Sponsership?

Question

I want to get sponsership for my horse and i and i was wondering how to ?i would like to British event and do B.S.J.A but we cant afford it , my horseis very talented and he could go very far with the right oppatunities,i always wanted to get somewhere now i want to make it happen .Better answers then 'just contacting a company 'please ?

Answer 1

There are plenty of ways to go about finding a sponsor. Depending on where you live, you may have a local store that would sponsor you. Also, you could talk to your parents' place of employment. Those types of places are likely to sponsor you because they have known you for a while. If those options don't work, start going around asking companies in town. It's like door-to-door salesmanship. One of them will like you and/or your reasoning and will want to sponsor you.

Answer 2

Getting sponsorship is VERY hard, and a previous poster is right, you need a proven track record and a lot of exposure in order for them to get a return out of sponsoring you. For example, if they are a local tack shop and you're competing at loca shows, chances are everyone knows about them anyway. I'm sure your horse has talent, but unless he is Grade A potential or a high class eventer, you're going to have a h**l of a job getting someone to pay for you to pop round a Grade C or Pre-Novice. The best way to go about it is to get a year or so successfull competing under your belt, you need to be getting consistently high placings. Then approach a company to sponsor you. Someone said about writing letters, this is probably the best way to go about it. They will not pay the full amount though (or it's highly unlikely) as BSJA/BE affiliation and entry fees are very expensive (as you know) and until they know that they're going to see a marked increase in sales because of your presence in the show ring, they aren't going to fork out hundreds and hundreds of pounds. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, I'm just giving my honest opinion. Good luck though.

Answer 3

Well, they key with sponsorship is that you have something to offer the sponsor, namely recognition.  So you have to be competing at pretty high levels to get it.  Also, you have to have a history of accomplishments to prove to them that you are worth their investment.  If you are just getting into showing, I don't think you'll have much luck with sponsors.  They aren't just going to hand out money on the personal opinion that your horse is very talent.  EVERYONE thinks their horse is very talented.  He needs to have proven himself.

As for how to go about finding sponsors, just write a letter specifying what you do and what you are asking for and send it to companies that you are interested in, that you'd like to have your name associated with, and that you think might be interested in you.  Most companies have a public relations department that deals with these types of requests.

Good luck, sorry I'm not very helpful.

Answer 4

Talk with people and give them an idea what they'll get in return.

Be a good salesperson; be prepared, confident, and cordial.  Offer to put their banner on your trailer and hand out brochures at the event.  Offer to do it free at first, and then sell people and have them say "I saw it at the event, this person was handing out brochures and talking it up."

Pick a local company, perhaps one you have ties with or patronize.  They'll be more apt to start with you at the local levels, because that's where their customer base is.

Do you or your parents have a job with a company that might be interested?  My company (internet stuff) recently sponsored an employee's child in a beauty pageant, not because we expected much return monetarily but because it was good for employee relations.  We got advertising in the pageant brochure, but it wasn't our target market.

Other than that...  you could put out cans with your picture in local feed stores, but that seems tacky.  You could start a website and ask for donations, maybe earmarking half the money received to the humane society, but being upfront about it, but again...

Good luck with it.  Getting other people to fund our passions is always difficult.