5 tips for successful sponsorship proposals

I get a multitude of approaches from teams, events, shows, charities, individuals and businesses seeking sponsorship - probably around one per day on average. Over the years that is a large number of documents, decks, emails etc that I have had to read.

I would have said that over the last three years, whilst I've been working with Skoda, I could probably count on one hand, the number that I have actually considered to be appropriate to Skoda's business. That means there are hundreds that I would consider to be a waste of both my time, and also the sponsorship seeker's time. That is possibly thousands of wasted man hours.

So what is it about the proposals that I get that make them 'appropriate'? Here's a list of 5 do's:

1. At Skoda we have a 2 page document that we can send to sponsorship seekers that lists our marketing and sponsorship objectives, processes etc - it basically tells them what we're looking for. So get on the phone, or send an email and try to find out what the sponsor is looking for. They will probably be able to tell you in about 5 minutes. One benefit of doing this is that you'll be able to quickly figure out if it's worth pursing this sponsor, or if, in fact, you are not well suited to their needs, and therefore don't need to waste your (and their) time pulling together a proposal.

2. Take the information you've found out, and pull together a bespoke proposal for the sponsor. Don't send a generic deck on it's own - ensure that if you do have a generic 'deck' that you also pull together a specific bespoke proposal for the potential sponsor.

3. Ensure the proposal includes several activation ideas that the sponsor could tap straight into. The current trend is for social media and content activation - so probably a good idea to include some ideas around those themes. This shows that you are keen to help the brand make the sponsorship work. That you'll work with them, and not just take their money and then leave them to activate alone.

4. Talk about your fans, your members, your spectators and how you can help the sponsor engage with them - after all, that's the point of sponsorship - to tap into a fan's passion and to improve the experience.

5. Do include, where you can, estimated media coverage, numbers of fans, spectators etc that will be engaged with, and how often. Even though most sponsorships do not have success metrics that include media coverage, this information can be useful when the sponsor initially is 'selling' the concept in internally.

So that's 5 do's. I promise that if you follow these suggestions you will have a great deal more success with your proposals, and also save yourself a lot of wasted time.