The keys to getting sponsors for your user group
Who, What, When, Where, How, Why – Metrics and Review
It does look strange when I start this article with questions, however, answering these questions are your keys to get sponsors successfully for your user group.
Let’s say someone comes up to you and asks you for $1000. You would obviously want to know why he wants it, how the money would be spent and what you would get in return. Similarly, a potential sponsor for your user group needs information on how the activity which you’re proposing would benefit their organization.
Let us take a practical example on how you could apply this in real life. Let’s say your group is focused on .Net Technologies, and you have an upcoming event where the topic of discussion is SharePoint 2010.
Well, you’re already on your way to answer one of the first questions your sponsor might ask: the “What” – as in the focus of the user group meeting/event. You’d need to provide more data here, such as what aspect of SharePoint you’re covering, etc. We’ll come back to this question later.
Who is coming? – Your sponsor will need to know the kind of people that are going to attend the meeting. The obvious answer is: people interested in SharePoint.
However, let’s look at two different responses:
Response 1: 40 SharePoint developers will be attending the meeting
versus
Response 2: 40 developers are going to attend the meeting. 10 of them are from the top IT companies in the region. 15 of them are experienced in SharePoint, searching for new components to help ease their SharePoint development. 10 are interested in learning more about SharePoint or are first time users, and 5 people are about to start a new SharePoint project and are hoping to learn as much as they can.
Which of the two responses do you think is going to garner more interest from a sponsor? It’s obvious; response 2 will most likely get the sponsor interested.
I’m sure you’re about to stop reading or are scratching your heads wondering how this much information can be collected. The answer is simple: the registration form for your meeting. It can and should be a goldmine of information for you, your speakers and your potential sponsors. It helps you understand your audience profile, which is extremely useful information for the potential speaker at your user group meeting, and provides invaluable information identifying the target audience for the potential sponsor.
The other Who is the speaker – It definitely is a big help if a prominent, experienced speaker is going to be speaking at your meeting. This helps build the credibility of your user group as a whole. The sponsor would also like to be associated with someone prominent, as this is likely to help their image.
When – This is probably the most misunderstood question from an organizational standpoint. Ask a user group leader “when” and the standard response is a date: say 1st of January. 2011. Let me ask you a question; is the effort to do anything, such as conducting a meeting, a one-time activity? Okay, I know this sounds perplexing. So, let me instead tell you about the strategy followed by most large organizations in a given year.
An organization usually conducts all promotional activities around a common theme or focus. There might be just one annual theme/focus, or a year may be broken up into four quarters, or three trimesters, or whatever. During a given period, though, all events and activities are built around that theme/focus. E.g. It would not be surprising to guess that 2011 will probably go down as the year for Windows Phone 7 for Microsoft. They will have presentations online, events off-line, press meetings etc. focussed at least for a quarter, around this subject one: Windows Phone 7. They will also have a published calendar of events/activities.
Why is this important? A theme and a published calendar helps everyone: the organization itself can consolidate their costs by planning and clubbing things together; partners that are interested in a particular theme can concentrate their resources around that particular time, and interested attendees can plan their schedules in advance.
Hence, as a UG leader, you should also have a published calendar of events for at least a quarter. This helps keep you focused, shows that you are really organized (and not just doing a one-off activity for which you are seeking sponsorship), and makes it easier for attendees to plan their schedules (and perhaps register in advance). All these factors can be effective in gaining sponsorship, because they tell the potential sponsor about your focus, help them in planning and justifying long-term collaboration, and provide them with data that is useful to them.
Where – Location, Location, Location – I’m not just being dramatic here. To run an effective event, you must answer three where questions for both the attendees and the sponsor. One, where can I find out more about the user group/event? Two, where do I attend the user group meeting/event. And three, where can the interaction continue?
Why are all three important, especially to sponsors? A clear answer to the first where allows sponsors to do first-party research regarding your group/event. The answer to the second where can help sponsors plan their on-site activities, and can also give them avenues for further activities, e.g. if the meeting/event is held on the premises of a prominent company, the sponsor may take this opportunity to reach out to the company as well.
Having an answer for the third where is probably the most important part, in today’s virtual world. Having an online forum, or using platforms like Twitter or FaceBook, can allow interaction between the audience, the presenters, and the sponsors to continue even after the fact. This can be a huge value-add for the audience. It will definitely be so for the sponsor, as it allows them to keep in touch with the audience.
How – This question is about the processes you follow (you do follow processes, don’t you?). If a sponsor asks you how you do things, make sure you include as much detail as possible. 
Apart from the answers to all the questions above, give clear information about the format of the meeting/event and the way you will ensure publicity for the event. Very importantly, provide details on how much sponsorship you need, and how early they need to send you the money. When do they send you the money – is it pre or post event? How do they send it, is it PayPal, is it a fund transfer? The How is a very broad and multi-faceted question. One part of the answer is about the internals of how you do things, i.e. how the event/activity is being conducted. The other is in terms of how sponsors can engage with your group.
Why – Why should they be sponsoring this activity? What is the value yo
u are providing back to your sponsor? What are the advantages and benefits of working with your group? For instance, the profiles of a majority of your members may match the demographics that the sponsor targets. The Why is your pitch to the sponsor. The answer should be wrapped up in to a nice pitch document for your sponsor, which explains why the event is being conducted, why it benefits this particular sponsor etc. Here, information about who is attending, how the event is being conducted, when, and where are tied in with the benefits for the sponsor. The Why brings it all together.
There are two other things which I feel are extremely important when considering a pitch to any sponsor: Metrics and Review
Metrics: Measures of Success – Typically it’s the sponsor who would have a number of questions about sponsoring the activity. However this is a question you need to ask the sponsor. You need to understand what will define a successful sponsorship activity for their organization. For some sponsors, it might be just an agreed-up number list of attendees, for some it might be the actual list of attendees, for others it might be an on-going relationship. You need to know the measure of success for each of your sponsors. This will help you in getting long term sponsors for your group.
Review – After each activity, review with your sponsor what they perceived as good or bad. This is an invaluable service which will help you gain some fantastic insight from your sponsor and will help you build a long term relationship. Make sure you inform each sponsor in advance that they will have to participate in a review process post the activity for which they are sponsoring. This will also help in showing your seriousness towards engagement with the sponsor.
Ok, I’m sure you’re wondering how do I do all of this, don’t. The way to begin is by starting with one or two of the above and doing it till it becomes habitual. Then start with the others, keep a target of six months or more to incorporate all the above suggestions. If I were to pick one suggestion to start with, I’d begin with answering the who question first as ultimately your group is here to serve the needs of it’s members.
The first thing you’ll notice is that people now expect a quick or rather instant response to their queries and suggestions. Start being responsive using the following three steps.
If you’re overwhelmed by the above six keys, then remember it’s all about relationships, always. If you look at your community and its members from the point of view of cultivating relationships, you will automatically utilize the above keys.