who your members are, the program or activities your club offers, geographical area your club plays its games in, the club’s history, size, and values, and the people you are trying to attract to the activities your club wants sponsored.
This information is very important to sponsors; it allows them to decide whether or not they want an association with your club and its members or if the people your club attracts to activities are in the sponsor’s target market. The target market is the group of people to whom the sponsor feels it can sell its product or is keen to promote its services to.
When approaching sponsors, it helps to develop information about members and people that attend your functions:
These are important to a potential sponsor.
The sponsorship deal is not just about your club; it’s a partnership.
Sponsorship can be obtained through:
All sorts of companies are prepared to provide sponsorship; you just have to show them how they will get value for money.
Discuss potential sponsors with other people in your club. The information you have collected on your members and those who attend your functions will be a big help. Think about which companies or organisations would like to advertise or promote their products and services to these people.
Gather information from media services. If an event is being advertised on TV, who are its sponsors? Local newspapers may list events sponsored by companies that want to deal with the people in your suburb. The use of social media such as a webpage and/or Facebook (there are plenty of others) needs to be considered.
Don’t overlook the possibility that small companies may be interested. Too often we think only to ask the big corporations who get regular approaches for sponsorship.
If one smaller company is unlikely to be able to afford your package, consider the possibility of breaking the package into smaller lots and offering them to a number of smaller companies.
Be careful of clash of sponsors – potential sponsors chasing same market share must be avoided if possible.
There are no limits when it comes to sponsorship; you just have to remember to make your sponsorship proposal relevant to each company. Companies don’t like to think that they are just one in a hundred companies being approached on a mass basis.
Once you have a list of potential sponsors, do a little research on them. Does the company have policies about sponsorships, e.g. do they only sponsor state-level teams? Perhaps they don’t go for cash sponsorships, preferring to supply equipment. If possible find out when the company prepares its annual budget so your proposal can be considered for the coming year.
Potential sponsors are usually looking for a club to provider:
Sponsors will be looking to see that sponsoring your club will be more effective than spending money on some other form of promotion or advertising. Sponsors want to be associated with success. They are also looking for a professional performance from your club.
The following is a list of the types of ideas that could be included in a sponsorship proposal (it’s a big list and your club normally wouldn’t include them all). But don’t restrict your club to this list, there will be other ideas that need to be considered.
Consider offering:
Your club should cost anything that it agrees to supply sponsors. There’s no point in having sponsors that cost your club as much or more than the sponsorship received from them.
There is no single way to present a successful proposal and there is a lot to be said for an original approach. A starting point, however, might be along the following lines:
A budget of this type is an excellent idea because it makes it clear to the sponsor that it is not a donation and reinforces in your mind that you have something to sell.
Remember to value items not at what they will cost on the day, but at what the club might reasonably expect to pay if someone sold it to them. For example, if the ingredients for a ham and salad roll cost $2 but shops usually charge $4, then charge $4.
The following is a sample of how a sponsorship budget might appear:
$5,000 sponsorship
Develop a clear definition of what the club is offering a sponsor. In the above example the word signage appears, leading to two possibilities:
If your club meant that the sponsors should supply their own sign, but the sponsor thinks the club is going to supply a sign, relationships can get pretty strained! Worse still, your club could end up out of pocket.
Once you have a proposal and a list of potential sponsors, talk to them!
If it’s a cold call – ring the companies and ask to speak to the manager/owner or Marketing Manager. Briefly tell them who you represent and what the club’s plans are. Be positive; suggest to them (rather than ask) that the club will send a sponsorship proposal. If it seems like no one is willing to speak to you, try to get the name of the most appropriate person and send a proposal anyway. Remember the club has nothing to lose.
Follow up the sponsorship proposal with a phone call at least five days after the proposal has been delivered. Try to find out when the club might expect a reply, if there is there any other information that you can supply, or are there things in the club’s proposal that the prospective sponsor would like explained?
If the proposal is accepted, arrange a meeting to discuss it in detail, begin to personalise your contact and develop your relationships. It might be a good time to get something in writing from the club’s sponsor.
Very important. Many sponsorships fail because a club fails to deliver on what is agreed to.
Never promise more than the club can deliver – make sure that what is promised in any sponsorship deal is delivered on time and to the satisfaction of the sponsor or the club will be looking for another sponsor.
If you promised it, then deliver it!
If you think of something else the club can offer a sponsor, and the cost or difficulty is minimal, do it! Sponsors react favourably to receiving something they didn’t expect or wasn’t in the agreement
Try to build a relationship with your sponsor. Don’t overdo it, but there is a lot to be said for some friendly contact. Call and ask how things are going from their end; is there anything they are having difficulty organising for the club’s event? Ask a sponsor out for lunch if you think it might help to build up the relationship and the club can afford it. This can be before or after the event.
Follow up after the event or sponsorship; call the sponsor and find out how the sponsorship worked for them. They may provide valuable information for the clubs next proposal, with ways in which the event can be improved. There might be something that the club can provide now which may mean continued sponsorship in the future.
Mementos of a sponsorship are also a nice gesture. Something as simple as a block- mounted photograph can make a big impact. Once again, if your club has an original idea don’t be afraid to use it.
Be loyal to a sponsor. If they treat you right then return the favour. Loyalty is valued!
When purchasing products or services consider whether you can get them from an existing sponsor.
When your event is taking place make sure your sponsor’s rivals aren’t having their services or products sold or promoted by your club. This will devalue the sponsorship.
Attention to detail and looking after your sponsor’s needs will enhance your relationship with them.
The club should provide its sponsors with a brief report, which would include information such as the following: