Sponsorship has proven to be a continuous source of broadening the competitive edge and improvement of a company’s image, prestige and credibility. In recent years corporate sponsorship has become one of the fastest growing types of marketing in the United States. Even the Nigeria government mandated profit making organizations to commit a certain percentage of profit-after-tax to corporate social responsibility. It is against this background that many of these Organizations promote events, projects etc. to fulfill that compulsory demands.
How can you as a small business owner take advantage of this Sponsorship for your events and projects and also make some money out of it? Read on to discover how to tap into the Sponsorship arena.
The reason most of these large and medium organizations involve in sponsoring your events or projects is because they want to enhance their public profile in a cheaper way. Note that not only Large corporations are holding sway here, even medium sized businesses are jumping in the sponsorship bandwagon and are leveraging on sponsoring everything including local or community sports, health shows, enlightenment campaigns, cultural festivals just to name a few.
Actually there is no event or project that cannot be sponsored. But events or projects that often attract sponsorship are the ones that add value to the community and indirectly increase the brand image and profits of the organization’s products and/or services. Events or projects that bother on health, education, charity, entertainment, art, empowerment, children and gender issues are real examples of what can attract sponsorships.
You can also note that events like Gulder Ultimate Search, Star Quest, Lagos Half Marathon, Argungu Fishing Festival among others have been lucky to attract annual sponsorships.
What are the types of sponsorships that I can take advantage of?
They are two types of sponsorships you can take advantage of:
- Product Sponsorship: Many small and large corporations are comfortable with this. They release their company products to you as an endorsement for your event or project. Examples of these companies are Nestle Foods, Nigerian Bottling Company, UAC, MTN, Zain, Etisalat, Globacom, etc. There are also small organizations in your locality that you can confidently approach for this kind of sponsorship and even sole entrepreneurs that have product offerings who need your events to project them.
- Financial Sponsorship: Companies will release set aside funds to you for your event or project as long as it is an community impact-driven project. The amount requested should be rather specific and every step of your analysis of how the funds will be used should be clearly stated. Examples of funding companies are British Council, Nokia, UAC, Chevron, Texaco, Mobil, British Tobacco Nigeria Ltd, Guinness, Nigerian Breweries, Nestle, Wampco, Ford Foundation, Unilever, GTBank, Ecobank, etc. There are also a whole lot of small and medium companies waiting to be approached with your sponsorship proposals.
Am I eligible to Land a Sponsorship Deal?
The painful truth is that it is nearly impossible for an individual to land a sponsorship deal. Companies are more comfortable dealing with sponsorship proposals from an outfit, either governmental or non-governmental outfit. So make sure when you are sending in a sponsorship proposal, it bears the name of an outfit whether registered or not, and this covers religious groups, clubs, NGO’s, educational institutions, private registered business, etc. Now we get on to the next section, how to get that winning sponsorship.
How then do I get that winning Sponsorship?
What you simply need to make sure your sponsorship sails through is your Proposal. I recommend that you send in your proposal at the beginning of each quarter because that’s when most companies review their financial books. Now you need to follow up on your proposal except the company states that they would get back to you. But one secret you should take note of is trying to cultivate a platonic relationship with the officer-in-charge, probably outside the office zone.
The first thing to do is to draft a brief but meaningful proposal to the organization of your choice. What is essential is that your proposal should indicate how your event or project can move their brand forward and paint the company’s image in a good light. But how do you write a winning sponsorship proposal?
Now you must realize your proposal will have to fight for attention among the hordes of other proposals that these companies receive on a daily basis. You must be apt in your write up, make it at least a page or two and keep it simple. Take note of the following tips to write that winning proposal.
- Your Headline – this is the subject matter of your proposal content. Write an headline that is direct and one that can sell itself. If you can’t write one, find a good copywriter who can do it for you.
- The Project/Event – In writing your proposal, this should be first. Be clear in explaining what your event is all and avoid giving out details that would not help stating your project or event purpose clearly.
- The Target Audience – Explain clearly whom your project is going to target in the public.
- Type of Sponsorship you seek – describe the type of sponsorship you need either product or financial sponsorship
- Sponsorship benefit – Explain in your proposal what the sponsors stand to benefit because they would only put money where their mouth is.
- Introduce your outfit – having completed the above, then you formally describe what your outfit is all about and why you are embarking on the project.
- Proposed event date – Highlight when the event or project for sponsorship consideration is scheduled to take place. If you don’t do this, you might be taken for a ride, meaning they will take their time pretty well.
- And the last is your cover letter – Attach your cover letter which must be signed by whoever receives it from you.
Then how do I make money from these Sponsorship deals?
You can strike the gold pot in two ways: First, after executing the event/project successfully, you do not need to refund any left over money. It’s all yours. Secondly, you make extra money by gate-takings, where you promote your event using the popularity of a known brand as your major sponsor. You can make this a 50-50 deal with the sponsor but in some cases sponsors don’t even care about this part.
Before sending in your proposal, research on the company of your choice and know who is in charge of handling sponsorship issues.
Be prepared for Presentation
Once your proposal is accepted, don’t be caught hanging when called to do a presentation of your event/project. Be ready before that time and get all your facts right.
Just like I advised earlier on, get the phone number of the officer-in-charge (if you can) to enable you to proper follow up within and outside official hours.
The only thing that can stop you is yourself. So go on and get that Sponsorship deal for your events or projects.
Other Related Articles
April 25th, 2010|
Marvelous write! Thank you so much. A word is enough for the wise.
Checklist e-Mag recently posted..Gadget Review: Samsung BD-D5500 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
thanks man that was super.
Really awesome tips, thanks for sharing this
Dean recently posted..Learning What Is Advantages of CNA Online Classes
This article is interesting & appreciated. May I ask, which sponsor is ideal for sponsoring electronics' projects (Robotics – to be precise)? And I will appreciate it if you can post a raw template for writing sponsorship proposals to me: mckunjous@gmail.com and this post for those who are also interested as I. Thank you.
I loved this article- it was very helpful…thank you!
Thank you for this clue. That was what I was really looking for.
If I want to win a costume sponsorship do exact process should I go through?
Hi, your article simply confirmed to me that i would land sponsorship for our up coming event in Abuja.
Many thanks.
OLAJIDE Taye
Am mr Stanley, Political Science of the prestigious University of Nigeria Nsukka, The CEO of Snazzy Entertainment, we host and promote shows.. We find out that people find it hard to write proposals and Push their proposals. In Snazzy Ent; we teach people to learn and follow up their proposals for shows and events.. call 08033754429
This is very informative, thank you. One question: is one advised to mail proposals to target sponsor companies or is personal contact with some representative the rule?
There is no rule of thumb here. However, you should mail to target sponsor companies a couple of times and wait to get a reply but if you can get your hands on the personal email of the person in charge of the department thats receiving your proposal, you will get a quick response time. At this point, you should be very courteous in your correspondence and recommendable, arrange a meeting or an appointment to discuss more on your proposal.
Hello, it’s amazing. So how do I contact, let’s say Etisalat Ng, or do I submit the proposal online?
You can visit their website and obtain their contact email address. Send in your proposal first before giving them a call.
This is just a tip of the ice berg,i believe more will still come out from you..after reading d article bro,i got my confidence back and ready to work with the guideliness you have unveiled…More power to your elbow….
Well good piece of note. Really helpfull.
i really like it and it gives me more ideas now i will go out there and make my proposal a winning proposal….buh i will like to get your contact incase i need any question …..thanks so much
Came across your write up at a point in time,when I was about rolling our a world class brand.
Had all my steps intact but there was still ideas i could borrow from to further tighten up lose ends..
This is good i must commend..Please keep up the good work.
Have also included you in our mailing list.
Some Please do acknowledge our invitation to the brand unveiling whenever you hear “Hi Planet Nigeria Worldwide” Cause you’ve also Directly or Indirectly contributed to the set standard.
Thanks for your warm comments. Its good to know this site is very useful.
Hello,
Your article on ‘How to win sponsorship deal…’ is simply a master-piece. It can’t be any better than this. How can I have a sample proposal for event/sponsorship.
Thanks.
You can get some samples if you search on Google. thanks for your comment
[...] of a company’s image, prestige and credibility. In recent… Original post: How to win Sponsorship Deals for your Events and Projects … Share and [...]
Wow,could the writer come from nigeria?it means we still have some hidden resources in this country.i’m into entertainment and hope to run a show this December,but the question is how to get sponsors for my event.
Writer pls send ur contact (phone number and e mail) to;medianitainment@yahoo.com,08036272773.
hi
This na naija – proudly naija. at least we have some one that understands nigeria and the advice is not foriegn. thanks
pls can you draft a sort of sample proposal which can give us an idea to how to draft such based on our own unique product or service.
thanks for all the advice
Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article
Well said
Hello.
I would like to put a link to your site on my blog roll if you want to do the same for mine. It would be a good way to build up both of our readerships.
thank you.
I’ve bookmarked your site.