The Agency PR Advice: How to Get Corporate Sponsorship for your Event
By Fleur Revell, The Agency PR Advice: How to Get Corporate Sponsorship for your Event – business support for your event or organization can be made easier by thinking like a sponsor.
Sponsorship can be the key to a powerful and effective marketing campaign. Through sponsorship you gain a competitive advantage against other brands, increasing your brand’s credibility which in turn helps to build a positive image. Here is the agency PR advice / recommendations on getting corporate sponsorship.
1. If sponsorship is the way to go for your company, there are a few things to consider when applying for corporate sponsorship.
2. Background work: Itemise your sponsorship needs in terms of dollars eg. travel $5,000, accommodation $3,000, product $20,000.
3. Identify potential sponsors (a smaller number is easier to work with if possible, larger numbers find it hard to leverage their involvement with your organisation) in relation to their fit with your brand, the benefits they would receive and any added value you can offer them.
4. Do some research and identify which of their products best fits with your market and why. This approach is likely to yield a better outcome for you.
5. Identify the best person in the organisation who you can contact to discuss sponsorship. Often the best way to determine this is by calling the company’s switchboard and asking for the most appropriate person for such inquiries. Once you have done this, ask for a meeting or send through your proposal and follow up with a phone call.
6. As part of your customised proposal which clearly shows the cost/benefit analysis of the sponsorship, identify the media coverage (TV/newspaper/radio/magazine/online) that would be achieved by your promotional/public relations activities.
7. Be open to other leveraging activities your sponsors may want to put together off their own back.
8. Once sponsors are secured, seek the agency PR advice from a firm such as Impact PR who can publicise the cause through media – if there was a cash short-fall you could potentially solicit additional donations/sponsors from there.
9. Your key goal should be to present your proposal as a logical business case that clearly quantifies the benefits to them in their market. Generally most sponsors are looking for additional sales or brand benefits so make sure your business case clearly shows where and how this will be achieved.
10. It is important to remember that ‘one way’ proposals that don’t have tangible benefits to sponsors are likely to be rejected. Approach this like a business transaction for optimal results.
Another thing to remember is that your sponsor may also want to offer a special deal in conjunction with a retailer on the particular product. If the retailer sees an increase in sales from the deal and can measure them, it will be easier to arrange next time. For more of the agency PR advice, contact Impact PR’s Fleur Revell today.