Question about Sponsors

[li10up]

The president of our cycling club asked us to keep an eye out for potential sponsors. Now I know that one reason to have a sponsor is to help defray the cost of jerseys. But how do you "sell" sponsorship to someone? How does it benefit them other than the little bit of advertising they get on the jerseys? Anyone have any advice on getting someone to sponsor your club?

[Trek420]

They get access to and exposure by the sporty, fit, active market. If you can identify a company or product that wants to attract that kind of customer you're halfway there. :)

[Possegal]

the jerseys and shorts i designed for my sister and brother in law and i to wear in the livestrong challenge had a couple spots on them with the name of the company that made them. which made us joke about how our little 'team' had a sponsor. anyway - my niece wore her jersey to run the philly half marathon and some guy came up and asked her about it, saw the company name, emailed them asking how he could buy one, which of course is technically my product so he couldn't unless i gave the OK. but i guess imagine that on a much larger scale at cycling events and you could see how it benefits the sponsor. people really do ask where a jersey came from! :D

[velogirl]

sponsorship is a relationship. it's not about what a sponsor will do for you. it's about what you can do for each other. as a sponsored athlete, it's your job to actively promote the companies who sponsor you. you do that by using their products, talking about their company, referring others to them, and getting involved with them as well (ie sponsor rides and events, promotional events, etc).

for bike clubs, you'll have two types of sponsors: cash sponsors who donate cash and industry sponsors who donate product or services. and sometimes you'll have sponsors who combine the two.

cash sponsorship is typically generated because of a relationship between a club member and a specific company. if you have a team member who is in a position to make funding/sponsorship decisions, or to introduce you to the person in the company who can make those decisions, that's your open door.

bike industry sponsorship is typically generated by a sponsorship proposal. each company will have specific guidelines on their website. typically, industry sponsorship is decided early in the fall, so it might be too late at this point to generate industry sponsors.

as part of your proposal, you'll need to determine just what constitutes a sponsorship. lots of companies will give you a discount, but how is this adding value to your club? remember, the more sponsors you have, the "cheaper" the real estate. so decide if you want to have 10 sponsors @ $100 each or 1 sponsor @ $1,000.

also, keep in mind that you probably don't want to have competing sponsors. bike industry sponsors will ask for exclusivity (ie you can't have both CLIF and GU as sponsors). the same should be true for your cash sponsors (ie you wouldn't have two real estate agents).

sponsorship is about relationship. it might take years to generate a solid sponsorship. and it will take lots of attention to keep that relationship going. make sure to really think about your goals for sponsorship.

rambling.....

[li10up]

sponsorship is a relationship. it's not about what a sponsor will do for you. it's about what you can do for each other.

I agree. That's why I wanted to know how to sell the idea to a potential sponsor...what I can tell them they will get out of being a sponsor.

You provided some good info. Basically it is just a method of advertising for them though.

[Geonz]

Our "publicity" person in the club goes to local businesses and asks for support for our organized ride. The natural food store gives us bananas, etc; sometimes we've gotten Clif Bars, the grocery store gives us a coupon for food,too. We get a little something from the local hospitals. THey got their logos and thank yous on all our literature about the ride and signs up at the headquarters.
Most of these places have funds that they want to give to local organizations. We also got jerseys made with contributions from businesses that got their imprint on the jersey pockets.
It takes some persistence for finding the right person and sending the right letter of request at the right time, but it really helps a *lot.*

[velogirl]

yes, sponsorship is advertising for most companies. the more exposure you (the athlete) can provide for the sponsors the better. but, beyond the endorsement, many clubs include other promotional events in their sponsorship package. for example, at a certain level, we will provide the sponsor with team members to do a ride or event at the sponsor's company. we also spend time promoting certain sponsors at large events (like Sea Otter or InterBike) by making promotional appearances @ their booth.

[li10up]

We are a small club in a fairly small town (pop. 100,000). We host one tour each year and we get about 300 riders. How much should we be asking for from a sponsor for a spot on our club jersey?

[madisongrrl]

http://www.chainsmokers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42&Itemid=2

[Geonz]

We got a fair number of small sponsorships - I think $50 from the grocery store, $150 from somebody else.... but it made a big difference in the overhead cost for the rides. I believe the jersey sponsorships were to the tune of a few hundred, too. We got I think 50 jerseys and the 3 sponsorships let us chop about $20 off the price (which made them much more affordable... $50 is so much easier to explain to the spouse than $70 for some reason!)