Sponsorship Web Log

The most common reason is that they limit their sponsorship offerings to logo impressions on the race car, uniforms and transporter. Today, even the small business sponsor wants much more. They want the team to actually return in new business as much or more than the sponsorship investment cost. Teams need to develop additional new components to their sponsorship offering in the areas of hospitality, driver appearances, marketing initiatives, endorsements and Internet promotions to name a few. The successful team today makes an effort to learn what the sponsor needs and they develop programs and initiatives to meet those needs. In other words, they do their homework, learn what it will take to get a specific target sponsor and then develop sponsorship offerings for that sponsor. They try to get the sponsor to consult with them before the sponsorship presentation in order to develop a more precise and attractive offering.

You need to look professional and your documents must be attractive and set you apart. For instance, although a good sponsorship proposal text document can be made to look attractive but a graphical rendering of the document can be much more presentable. We can do such a rendering inexpensively and give the smaller team or athlete an even shot with the big sponsor. To learn why our sponsorship proposal services are better than anyone else's, check out our sponsorship writing services.

Do I need to get a marketing degree to get sponsored?

Yes, or you need to at least know the important marketing issues that affect marketing and promotions in racing. You must understand brand marketing.

What are some of the trends in sponsorship?

The most obvious trend is that sports sponsorship is now, more than ever, a marketing “problem solving” proposition. The sports team today, as always, needs to be ever more creative in finding ways to improve the fan and sponsor experience. You are in the business of marketing your sponsor’s products, services and brands and the race track is your stage. To do that you must follow the SPIN Selling model by finding out what the sponsor needs and then providing it better than anyone else. If you don’t know how to provide it, you must learn how to do it.

Another trend in sports is that sports teams are recognizing more and more that they are entertainers. As an entertainer, you must give people everything they come to the track to see. In sports, that is competition, drama, excitement and eventually satisfaction. The more the fans become part of the action, participate to some degree, the more they will come to the track. You must get them involved, meet them, interact with them, listen to them, and smile at them. Your fans are your best friends. Make them feel special.

Another trend is sport sponsorship is the efforts by many athletes to lobby their sport organizations for the rights to develop their own sponsorship deals and agreements. If successful, many high-profile athletes will find themselves able to negotiate separately for sponsorship programs on behalf of specific companies.

Finally, the biggest trend is the involvement of high technology in the sponsorship side. More websites are involved in sponsorship as they seek to increase hits and gain new customers, more virtual reality, more web-based marketing and promotional work have become part of the offering. If you need a web presence, go to our Graphic & Web Design page.

Q I bought the Sports Sponsor Fact Book a few years ago and found it to be an incredible resource. Thank you! I am now looking for a similar type of book, but instead of sports events, I'm looking for concerts or music events. I'm looking for companies, ad agencies and marketing firms that sponsor music events/concerts. I have an event at Madison Square Garden in November and want to approach some big companies. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your inquiry. My best advice is to use the current 2004 the Sports by looking for companies in the categories that typically sponsor concerts. I'm thinking of beverage companies, clothing and other companies that would have a youthful demographic. Also, companies directly involved in the music industry such as record companies that produce for the concert participants. Also consider telecommunications companies, both conventional and wireless as well as Internet providers such as AOL and any local companies that want to get signup cds in the hands of young people.

I race a hydroplane boat in the Formula E class. It is a fast boat, but it costs bucks. I have a family to support and bills to pay. This is a family sport as the kids can start racing at age 8. What I need is sponsorship. It would not cost much and I would be willing to do appearances and such. How do I get started?

Based upon the info you’ve provided in your question, it appears you are in this for the love of the sport, the fun and excitement and the personal satisfaction. That is a great reason to go into any sport, and as you know, it is great if you can afford to do it from your own pocket. But if you need to do better than you are doing or if you are stretching the dollars thin, that may be taking some of the fun out of it. You may be required by your circumstances to begin to think of the sport you love as a business. That means doing what businesses do in order to be successful. If you’ve run your own business you know that you need three basic things to be successful:

Long hours

Hard work

A saleable product or service

Long hours and hard work may not be a problem for you because you are doing what you love and that is a key component of success in any endeavor. But the long hours and hard work I’m talking about is not always fun, and that is working to turn your love for the sport and your team into a business, into developing a saleable product or service. For this you need:

A business plan

A marketing plan

A sponsorship proposal

A business plan is a document that spells out what your business is, how it runs, how it plans on being successful and how it will finance itself. It is needed to prove that your business is viable. Of course, you can keep it all in your head but the first time you are asked for a copy of your business plan by a potential sponsor or investor, you will have to scramble.

We have made it easier for you by developing a generic business plan template in Microsoft Word with instructions on what you need to say - replete with sample text that you can rewrite or edit. As part of our introductory offer, our professional business writers will perform a free review of your finished document to give you advice and tips on how to make your team or athlete business plan even better. Click Here to learn more about getting a copy of your business plan template for only $15.95.

A marketing plan spells out what you are going to sell to your sponsors. It will spell out your marketing products and services and will be an indication of how well you have thought out what you will do for your sponsors.

A sponsorship proposal is the document that tells your sponsor what you offer and how much you will charge. It will introduce you to your sponsor and prove that the team is viable.