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LOOKING FOR SPONSORSHIP?By Carolyn Ballen, The Indie Music ForumWhether you're in a band, organizing an event or fundraising for an organization,sponsors can offer you crucial financial and/or promotional support. This is thekey: If you have people coming out to your shows or to your event, you'reattracting people that someone might want to market and promote to. Music fans area "market segment" that offer value to a wide range of companies. If a ton ofpeople are coming out to your shows, there might be a company out there that wouldbe willing to cover all touring expenses for a year, or the cost of CD replicationor a new wardrobe or all of it...All of this often depends on how good a salesperson you are, and how many callsyou make. It's a numbers game and persistence pays off. The more people you callthe more comfortable you get with your technique and the higher your chances arethat someone will say, "YES."Remember, sales is another entity all of its own, there are about a million bookswritten about it, also books on tape, which I love and you can probably get atyour local library. You can also search around on the internet. I found some goodtips at the following Web sites:http://www.tracyint.com/baxterbean/ta.htmhttp://www.adja.org/salestip.htmlOne thing that can help you if you don't have a velvet tongue, is to let yourmaterials do most of the talking. Create a sponsorship profile that isprofessional, explains the benefits that you can provide as well as providingimportant background information.Creating Your Sponsorship Profile:When your materials do a lot of the talking for your, it minimizes the time thatyou have to spend selling the event. Also remember that the printed page can bewell structured and organized, whereas your oral presentation can fall short dueto time limitations, nerves or a host of other factors.Your Sponsorship Profile should include several sections outlining and describingyour music or event. Your goal will be to give people a sense of what you're doingfrom a very broad perspective to a very narrow perspective, depending on howdeeply they delve into your Profile, or quite literally, how many pages they turn.You must start from the broadest prospective in case someone only reads the firstpage. At least they have a grand sense of the event. If you had only 5 seconds tomake your pitch, the information would be very different than if you had a half anhour.1) Title Page: The 5 Second PitchThis should just include the bare basics about the event. Start with the title ofyour event as well as the materials you will be sending them. In the case of thisarticle, you are creating an "Event/Band/Artist" & Sponsorship Profile.My Title Page then lists my confirmed upcoming schedule (or the date and time ofyour proposed event), a table of contents (for very long profiles) and contactinformation.Note: If things are unclear as you are reading them, they might be come clearer ifyou see an example in action. My contact information is at the end of this articleif you are interested in seeing a copy of the Event & Sponsorship Profile that Iuse for The Indie Music Forum.2) Event Overview: The 5 Minute PitchIf someone has opened your Event & Sponsorship Profile and turned to the EventOverview page, they are in effect saying, "Okay, tell me a little more, what is
this all about?"Now that you've got their attention you want to give them a quick taste of whatthe event is, why you are doing it, and how it's great and unique!Your first sentence should pretty much tell the whole story, and then you diveinto more specifics from there. (E.g. "The Indie Music Forum is an educationalseminar designed to provide musicians, managers or those starting new labels witha better understanding of the core elements crucial to handling the business sideof music.") As you proceed, you want to support your first sentence by explaininghow that broad goal is realized and ensured. Things that are unique to your eventand what you hope to accomplish. Your profile should make people want to readmore, hear more, or at least consent to speak at another time.Your goal: Make readers want to turn the page and see what's next…3) The Benefits of Sponsorship: VERY IMPORTANTWhat's in it for them! Keep in mind that this is one of the most important partsof the proposal. Think about all the ways that you can provide value to apotential sponsor. I recommend putting down everything that you can think of andthen asking around and thinking about it some more. Make notes on scrap paper ifyou think of them while you're out. You really want to make this section as beefyas possible. You know how your event or gig runs and what aspects that wouldservice a sponsor with the most promotional band. Emphasize and explain thesethings as well as you can.Possible Benefits of Sponsorship could include:* Personal Endorsement from a Loyal Customer(Meaning you would spread the good word with conviction!)* Large and Loyal Following* Banner at all gigs* Ad in CD.* Hand out brochures on Merch table at shows.* Raffles & Giveaways* Stage Mentions & Testimonials* Logo on Printed Materials (Flyers, Posters)* Web site Promotion* Promotion in Band EmailsYour goal: Make people say, "Hmmm, there are so many aspects of promotion here, Ithink that this would really expand our brand awareness and expose us to thepeople that we're looking to get our message out to."4) Sponsorship Opportunities:This section would include all the individual sponsorship options that you have. Irecommend making several to fit every budget. My sponsorship options start at $100for Literature Distribution and go up to $10,000 for the Presenting Sponsorship. Ialso include, Badge Sponsorship and T-shirt Sponsorship among others. If you getcreative you can include options for budgets of all shapes and sizes.Remember, nothing is too much if you can convince someone of it. That's whyexploring all the benefits that you can offer is so important, it makes the sale
easier when you come to the table with a lot to offer.Make sure that you list the benefits that will apply to each sponsorship level andoption. Of course, the larger sponsorship would have the most benefits. (Eg. Logoon Brochure, Logo & Link on Web site, On-stage mention, Company mention in anyPress Releases) Again, think long and hard about where you can provide benefit andmake sure to list everything! Also, don't be shy about adding things as you thinkof them. Your Sponsorship Profile should be a constant work in progress.Format Example:Sponsorship Option: PriceIncludes:1) List Benefit2) List Benefit3) List BenefitAll sponsorships are a give and take. In the case of a cash sponsorship, you aregetting compensated monetarily for the promotional benefits that you areproviding. Hence, a sponsorship cost with a list a benefits below. That's whatI've been describing above.However, there are also sponsorships, where you might be compensated throughfurther event promotion services rather than cash. This is called a CrossPromotion.Cross Promotional Sponsorships or Media Sponsorships:There are some companies that will be able to provide you with value other thancash. This could be the case for print sponsorships, radio sponsorships or anycompany that has promotion value to offer.All cross promotions are different. Each company will evaluate the benefits thatthe other has to offer and decide on a reasonable barter. To expedite thisprocess, I recommend putting together a separate Event & Cross Promotion Profile.The only thing different from your Event & Sponsorship Profile will be SECTION 4,where you had alternately listed cash values to different sponsorship levels.The first thing you should do is cut and paste all of the unique benefits that youhad listed in your Sponsorship Profile. After you have one long list, you'll wantto separate your benefits into categories. For a small cross promotion, you won'twant to offer one of your strongest benefits. I have mine broken down into threesimple categories; Basic Cross Promotion, Bigger Cross Promotion and Biggest CrossPromotion.Format Example:Basic Cross PromotionIndie Music Forum Offers:1) List Benefit2) List Benefit3) List BenefitThe Indie Music Forum is looking for in return:1) List Benefit2) List Benefit3) List BenefitWhile the exact specifics of your final cross promotion my not be exactly what youhave listed, it will be a good jumping off point for negotiations. It will give aninterested person a good idea of all the benefits that you have to offer as wellas the benefits that you are looking to get. Keep your eyes open, there might be across promotion opportunity that you haven't thought of. Join their mailing listand see what they're sending out. It will be up to you to decide what benefits youare willing to provide according the cross promotion opportunities the othercompany has to offer.Note: In addition to an example of my Event & Sponsorship Profile, please feelfree to contact me for a copy of my Event & Cross Promotion Profile.5) Event Background:This is where you can give some background about yourself, your band or your
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