The Sponsorship Quest

Adventure racing can be a very expensive hobby. Entry fees, travel expenses, equipment costs and training time and money can add up very fast and potentially bankrupt the unsuspecting racer before he/she has even made it to the starting line. One way to overcome this is to marry a very rich person. Another idea is to seek corporate sponsorship. This is probably the more sensible alternative, but as you will find on your sponsorship quest, corporate dollars can be elusive. So we will attempt to give you some ideas that may make your search for sponsorship more successful.

• Your team
• Media element
• Corporate element

Your team: If you have taken some time and done some planning while assembling your team, you will hopefully have put together a high caliber group of athletes. Not only should your team be accomplished athletes, but it also helps if they would be well-spoken corporate "representatives." Moreover, as professionals outside of adventure racing, they will be able to relate to the corporate audience that you hope to endorse.

Media element: The media element can be comprised of local newspapers, magazines, television, radio and internet. The more comprehensive and coordinated your media package, the more attractive you will be to potential sponsors. Remember, most sponsors will want their exposure maximized not only at adventure races, but in the community as a whole. Being able to tell a sponsor that your local newspaper will be doing a three part series on your team, that a national magazine is also doing a story and that you have similar arrangements with television and radio, will enhance your value. Having a web presence that corporations can link to is also a good idea.

Corporate element: With a team in place and a media plan in development, you are almost ready to go dialing for dollars. First, it is important to put together a professional looking sponsorship package or prospectus that you can send to companies. You'll be making phone calls or setting up meetings and it is important to be able to leave the potential sponsor with a sharp looking proposal that details the deal for them. Companies can be bombarded with proposals each year, so you want yours to standout from the stack and grab their attention. Remember you're selling your team to corporate America so you'd better look good. For a sample proposal, we have prepared our latest sponsorship package for your purchase.

How to put the pieces together: We've addressed putting a team together in other articles, so we will presume that you've accomplished that piece of the puzzle. Now put the media and corporate pieces together. Below are a few ideas that you might find useful:

• If you work for a sizable company, go to your boss and see if the company would be willing to come on board as a sponsor. Ideally, you've built some meaningful relationships at your place of work, so leverage them.
• You may have some friends who work for big companies. Approach them with the idea and see if they think their company might be interested. If so, have them introduce you to the appropriate marketing people or decision makers in their company.
• As you look through magazines, read newspapers or watch television, check out which companies are heavily advertising and if their advertising campaigns fit the adventure racing metaphor. Outdoor companies are an obvious place to start, but look at other sports and see where they are getting sponsorship support.
• As for the media piece, you can call local newspapers, radio stations, and television stations and see if they are looking for some good stories. Most are and will be happy to put you in the news.
• If you have limited success on your own or simply do not have the time, then professionals are out there who will do this work for you. Public relations firms and "agents" do this sort of thing for a living and might be willing to take you on as a client. If you can, try to set it up so that they are compensated on the "back end"--that is they get a piece of the money they raise for you. Some may require a retainer. If so, you have to decide if you can afford the upfront costs and weigh the potential risks/rewards.

A few things to remember:

• Start early: Most companies budget according to their fiscal year and allocate funds around a calendar quarter prior to the upcoming year. If you do not get in the door at the correct time, you may have missed the boat.
• Find the right person: Your buddy may be really hot on the idea of sponsoring your team, but unless he/she is the one to make the decision, they aren't going to be much help. Have them put you in touch with the correct person. You do not want to waste your time dealing with people who are more than one echelon removed from the decision maker. When at all possible, deal with whoever will make the final call.
• Be persistent: If it were as easy as making a phone call and then waiting for a check to arrive in the mail, then everyone would be fully sponsored and you would not be reading this article. Once you find the right person within a company, keep on them. Always know at the end of a conversation when you are going to talk to them next and what that conversation will be about. Then follow-up and keep after them until you either get the cash or get a "no."
• Accentuate the value: Most companies are not simply going to give you money because they are feeling charitable. They generally expect something in return. Clearly state what they are getting for their sponsorship dollars. If they get logo exposure, corporate talks, prominent media mention in your media campaign, product endorsement or whatever, then specifically delineate those sponsorship benefits.
• Saturation bombing: Don't go after sponsors one at a time in a sequential order. Make a good, long list (say 40 companies) and hit them all at once. Odds are that only one in ten will be interested enough to even call you back, so line up plenty of targets and fire both barrels at them all at once.
• Align your team with a charity: A good way to help a worthy cause and perhaps enhance your team's value is to support a local or national charity. Perhaps your team donates a portion of all sponsorship money raised to the charity or the charity gets equivalent exposure as a corporate sponsor. However you set it up, not only could it enhance your sponsorship fundraising efforts, but you will be helping people who are perhaps less fortunate than you.

The Bottom Line: What does it all boil down to? In most cases luck. How so? If you happen to call a person on the "right day" when they are looking for a new opportunity to market their company or your proposal crosses their desk on that "right day" then you may have a chance at generating some sponsorship support. If you are a day early, that person may not be ready; if you are a day late, they may have decided to pursue a different avenue. But if they are looking for something and you have crafted a professional presentation and done your homework and you catch them in that very narrow window of opportunity then success could come knocking at your door. Good luck!!!

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