Sunday, January 13, 2008

Writing a Sponsor Proposal: What do you have to offer?

When you pitch a sponsor you need to help them understand what they are paying for. You're selling a marketing program (see previous post) but the customer wants to know what they can do with that program. For example, if you were a car salesman, you wouldn't just approach customers and say look at this vehicle, it gets your from point A to point B. Sign here please. No. You would tell them about all of the neat features like a great stereo, GPS navigation, DVD player, heated seats, etc. That's what you have to do with sponsorship proposals. 
You're lucky if you are pitching a sponsor who actually knows racing. Most of these customers will go out and seek a team vs. you having to go out and find them. So, chances are, you'll be pitching someone who doesn't know a whole lot about the sport. And you can bet your bottom dollar they don't want to know how fast the car goes. What they want to know is how does racing make an impression? How many "IMPRESSIONS" do they get by sponsoring you? An impression is the number of times people see their brand. You need to give them an idea for how many impressions they can make. Here are some of the things I can think of off of the top of my head that the sponsor would love to know. You can probably think of more if you put your mind to it.
  • How many races are there?
  • How many people watch these races in the stands and on TV? How many listen on the radio?
  • How many units of merchandise do fans purchase on average from a team? Basically how many people are out there wearing a brand that sponsors a car?
  • What is the profile of these people? Are they African American, Caucasian, Spanish, Asian? Are they 20-30, 30-40? are they women, men, gay? Hopefully you go in there know what the prospective sponsors target customer is and you pitch them based on that demographic.
  • What kinds of series do they have to choose from?
  • Where are the races?
  • Is there a trailer that you use to transport the car? Great, what route does your trailer take when the truck is being transported? On average, how many people drive those roads per day? This will give the customer and idea of how many people will see their rolling billboard?
  • How many people visit the NASCAR web site? How many people visit your web site? each month? each year?
  • Are there trading cards? How many units are sold each year?
  • What kinds of print material will have a picture of the car or the driver with the sponsors brand included?
  • What Television networks play the races? On average, how many times is your car shown? How many times is the driver shown? 
  • How many interviews did the driver do in the past year? How much PR did the team get with the sponsor name mentioned or with the car visible?
There are many more. If you think like your sponsor (your customer) the sky is the limit. It's not about your sponsorship, it's about their program.
Sometimes, it isn't so much about "Impressions" as it is about "Leads". Sponsors want to generate leads because leads generate sales and sales generate dollars. Whether it's impressions or leads, sponsors will want to know how they can leverage your team to augment their marketing programs. Here are some examples of things they would be looking to hear about.
  • Driver, Car, trailer, executive plane, everything can be branded?
  • Merchandise can and will be branded and sold
  • Driver, Car and trailer can be made available for X number of programs/events
  • Driver, car, trailer image can be used in marketing campaigns
  • Driver and car can be used in commercial advertising in small and large print as well as for radio and TV
  • Driver can be at autograph signings to draw crowds to events
  • Many programs are available at the track from setting up hospitality and VIP tents to reach customers or running demand gen programs right at the track
  • What about VIP tickets for customers and tours of the PIT area, car, and garage before the race
  • Each race provides additional on-track sponsorship opportunities
  • Does your team participate in philanthropic events where you can showcase the sponsors brand or message? If so, this is great.
  • What other things does the team do that the customer can participate in?
  • Do you have a headquarters? Can the sponsor place branding there at all?
  • Do you have golf carts for getting around the track? Can the sponsor brand those?
  • Do you have an online fan club or user group that could give the sponsor direct access to new customers?
  • Do you have a blog that people frequent?
  • Do you have a website that they customer can advertise on?
  • Can the customer advertise on NASCAR.com?
  • etc. etc. etc.
It's up to you to get customers in the right frame of mind and to teach them how to use racing to achieve their goals. Even if you get them as a sponsor, if they fail to use racing to achieve their goals, they won't sponsor you again. In sales, they have a slogan... ABC - Always Be Closing. My slogan is similar - ABM - Always Be Marketing.

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Vinny Sosa

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