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SPONSOR SEARCH
WHEN SMALL MEANS BIG: HOW TO ATTRACT SPONSORS NO MATTER WHAT THE VENUE”
By Tim L. Kellebrew, Kellebrew Consulting

To attract a sponsor in any venue, including your Karting team, you must contribute to a sponsor’s bottom line. More succinctly, it means helping them in their goals so that they may eventually make more money when, where, and how they market to the niche that your type of racing appeals to. Your venue (events, schedule, series, or track) may also help the sponsor to reach a market share that is valuable to them because of where you race and because of what you can do for them.  Especially if this has been stated to them in a way that is appealing.

To do this you cannot just look like you know what you’re talking about, you must show them that you truly know. On the track behavior, competition, and unique promotions--all of those will help also, but to get sponsored you must provide worth to the sponsor or they will not do it. In business this generally means profit or increased market share, although you may occasionally find someone that is very interested in sponsorship out of a sentiment such as a genuine like and appreciation of racing, your driver, or maybe even you. Those kinds of sponsorship deals rarely happen. I did not say that the personal domain is not a part of a sponsorship deal. You and your team must obviously fit with the impression the sponsor is trying to make. To get sponsorship out of pure sentiment alone is so rare that you cannot depend upon it, so you might as well spend the time to develop a sense of what a potential sponsor might want.

This process, which could be termed marketing intelligence, is the process whereby you target specific potential sponsors, find out what they are trying to do (or appear to be trying to do), and how you can help them. During this time of early prospecting you target potential sponsors that have market share issues in the areas or niches that your type of racing appeals to. This doesn’t mean that you keep your prospecting confined to smaller, regional sponsors, as even multinational corporations might find your venues appealing. Or there may be a corporate sponsor that’s attracted to the demographics of your fan base. Lastly there may be a sponsor that wants to reach the competitors themselves, hence in such a sub niche, you have Karting equipment, automotive equipment sponsors reaching the fans, enthusiasts, or teams themselves. Every type of potential sponsor should be concerned with elements of market share at some point in their rollout strategy. Through careful marketing intelligence you may be able to identify something of appeal that shows itself in a tailored thoughtful pitch to a specific sponsor that results in them contacting you. 

To attract a targeted sponsor, so that you even get a chance to do a pitch where you’ve done marketing intelligence, you must first get your foot in the door. This generally means you may have to make your pitch several times to several different people, unless it is a smaller company. Smaller companies are difficult due to lower marketing budgets, but there may still be some angles you can use in your approach. The exception to this is where there is a direct correlation between a product and service and your fan base or niche. For example, racers need safety equipment. Consequently, a safety equipment manufacturer probably gets hit upon a lot, but if your team stands out in a way that shows that you care about the sponsor and their goals, and that you have a strong likelihood of success in helping them, doesn’t that make you more attractive than Joe Blow’s operation that sent in a generic package to them? You bet!

To do this let’s look at those issues about market share that almost all companies deal with at one time or another. These are called branding, infiltration, or saturation. In branding, you’ve found out that a company wants to increase awareness of their new product, or a new line of product. You’ve seen where they are doing a lot of advertising in your area to introduce a new product or service, or better yet your intel finds out that the product or service is planned but not released yet. You agree to do promotions that helps them do their rollout. In infiltration, you find out that another company holds more market share than they do, so you tailor your approach to help them infiltrate the market and take market share away from the dominant company. In this example, it could mean that you are helping them demonstrate that their products are more reliable, better, or safer. Finally, in saturation, you discover that the safety equipment company is already the dominant company in your area, niche, or even nationally and you help them hold onto that position by working with them by continuing to emphasize their product’s features in effective ways.

Obviously we may be thinking too small in our example, but this is to get to our main point: the principles of market share can be applied to any type of company, but you must apply them intelligently and show that you did some homework. In a closing example, let’s talk about a client we assisted two years ago. Race Team X found out through marketing intelligence who the supermarket chains were in their area and the market share each had. They did this by simple observation, then researched the chains and the companies behind them. They found out that Chain Y who was not the dominant chain (this was established by researching business journals, corporate earning statements, and other literature) and that Chain Y was planning to infiltrate the market by building 19 new stores in a regional area. They approached the chain with a plan to help them do their rollout with show cars, in store promotions, and a hospitality package. In addition, the racing was held in their regional area.  The chain replied asking for specific suggestions and this was drafted and sent. The result was a can do for that team.

If you are careful about your research, and understand it doesn’t require a degree in marketing to be appealing, but shows that you are concerned about helping the sponsor meet their market share goals, that you want to meet with them to discuss it, and how you will show them that your team can fit the bill--then you are well on the way to attracting a targeted sponsor. The market share issues are just one example of ways you can be prepared, but knowing that the final deal making comes from you listening to what they say they need and meeting those needs are the other parts. So don’t get stuck on any of this as a formula--just listen with a level head and present what and how you might help them. Be creative--as your competitors often aren’t! Be careful, and only then after you have sold the sponsor you must fulfill your part of the deal as you show them that you are serious about fulfilling your contract together. With such a satisfying experience and the results to prove it (and they will be looking) you might just get them back next year or next season. Then your self perceived “small” thing will be getting even bigger results! Happy racing!
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tim Kellebrew is the owner of Kellebrew Consulting, a writing, editing, and content authorship firm. He has worked with sports marketing firms, race teams, software companies, and medical organizations on a variety of writing projects. He drafts and edits correspondence, pitch letters, and other projects for hire. He has authored numerous columns, articles, and other projects. Formerly he was a featured columnist for Ernie Saxton’s Motorsports Sponsorship Newsletter. You can contact Tim by email at timk56@hotmail.com .

This column was written exclusively for Kart Marketing Group, Inc., but any opinions expressed are solely those of the author’s. Copyright © 2003 Kart Marketing Group, Inc. 
 
 

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Kart Marketing Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 101
Wheaton, IL 60189 USA
Telephone: 630-653-7368
Fax: 630-653-2637
Email: karting@msn.com

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