Finding sponsors or knowing whom to approach can often be daunting, but it’s fairly simple if one knows how. I’ve listed five categories of sponsors to help ease this task and provided some ideas around approaching these categories of sponsors.
Software Companies
If you’re running a technology user group, then software product companies are your best bet. Note: I’m talking about product companies as they have something specific to offer to your members. It is possible that a services firm might have specific services to offer as well. For e.g. a security consulting firm might be offering a service rather than a product. So how does one approach them and which specific companies should one approach? Simple! Ask your members. Do a small poll/survey of your membership asking them which products they use, and let that be the deciding factor. What would help is to figure out how many members particularly are interested in the product/tool. This way when you approach the company you have data which is of interest to them. Now the same applies for the other categories as well.
Hardware and Hosting Companies
Everyone is online and someone or the other is constantly upgrading their infrastructure. In addition, hosting companies might offer your user group free web space in exchange for presenting at your group or maybe having a banner on the user group website. In addition your monthly newsletter, can provide them the necessary exposure.
Magazine/book publishers and online content sites
These companies are churning out information of relevance to your audience. Quite a few publishers also offer free books in exchange for a review. They are quite neutral in terms of the kind of review provided. It doesn’t have to be a good review of the book or giving it five stars. They’re more interested in making sure their books get publicity among your membership. Some even offer exclusive discounts to your members.
Training Companies
These can prove a goldmine in terms of regular speakers on a variety of topics for your user group meetings. Additional discounts to their training programs are a bonus. However, I think the speaker benefit can prove to be just phenomenal and it works both ways for them as well as your members.
Event Organizers
Event organizers provide you with some amazing opportunities in terms of getting booth space for your user group, this could be invaluable as it helps you attract more members, more sponsors and in turn they can prove to be valuable opportunities for your speakers to get exposure.
When thinking of the sponsor categories listed above, one thing you need to bear in mind is to think thru the advantages you get and the advantages you offer to the organization. When in doubt just ask the respective sponsor and you’d be surprised at how helpful people can be.
If you’ve been successfully approaching sponsors and have ideas to share, I’m sure all the readers of the blog would love to hear.
