Ask Businesses for Sponsorship & Marketing Ideas
Whether you're hosting a charity event, networking event, career fair or fund-raising event, asking businesses for sponsorships and marketing ideas can help defray your event costs and prove to be a mutually-beneficial business decision. Businesses are often looking for ways to promote their businesses and give back to the community at the same time. When you pitch your event, be sure to appeal to the employers by telling them how their participation will help grow their business connections with their customers and the community.
Instructions
1. Identify the purpose of your event. Selling the idea of sponsorship to potential sponsors means that you must have a clear idea of your event and what larger promise it fulfills. Your purpose can range from raising money to help the needy to collecting donations for a local art school.
2. Research businesses in your area and determine their target markets and the types of services and products they sell, as well as what types of events they've sponsored in the past. Investigate their company missions, visions and goals. Reviewing these items can give you key indicators as to how you can write your sponsorship pitch to appeal to them, the needs of their businesses and their philanthropic pursuits.
3. Develop a list of ways businesses can participate in your event by creating different sponsorship levels. Create at least three levels, assign a cost to each, and then, for each level, identify opportunities and advantageous benefits for potential sponsors. Attractive opportunities include prominently displaying a sponsor's logo in print advertising, event programs and directories, commercials and web advertising, as well as mentioning a sponsor's name in commercials. Additional opportunities are inclusion of a sponsor's product in a gift bag distributed to attendees, tickets to the event and mentioning the sponsor's name in promotional and media efforts after the event. Decide which opportunities hold more value and distribute them accordingly in each sponsorship level. Type this information and print it on your company letterhead.
4. Write a letter of introduction with three main sections. Section one should explain your event and its purpose, section two should list reasons why potential sponsors should participate and section three should be an appeal that directs them to read the enclosed sponsorship information with the levels outlined. Personalize section two for each business you invite to participate as a sponsor. The more targeted your letter is to each company, the better chance you have at securing the company as a sponsor. The letter should be one page in length, printed on your company letterhead and signed by the head of your organization. Include the letter, sponsorship level information and a contract with each mailing you send to prospective sponsors.
5. Mail your letters to your potential sponsors at least two months before the event, so they have enough time to opt-in. At least a week after you send your sponsorship letter, follow up with a phone call to see if the potential sponsor had an opportunity to review your information and to see if there are any questions regarding the event or sponsorship levels.
Tags: your event, potential sponsors, Businesses Sponsorship, Businesses Sponsorship Marketing, company letterhead, Marketing Ideas, mentioning sponsor