Writing a Sponsor Proposal: Introduction to a Multi-part Series

My next few posts will focus on what I think folks need to know to put together a basic proposal for sports sponsorship. I'll be discussing my thoughts on knowing your product, features and benefits, market research, segmentation analysis, press, writing, and even layout and graphics work. I'm excited about this series because I sit up at night, many nights, especially in November and December, thinking about different ways to hit up sponsors. Gathering mental notes while watching TV, thinking about cool campaigns, ... 

I am constantly trying to convey this to my cousin (-in-law), Brit Andersen, who is looking for a ride himself. It's hard for him to understand sometimes and I get so excited when I talk about these things that I don't make it any easier for him. As an example, I tell Brit that blogging is important and that he should blog weekly and this is what I get. His website though is at least a start considering his resources and all. He is sponsored by Citrix Systems which is also the company I work for, although I was never involved in helping him obtain them as a sponsor. That credit goes to my mother-in-law who is the receptionist at Citrix headquarters and a personal friend of the companies president. I have helped him develop his yearly proposal and status reports for the past 4 years which has been fun. Anyway, I'm very excited about this series and I hope my readers will be too.

I'm not gonna sit here all tell anyone that "I've written thousands of proposals so you'd better listen up". As I've previously stated though, I have been in marketing for over 5 years. I've worked at Citrix Systems my entire career working as a Field Marketing Manager, a Product Marketing Manager and now a Technical Marketing Manager. I've had the privilege of being involved in a number of challenging and unique projects from new product launch to product relaunches to segmentation, re-branding, and even repackaging of products. I've owned an entire product business (RE: Citrix Access Suite) which generated over $100M in 3 years (I had a lot of help, especially from Michael Richtberg). I've managed web sites, written business plans, white papers, brochures, presentations and go to market plans. I've managed campaigns, developed sales and technical tools, developed messaging and positioning... yada yada yada. Basically, my collective experience makes me an expert in this area. That said, I respectfully expect and request additional guidance and input on my advice from anyone reading this blog. Especially if you have experience in the areas of Motor Sports or Bull Riding which are both super sponsor-centric sports.

Anyway, on to our first lesson. See you at my next post.