If you have ever directed a race, you know how much of a headache it is to get a race sponsorship. And you are not alone—almost every event organizer will tell you this is their #1 problem.
This article will highlight all the possible difficulties and provide insight into resolving them. Welcome to Runzy’s guide on finding a sponsor for your sub-event.
What is a Sponsorship (and What is It Not?)
First, let us get one thing out of the way: a sponsorship will not solve all your problems. They are not a messiah, and neither are they a charity. Racing sponsors are looking for corporate advantages by using your event as a platform. In business, this is called a commercial arrangement.
As a sub-event director, you are its rights holder, providing sponsorship assets in your property (the event itself) for your sponsor to leverage.
Different Types of Sponsorships
Sponsorships can take on a few shapes. Let us look at different types of sponsorships and find out how you can benefit from them.
Cash Sponsorship
The most popular and obvious choice for any sponsor is to simply give you cash, which you can use to cover anything in your budget.
In-Kind Sponsorship
Sometimes, a sponsor can contribute to your event differently by taking something from your budget and covering it with their resources. For example, a clothing brand can make T-shirts for your event, or a local grocery store can offer fresh ingredients for your on-site catering.
Title Sponsorship
Some sponsors might ask for naming rights regardless of what you get in return. This allows the sponsor to include their brand in your event’s name. Some organizers are hesitant to accept title sponsorships, while others see them as valuable opportunities.
Media Sponsorship
This type of sponsorship is pretty narrow. Generally, it includes specialized media outlets covering your event in exchange for mutual exposure via your platform. If the sponsor’s platform is prominent and respected, they might also ask you to cover expenses for race entry, accommodation, and other related costs.
What Do Sponsors Want?
As an event director, you definitely know what you need from a sponsor. But the other side of the coin is what your sponsors want in return.
To put it briefly, every sponsor is looking for a good ROI (return on investment) on their running sponsorship. However, every sponsor will value your event differently, depending on their product, target audience, sponsorship experience, and ability to utilize your assets.
Before approaching a sponsor, consider what assets your event can offer them. Here is a short list of things to help you secure a running sponsorship.
Branding Opportunities
Branding via events is still one of the things most sponsors expect and will gladly accept. You can offer to place the sponsor’s brand name on event materials, t-shirts, leaflets, bib numbers, and other exposed places of your event.
Marketing, Media, and Event Communications Exposure
When preparing for a race, you will run your marketing campaign via social media, TV, radio, local papers, or other ways. A sponsor might want to grab just a tiny spot of that campaign for praise and exposure for their brand.
This can be done as a subtle nudge at the sponsor in your announcements and emails or a more overt post on social media, directly praising their products.
Race Expo Opportunities
If you plan on making a pre-race expo, your sponsors could use it as a platform—either by occupying a stand or getting marketing access in other ways.
Product Placement & On-Site Sampling
Some products, like supplements, sports equipment, and clothes, can be marketed through on-site sampling or product placement. The prime spots are special sponsor booths at the start and finish of the race.
Sponsor Presentation Opportunities
If your sponsor has something valuable to say to your audience, you can give them space for a presentation. However, this should not be a simple infomercial—it has to bring real value to attendees rather than only trying to sell them on the sponsor’s brand.
Survey Data
Your sponsor might want to survey your race audience (primarily runners). You can authorize this and help them with the organization.
Content
This is quite a broad point, but whatever content you create can be used by the sponsor, especially if it includes your sponsor’s products. For example, if you take footage of athletes wearing your sponsor’s brand of clothes during your race, they might want to use it for future promo campaigns.
Race Entry and VIP Opportunities
Free race entry and VIP packages for your sponsor’s ambassadors might seem like nothing, but they go a long way in creating a long and fruitful partnership.
Securing a Sponsorship
Now that you know about the racing sponsorship packages your potential benefactors might want or offer, it is time to get to the real deal—securing your first sponsors.
Whom to Approach?
Before you approach a sponsor, you need to pinpoint whom exactly you will approach. There are two ways to find a suitable sponsor.
First, you can send out as many emails as possible and hope someone bites. This spray-and-pray approach is almost guaranteed to work, but it won’t always get you what you want in the long run.
A better way to find a benefactor is researching and understanding who might benefit the most from your event and whose values align the most with your event’s. It is a more challenging approach and requires way more work, but it is well worth it because it is more likely to end in a long-lasting partnership.
Here are some excellent examples of companies you want to approach:
- Sponsors with experience. If a company has experience sponsoring events like yours, they are more likely to properly appreciate your event’s assets and give you a good deal. So find sponsors that are already sponsoring events similar to yours.
- Their competitors. Look for direct competitors of sponsors with experience. They might feel pressured to sponsor you just because their (likely more successful) competitors are doing the same.
- Good in-kind sponsors. If a sponsor fits your bill perfectly by taking a point out of the budget, feel free to contact them. Sometimes, the best racing sponsorship opportunities are the most obvious ones.
Whom to Contact?
When you have chosen the sponsors for your event, it is time to notify them and let them make their choice.
Many sponsors have an active event-seeking program, making it easier for directors to reach them. The company issues an instruction for rights holders with all the necessary information—from the kinds of events they sponsor and benefits they are looking for or providing to various timeframes of the sponsorship. If they have a program like this, you can be sure they are professionals and have everything in place to make your life as a sponsor-seeker more comfortable.
However, not all companies run these programs, so you may need to identify the correct person to contact. In larger organizations, these are neither the senior people (who are probably too important to bother with sponsorships) nor, counterintuitively, sponsorship managers (who are concerned with activating the sponsorships rather than approving them). The person you are looking for is either the brand manager (in a bigger company) or a marketing manager (in a smaller one). These people have the decision-making power and access to the budget, so it is them you want to persuade.
First Contact
The objective of your first contact is to draw attention to your event. You want to come across as a reliable partner with the sponsor’s interest in mind. This will secure you a follow-up meeting, where you will be able to discuss the needs and wants of both sides.
Contacting someone is easy, but doing it well is the hard part. First impressions matter, so make every word count—be concise and to the point.
Here are some dos and don’ts for your first contact email:
- DO introduce yourself and your event in 2–3 sentences.
- DO point out the assets your sponsor might benefit from.
- DO request a follow-up meeting or a call for further details.
- DON’T go into too much detail.
- DON’T plead or sound desperate.
Your email should be clear, concise, and quick to read—nobody will waste time on a novel.
First Meeting
Now that you have secured a meeting, you need to learn more about each other. This meeting is not for you to pitch your event but for both of you to learn what benefits you will get from each other.
Here are some things you want to learn about the sponsor’s benefits:
- Their commercial objective.
- Your assets they will want to use.
- The work required from you to deliver on the agreement.
- The sponsor’s definition of a good ROI.
- The change in the brand’s reputation and the people behind it from the deal.
You will likely also be asked what you want to get, so be prepared to present at least a vague idea of where you see their sponsorship leading.
It is best to take notes because you will need all the information for your next step.
Sponsorship Proposal
If your meeting was successful, it is time to prepare your racing sponsorship proposal. You have learned what they want, and you know what you require. It is time to craft a personalized proposal for your sponsor.
Note that you can copy and paste the same proposal for every sponsor, but we strongly advise against that. They will know if you were lazy, and it shows disrespect, which is not a solid ground for a good partnership.
Speaking of the format, you can go with either a document or a presentation. A presentation is usually much better because it also adds visuals and, possibly, sounds to the proposal, making it much easier to digest.
Here is a racing proposal template that includes all the main points:
- Introduction. Include your event name, date, location, a short history, and other related information. If you are a charity, include the cause you represent.
- Sponsor’s objectives. You want to show your sponsor that this is about you being beneficial to them. You know what they want. Set the groundwork for solving their problems.
- Overview of your assets. Tell your sponsor the most vital assets you can offer, the demographic of your event, and other data. Do not include too much—it should fit into one slide, so pick the most crucial info.
- List your commitments. You should give a detailed account of everything you will provide to the sponsor. If you are willing to give only a part of your assets or provide them for a limited time, make sure to note that. You want to be specific because your sponsor will hold you accountable for your commitments.
- Other sponsors. Include other sponsors who have committed to your event, if there are any. This will show you as a reliable partner and add a sense of value to your event. Do not include anyone you are still discussing partnerships with—it is disingenuous and might backfire.
- Sponsorship price. This is a contentious point, and many directors prefer to omit it in the proposal. However, it will come up sooner or later, so it is better to clear this up to avoid any misunderstandings in the future.
Negotiation
If your proposal is compelling enough, the sponsor will grace you with an answer. And, if you are lucky, they will agree to your proposal. However, more often than not, a sponsor will want to negotiate to get a bit more bang for their buck or ask clarifying questions.
It is impossible to go over all the ways a negotiation can go, so we have prepared a quick guideline for you to follow and improvise from.
If you have already worked with the sponsor previously, and they have liked your partnership so far, you can negotiate harder and try to get better terms for yourself. However, be cautious with this: if they received the same benefits for a lower price from you at previous events, they might not agree to spend more for the same thing.
If this is your first time with this sponsor, try to avoid getting the most value out of them and instead focus on delivering what you offered and retaining the sponsor. Naturally, you should not give out too much stuff for their patronage; just try not to be too pushy. It is much easier to retain a sponsor at this stage than trying to lead another one to this stage. Moreover, most companies have droves of event directors standing in line, waiting for their patronage. Therefore, it is best to play just a bit softer.
Here is one mantra to keep for negotiations: instead of accepting lower sponsorship prices, offer them more value for their sponsorship. It will be much easier for you to do more for the sponsor than to materialize money out of thin air.
Delivery
You may think the hardest part is done, and you can rest now. Oops! Not so fast! It’s all about being responsible now!
Jokes aside, while landing a sponsor is arguably the hardest part, the delivery part is just as important. Keep your sponsors happy, and they will return to you for the next year’s event.
It is best to use a project management tool or, at the very least, keep it all in a handy spreadsheet. Create a list of your sponsorship responsibilities and keep track of them, ensuring you deliver on every promise.
Retaining Sponsors
As mentioned earlier, retaining existing sponsors is much easier than finding new ones.
You have no control over some things, and a sponsor might become unavailable. However, some things are under your control. Do the following to make your sponsors happy in the long run.
Keep in Touch with Your Sponsors
Showing genuine interest is the best way to make someone like you. So get involved and talk to your sponsors regularly—either formally or informally.
Follow Your Sponsor’s News
The best way to catch up with your sponsor without bothering them is by following their developments via the news and social media. Follow their accounts, read the latest articles, and learn everything about them before you send your proposal again.
Find New Ways to Add Value
Always experiment with what you can bring to the table. Research what your peers offer their sponsors and come up with your own ways to please your benefactors. You can then sell these things to your current sponsors and upsell them to new ones.
Notify Your Sponsors of Major Even Milestones
Pride is not a sin if indulged in moderation. It is always good to boast about important event milestones to your sponsors, especially if it means more marketing reach for them. Add metrics that come with the milestones to make your event look more prestigious.
Be Loyal
Most big sponsored running races started from humble beginnings, and most still remember the sponsors who were there for them at the start. So, even if your event outgrew a sponsor, it is nice to keep them around as a token of gratitude. Naturally, your bottom line should always come first; if it hurts it too much, you will have to let them go. But until then, let them bask in your glory.
Be Greedy (Long-term)
You can always try to upsell your assets, but remember that it might anger some sponsors. Instead, getting more sponsors and offering them more assets next year for even bigger sums is better. Aim for slow growth instead of rapid financial spikes.
Conclusion
As you can see, getting a sponsor is a challenging task. You need to keep many things in mind: from researching worthy sponsors to keeping them long-term. We hope that you now understand how to get racing sponsors and will have great luck in finding them.
Do you have more advice? Feel free to let us know in the comments if we left out any important information.