Before I start, I don't claim to be an expert on this topic. I am not exactly living the high life on sponsorship dollars, so perhaps I am doing something wrong. But I have had a few goes at this and I think I have learnt some of the basics. Plus I think whether you are approaching big sponsors asking for big things or little sponsors asking for little things, the principals are fairly similar.
I had planned to do this all in one blog post. But I got part way through and realised that it was becoming massive. It then occurred to me to make it into a bit of a mini-series, which is what I did. For me, I have found that talking to sponsors has two or three real parts, so that is how I have split these blog posts up. The first part (today) is making contact, which can be harder than you think. Second part is selling yourself. The third part is expectation. In that third post I will also discuss following through on your obligations. The other two parts of this series can be found by following the links below:
Part 2 - Selling Yourself
Part 3 - What to expect, What is expected
So, here we go.
First thing first, go and read this blog.
Sponsorship 101
There, job done.
In all seriousness, I think the above blog summarises the process so well that I was tempted to leave it at that. However, then I thought that I might be able to put enough of my own spin on it to make my own post worth it. I will try not to regurgitate too much of what the above blog says, but I suspect that I will a little. So sorry about that.
So to start, when I say sponsorship, what do I mean? Well anything really, it is really up to you. For some people it isn't sponsorship unless there is money and a car involved. For others, they will settle for a free T-shirt and an Instagram shout out. What you consider to be sponsorship doesn't really matter because the process of obtaining it is largely the same. So I am not really going to talk about what and what isn't sponsorship here. I will, however, talk about some of the support you might expect as a triathlete in the third post in this series.
Okay, so making contact. The reality is that for most athletes sponsor contact has to be initiated by the athlete. There was a survey done last year by Coeur about sponsorship (summary of results can be found here Survey Results). The survey was small (only 50 responses) so the results are not really statistically valid, but they are interesting nonetheless. In the survey something like 75% of people said they had to cold call/email sponsors. To me that sounds about right. The take home here is that if you are sitting at home waiting for the sponsors to roll through the door, you could be waiting a long time. Typically unless you just won a World Championship or something that like, they won't be coming knocking.
So you have to make contact. How do you do that?
Well I have found a few ways that work for me.
If you are really lucky, you may simply know people. Perhaps your brother runs a shop, or a mate of yours has a side business in selling wetsuits. You may be on really good terms with your local bike shop. If you feel comfortable doing so, talk to these people. Ask them if they would be willing to help you out. Depending on where you sit on the introvert/extrovert side of things, this can be really hard/easy to do. I certainly struggle. I have had a few of these conversations and it is has been painful every time. However, they have also been great conversations. This is the approach that has had the highest success rate for me. Talking to people face to face was the original way that humans communicated, and in a lot of ways it is still the best.
Sometimes, very rarely, a company will have a direct avenue for you to apply for sponsorship. Usually this will be a link on their website, or a promotion on social media, that sort of thing. If that is the case then the answer is easy. Do what the instructions say. This would have to be one of the easiest ways to ask for sponsorship, however, the offers are often inundated with applications. It can be hard to be seen. More on that tomorrow.
By far the most common way that I contact sponsors is through e-mail. In this day and age, cold calling via e-mail is not unusual. E-mail is easy to do because company e-mail addresses typically are available online and all you have to do is click send. The danger with this approach is that it is very easy for e-mails to get lost in an inbox, or just simply deleted. Also, in big companies the person who administers a company's e-mail address often works in sales and isn't the person who makes sponsorship decisions. So your sponsorship proposal doesn't always end up in front of the right people. I do speak to sponsors on the phone too, but usually that is after initial contact has been made via e-mail.
If you are e-mailing a company, don't throw together a quick message and send it out there. You aren't organising a BBQ with your mates. Some companies are very casual, but until you know that, don't presume it. Write the e-mail as if you were writing a formal letter (because you are). If you don't know how to do that, look it up, there are heaps of templates online.
I have a couple of different templates that I use for e-mails. Some of the templates are more detailed that others. The one I use most often has a bit of an introduction about myself, some recent results, what I can offer and what I am asking for. That is about it. The more detailed versions have a bigger bio and more details race results, but often I don't send these details unless I am asked. I am lucky in that I have a mate who used to work in marketing and he helped me put the templates together. The big message he knocked into me is that this letter is a sales job. That is what you are doing, you are selling yourself. The letter has to make that case quickly and clearly. Once again I will talk about that more tomorrow.
The final thing I will say about e-mail contact is that if you are using it as your primary means of contact, be prepared for lots and lots of misses. I have found that the typical response to an e-mail proposal is silence. In fact I have had very little success with it. I think in the end it is just too easy for e-mail to be deleted.
This brings me to my final and most recent means of contact. A while ago I was getting really frustrated with how unsuccessful e-mail was. Not only with the lack of responses (any response at all), but often because it was hard to find the right contacts. In frustration I jumped on the Facebook page of a company and realised of course that I could message the company directly. I did this and lo and behold I got a response. Since then I have used this method of contact a couple of times and it has been surprisingly successful. For me it sits somewhere between a e-mail and a phone call. It is relatively instant like a phone call, but not face to face. I suspect that one big advantage of this method is that companies often have a dedicated person administering their Social Media and they often aren't in sales but in more of a public relations role, so you have a better chance of your proposal being seen.
Making contact by Social Media is a lot different to writing an e-mail. By the nature of the medium the message has to be a lot shorter and more casual. In fact all I usually do is introduce myself, ask if they are open to receiving sponsorship proposals and ask for an e-mail address if they are.
I would say that making contact on Social Media isn't the best approach for every company. I find it works well for small businesses and the occasional big one, but certainly not for every company, and definitely not for individuals on their private accounts. I say not individuals because for individuals Social Media is about being social, nobody wants to be hassled on their private Social Media accounts. Don't be a pain and harass somebody.
 |
A couple of final comments I will make about approaching sponsors.
Firstly if the company you are talking to is a big multinational one, make sure you approach your local regional distributor. Getting support from the manufacturer is unlikely unless you are on the world stage, however, you may find that the local distributor is willing to help you out. They won't be able to offer you as much support as the factory since they usually don't have the resources, but if the choice is between something and nothing, then I know which I prefer.
Next, don't be a pain. In this process you often asking complete strangers for a favour. Don't be offended if the answer is no, or even silence, and don't keep harassing them. The usual approach of, if you wouldn't do it face to face don't do it online, applies here too. Be polite, be professional.
Lastly, I have mentioned a couple of times about multiple rejections or more typically silence. If you want to play this game, then rejection is a very big part of it. You will almost certainly not write a couple of e-mails and come out with support. It will take time, effort, perseverance and a bit of a thick skin. If that doesn't sound like something you are up for then you might be best using your time elsewhere.
So that is Part 1 done. These methods aren't guaranteed, but they are some of the most effective ways of making contact that I have found. Tomorrow, selling yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment