Over the years we have seen many sponsorship or partnership proposal documents. Some of these have ranged from creative and marketing genius, through to a few paragraphs on a Microsoft Word document, or even an email.
Without doubt, there is a wide range of how sports organisations position there sponsorship proposals, however in order to ensure they are high quality, there are a few key things that documents need to include if you are to attract the attention of a prospective new sponsor.
1. Photographs and colour
Numerous documents that I have seen over my career have had no life or colour to them, and believe it or not, this still does happen. Selling sponsorship is essentially selling you club to a 3rd party. And selling your club to a 3rd party prospective sponsor requires them to be able to visualise what the are buying into. So, make sure they can see images of the players, clubs rooms, your logo, the ground and so on.
2. A front and back cover
This may sound basic, however I know this still doesn’t happen. Think about it like this, in your sponsorship proposal document, you are telling a story and all stories have a front and back cover that look good, and look professional.
3. A narrative or story of the club
Succinctly and eloquently talk about your club. Layout 3 or 4 paragraphs letting people know about your history, what leagues your teams play in, the size of your community. This is where prospective sponsors get to know who your club is and what it stands for. Your story should be interwoven through all of your sponsorship communications.
4. Overview of packages available
Set out at a high level what packages you have available. Provide the structure and name of your packages. Sneak in the benefits of each package also, especially if they are different for each package. Feel free to call them something catchy too so they catch the eye of your prospective sponsors.
5. A matrix of exactly what sponsors get
wProvide a deep dive into each package and show the comparison between what a sponsor receives in each package. This will allow them to take away the sponsorship document and analyse exactly what they will receive and think about what they do to optimise the opportunity they have in their association with your organisation.