Tip #1: Write a relevant initial proposal -

One point we need to pause to dig into a bit is the fact that what was mentioned in this first tip is an initial proposal.  There are certain key pieces of information you must consider and contribute before you get to the “fun” part of customization.  It’s like building or redecorating a room – you have to consider the basics of where you’re putting an outlet and framing up the room which is all essential before you can consider what color you want to paint the walls or what kind of decorative theme you’ll be portraying.  Another reason we are stopping to highlight the initial proposal is because if you use connection resources such as SponsorPark, you are not likely going to customize a proposal until a connection has been established – and you aren’t able to establish this connection until you have outlined the core reasons why your opportunity is a good fit.  Since the information included in an initial proposal is critical, we believe making it a best practice to start off writing any proposal with the steps I’m highlighting here is still quite valuable to any reader involved in the proposal writing process – regardless of your affiliation with SponsorPark.  All of the elements of an initial proposal you will find in a customized proposal – you’ll simply add to it.  A customized proposal caters to a unique company or brand, and it could not be passed along to another without major changes.   There really is no such thing as a “cookie cutter” or “one size fits all,” proposal – and we uphold this wholeheartedly, but with sponsorship getting more and more competitive, it’s more important than ever to write an foundational overview of both quantitative and qualitative reasons why you are a good fit for a sponsor.  Establishing the details of your target audience and breaking down the kind of exposure you’ll have access to on their behalf, the history of what you’ve done in the past and how popular your opportunity is will all set you apart from the proposals who didn’t take the time to do establish this essential piece.  Before you go to all the work of customizing a proposal, you need to pull together all the valuable information about your sponsorship opportunity that a sponsor is going to want to know, and organize it in a clear and concise manner communicating in the language of your anticipated reader.  When a potential sponsor reads this kind of proposal, they’ll breathe a sigh of relief having their crucial questions answered quickly.  This kind of care communicates that you are thorough, reliable, and understand that this is mutually beneficial – you realize they need to know upfront the foundational pieces of who you are and what you have to offer before you get to the fun part of making the experience unique to them.  You have to crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. 

When we were in the market research phase of our development, one of our valuable contacts at a large, widely known corporate entity gave me an interesting piece of information.  “I can’t tell you how many intelligent individuals sit across from me at my desk and pitch me their sponsorship request with little to no understanding of what I HAVE to know before we can take the conversation to the next level.”  He continued on; “Occasionally I would graciously tell them it sounded like they had an interesting concept, but to contact me again once they had put together a more complete proposal.  Nine times out of ten they would stare blankly at me, until they finally asked what information I wanted them to include.  I gently responded, ‘well, I’m not going to coach you on how to take my money, but if you can figure it out we can talk customization after you get me this first round of information.’”  Now, I realize that sponsors have to realize that sometimes they have to offer direction for what kind of marketing support they’re after before you can customize the packages and benefits to their needs, but you don’t have to know these things in order to write a first level, initial proposal.  And this initial proposal will indicate either that yes, this appears to be a potential fit – let’s dig deeper and talk about customizing; or absolutely not – there’s no reason to waste each other’s time in another meeting.  If the essentials match, you are able to move forward confidently, knowing that both parties can intelligently explain why this partnership is a good one.  Or, they don’t match up, and you can also walk away knowing you put your best foot forward.
 
In regards to the specific information you ought to include in your proposals, we just finished the blog series on: “Elements of a Sophisticated Proposal,” so the substance of an informative, relevant proposal has already been established – reference our previous blogs for a deeper understanding of what you should include.  I highly recommend educating yourself and doing the appropriate research on what to include in a good proposal before you write one in order to be even remotely competitive.  Just to recap, the following elements are what we consider critical to include: a description of the opportunity, dates, target audience information, event analysis, media exposure, your reach (or the quantified number of your audience), the packages and benefits (open to customization), current sponsors, dates, and contact information.  Again, all of this can be more deeply studied in previous blogs, and there are other great resources out there as well which help you consider content and phrasing. 

The “template” for an initial proposal is what we walk you through on the SponsorPark website.  We took the time to inventory from various levels of corporate sponsors what it is they needed to see upfront in a proposal.  We compiled the lists, compared and contrasted them, researched what we saw in case by case scenarios, and used this information to create our own proposal template.  Again, this is all what sponsors indicated to us was of critical importance to review before they could move on to the next step of discussing customizable benefits and activation strategies.  So we mean it when we say that we’re truly using our resource to get you in touch with the most appropriate potential sponsors; we want to equip you and connect you!

In closing, what I recommend in order to be competitive in sponsorship is to really spend some time in writing your proposal.  It takes more time in the beginning, but it’s sure to turn heads more effectively once it is complete.  If you do the first steps right and complete a high quality, relevant proposal, you’ll appear much more efficient, and know much more quickly who’s interested and why. 

We like those who like what we like.  Whew – there’s a mouthful!  Why?  Because it’s easier.  In fact, generally speaking, really good marriages are truly really good marriages because those priorities that are most important to one person are also important to the other.  The likelihood of a couple living happily ever after hangs on this truth.  Why?  Because if you have vested interest in something and it captures big portions of your heart, your thoughts and your time, you have a desire for your partner to relate and share that with you; it helps you grow, and it makes the relationship so much more enjoyable!

The same is true for sponsorship partners.  There are some combinations that to be frank, just aren’t going to work, because this relationship is a give-take, and it’s based on a foundational parallel interest – the Target Audience.  Target audience information includes gender, household income, age, household structure, etc.  I would argue that you can have excellent surrounding offerings; activation can be fantastic, the fulfillment reporting can be top notch and deeply insightful, the media coverage and scope of the exposure you offer could be out of this world, but if the target audience isn’t aligned, the rest is moot.

Take note of this carefully: target audience is information you MUST have clear, quantitative information about in your initial proposal.  There are some things that are tough to assign a number to, they’re intangible – this is not one of them (obviously if you’re a first time event you don’t have a history to strengthen  your projections, but you still know who you’re marketing to – make an educated estimate when you communicate numbers).  With a strained economy, the truth is that sponsors are under strict, judgmental scrutiny from their consumers as to how they are spending their money.  Consumer awareness for how companies are spending their money is so much more significant than ever before.  While all of you who are active in sponsorship know that it’s a marketing method, a business development method, and not a luxury; the consumer doesn’t process it that way when they see a corporate sponsor offering partners or key players in business VIP tickets to a golf tournament.  How can you help your sponsor survive the scrutiny of their critics?  Offer them real, tangible evidence that their investment in you will without a doubt allow them to connect with their target market as a relevant marketing effort.  Your target audience must bet the same as the audience they want to get in front of.

Tell me your thoughts?  Do you agree?  If you have been part of a partnership like this we want to hear about it - tell us your successes.

Good storytellers have the uniquely intriguing ability to capture the attention of their audience.  People simply stop and drink in their words and the voices of the items on their attention seem to fade while they listen.  Stories are powerful - people identify to themes, plots and characters unlike the dry to do lists and hum drum conversations that seem to control much of our days.  People like stories most when they can relate to them.  Even more when the story is about them.  Every noticed how easy it is to get people to talk when you ask them to tell parts of their own story?  Leaders throughout history have earned the trust and intrigue of their followers with the ability to illustrate meaning through stories.  As a sponsorship opportunity looking for sponsors, consider yourself a story teller; you are painting a picture for your audience (the potential sponsor) that not only captivates because of your passion, but also because of how it could affect their brand.  It invites them into the story, unfolds the possibilities for them and the results of their involvement.  I like to call this “casting a vision.”  Seth Godin has a similar marketing parallel which he refers to as “idea-viruses,” and “sneezers,” the idea has to be catchy, and you need a group of people to spread the word – sneezers. In sponsorship, you need an opportunity to offer that’s worth “sneezing” about. If it doesn’t generate excitement for anyone but you, it won’t likely catch the attention of a sponsor.  There really are two parts: telling your story, and involving your sponsor.  We at SponsorPark consider your description section as well as your uploaded photos to be the place where you summarize these details and cast a vision.

When you cast the vision by telling your story and inviting your sponsor into it, you are offering emotionally charged, exciting, impactful information as well as factual, intelligent, relevant information.  You need both.  People want to be involved in something that is much bigger than themselves - look at hollywood, celebrities are not alone in their desire to impact and affiliate with something big; but when it comes to a brand, you can't just be a feeler - they are looking for an outlet to meet their own needs as well.  If you can't connect the dots in your story for how their support is going to strengthen their marketing objectives, you are in the wrong place. 

I sat through a speaking engagement where Gary Haugen from IJM (International Justice Mission) presented.  He was riveting, and by the end of his speech I was ready to go overseas, to counter injustice, to take action!  I bought his book, I researched their company, and was further fueled in our business efforts with an interest in supporting such organizations.  Why?  Because he cast a vision for me to easily grasp, identify with and catch the excitement for.  Now, truth be told, when you sit down with you potential sponsor after interest has been established, you will without a doubt need to stop, ask and listen to what it is they want; but initially you need to illustrate the possibilities for them.  One of the biggest mistakes you can make is assuming they’ll figure the benefits out on their own - don’t rely on the creativity you expect them to have before you invite them into your perspective.  Start the vision casting up front.   

The second part of the casting of your vision is to make sure they have an idea of how their involvement impacts their own objectives.  Let’s face it; nobody invests that which is most precious / influential to them (time and money) unless it strikes a chord with their values.  What’s important to a sponsor?  The ability to create good exposure for their brand, build loyalty with their customer, and growing their bottom line.  Communicate the history of your opportunity, the ways in which you might have supported other sponsors, the loyalty of your audience, and the assets you have to offer (tangible and intangible).  It’s a good idea to include quotes from those audiences your sponsor identifies with (attendees and other sponsors), and any property specific information that might intrigue a listener.  Remember, people absorb information differently, and are primarily either visual, auditory or tactile learners, so include other mediums to capture this information - such as your pictures.  They should capture sponsor involvement, audience size, sponsor to audience interactions, logos, venue, etc.Your perks need to resonate with these make or break realities.  When your potential sponsor is intrigued with what you are doing, and  they listen to your story, they need to be able to envision their company meeting their marketing objectives and growing because of their support.  If you can’t offer this insight, your chances of landing their partnership significantly diminish - most sponsors won't take the time to connect the dots on their own.  Cast your vision well and watch while the right people say “yes” to your proposal.