How to avoid the 5 biggest misapprehensions while searching for a sponsor

The search for potential sponsors is a hot topic for a lot of clubs and athletes in the world. The Sponsoo-Team lists the 5 biggest misapprehensions to make the search for your next sponsor an easy one.

  1. Fallacy: Sponsors are gifting money to the athletes

If you think sponsors are just giving away spare money to successful athletes, you are wrong. Sponsoring is characterized by concrete return-services the athletes have to fulfill to eventually get the money. Those return-services mostly consist of providing advertising space (i.e on the shirt or on the advertising-boards along the sidelines of a football field).

Sponsoo-Advice: Inform a potential sponsor about what kind of advertising space you can provide. Be creative! You have a high amount of Instagram-Followers? Why don’t you offer him a mention in your next couple of posts?

There is a higher chance for a sponsorship-deal if you can name specific return-services to the sponsor.

2. Fallacy: The sponsor wants to sponsor me because he likes me

Sponsors have a lot of different interests. A sympathetic appearance might be helpful but is by far not everything.  Sponsors pursue at least one of the following goals at all times:

  • The sponsor wants to advertise his products or services
  • The sponsor wants to increase his recognition
  • The sponsor wants to increase his reputation

Sponsoo-Advice: To reach a successful sponsorship-deal, you should always consider the goals your potential sponsor is pursuing and market yourself accordingly. If your advertising-partner wants to increase his reputation, why don’t you offer him a logo on your website that says “booster”. In return, you ask the sponsor for some financial support.

3. Fallacy: A sponsoring inquiry is done in a couple of sentences

Sponsoring is a thing of trust. You can build trust if you act transparent and give important information to your business partners. Sponsors want to know:

  • what you want to do with the received money
  • what your biggest athletic successes were
  • how many people attend your sporting events
  • if there are any press-articles of you
  • how many people are following your social media channels

Sponsoo-Advice: Add every information you have on the points stated above to your inquiry.  The sponsor might only trust you, if you do exactly so.

4. Fallacy: Sponsoring is something only the treasurer has to worry about

It is of the whole club’s interest to find a perfect sponsor. Every single member of the team or club has to feel responsible for the sponsoring search.

Is there somebody in your club who has a background in public relations? Or is there anybody you know who is a winning communicator?  If that’s the case, you should immediately put them in charge!

Sponsoo-Advice: Use the potential that lies in your team!

5. Fallacy: Sponsorship-Deals are done with a handshake

It is risky to solidify a deal with only a handshake. There is a high chance of misunderstandings and some points might not be perfectly agreed on. That’s why Sponsoo is offering a model-contract for both parties in case of a finalized deal is reached.

Sponsoo-Advice: Go to www.sponsoo.de and have them help you with searching for a new sponsor! They provide you with excellent phone support as well as a model-contract.