Sponsorship values

sponsor sponsorship fundraising

When you are a small club it is often difficult to maintain a strict value relationship with your sponsors.

With larger sporting bodies, who have real media exposure, they tier the costs of being involved and utilising their Intellectual Property (IP). Each sponsor pays for a level of association that ranges from very little, other than the rights to use the name on their own activities, to a large scale brand attachment and exclusive naming of the team. Of course all of this comes at a cost and at the high end this is often in the millions.

For a local club or school the realities are very different. The only real asset you have are your participant numbers, even harder is that if you live in suburbia then there are likely to be a lot of other groups with the same proposition as you.

So how do you set a value for a potential sponsors attachment when really all you want to do is just grab their money and run?

Even harder is how do you offer 1 sponsor a deal that you are not giving to another and keep them all involved in your club?

In the end local sponsors, unless they are emotionally attached to the club, want 1 thing and 1 thing only - SALES.

If the sponsor can see that their attachment to the club is creating business then what they paid can be measured against those sales. From this your best strategy is to set your values in relation to the potential business your sponsor will get, making sure you are honest with yourself about the realities of that potential is not easy, 200 members does not mean 200 sales.

If you are looking for ways to measure sales, or in fact take a return of sales you send to your sponsors (which is often more profitable) then a tracking system is needed. With no money and no infrastructure how do you build that? The simple answer is you don't.....why should you when there are already solutions available, so now all you have to do is sell it.

Have a look here for one solution.

 

 

Registration days

club management registration software online store

As a member of my sons club committee I had the joyful experience of being involved in a registration day to try and ensure that everyone is ready for the 2008 season.

We decided to fix 1 day and try and turn it into an event. Rather than just settle on the usual table and chairs we invited players from our premier state team, The Waratahs, to run training sessions, setup a BBQ, arranged to have ID photos and jersey sizing done and had every committee member and most of the coaches on hand to answer any questions from players and parents.

To ensure we had a good turn out we sent 3 emails to our player base from last year, put up posters and banners around the suburb and ran advertisements in 5 of the local newspapers.

Doing our math we expected to get around 180 plus from our junior ranks and 60 or more from our seniors. After 5 hours we had 75 registered players and a pile of food left over.

Those that did turn up had a good run and got to learn some new skills those that didn't, well, who knows?

I write this as one of those - what the? thoughts.

We have a good size club and plenty of motivated players but despite all that we have less than 1/3rd of the club turn up for the day, and that makes the management process just that much harder. Now we have to call or email those that didn't turn up and arrange the entire process in another way, what a pain.

At SportCard we built Payment Manager to try and solve a few of these issues, certainly the payment and tracking process and those little reminders for everyone who hasn't paid yet, but when there is a need for physical intervention, like trying on jerseys, these days are a necessity.

My experience from today and previous years is that the hardest thing to do is create passion for the club and team, from all involved. Without it how do you make anything work? Every player and to a greater degree their parents need to share it just like the coach and committee members.

So what motivates everyone?

I wish I knew...........

Why are there never enough sponsors?

fundraising sponsor sponsorships sport club

With the winter sporting season just about upon us, in Australia, it is time for most amateur sporting clubs to start knocking on doors looking for some money to survive the years sport.

Parents, friends, neighbours, business partners and acquaintances are all asked for a few dollars to try and shore up the clubs finances. Of course then there is the walk of the local shopping malls, car yards, a few hundred emails spammed out to any one you can find and so many phone calls your cell phone bill makes you cry at nights.

In the end you may, may, get 1 good sponsor and a couple of smaller ones. If your really lucky one of the club parents is in a business that is recession proof and the club can stay afloat for another year. Next year you get to do it all again. - Fun eh??

Yes I have been there and done that.

The reality is that for most business they dont see the value. I have had discussions with large local retailers who have poured good money into 1 or 2 clubs only to get nothing in return.

Why? Because the club thinks it is a good will gesture.....well ladies and gentlemen when a business gives you money they want to know they are getting some thing in return and that means sales!

If you cant track them, or more importantly if they cant track them, then next time around they won't come back.

This of course is what creates the problem, business gets burnt and decides that all sponsorship is the same. If you cant manage a sponsors expectations then just dont ask them, it's bad for them, you and everyone else.

With so many clubs simply not understanding or not wanting to deliver what business needs then it is no wonder every year it gets harder and harder to find the sponsorship dollars.

Think if this as a small wake up message for those seeking sponsorship dollars. With the world economy changing every dollar counts and it will only get harder if you cant deliver the sponsors needs.

Here at SportCard we measure the sales and that is how clubs make money. Very simply your members spend, the club gets a return.