How to Get Competition Sponsorships: A Starter Guide

A few studios have asked us about getting sponsorships to help defray the costs of competition. As a previous media salesperson for companies such as Disney, Time Inc and Weightwatchers.com, I can tell you that getting people to shell out money for an unknown return, is not an easy task. No matter how small the amount of money, a potential sponsor must have assurance that their money is going to have some positive impact on their business, whether it be from a PR perspective or driving sales in their stores. When creating a sponsorship opportunity for anyone, it is important to have talk about these key factors:

  1. The name of your studio, location, population it serves (age, sex, etc.)
  2. What makes your studio different than others?
  3. Why is your program beneficial to the youth of your area (i.e. instead of playing video games, our kids are dancing.)
  4. Our students are 90% more likely to go to college, graduate high school, etc.
  5. What are the benefits of your programs?
  6. What is the benefit of competitive dance? What life skills does it teach young people today? Sportsmanship, courage, accountability, how to behave under pressure, performing in front of family, friends, teachers, instructors, god…
  7. Why are these skills important to today’s youth?
  8. What is the sponsorship you are offering:  jacket emblems, teeshirt logos, hand out flyers to the store, mentions on your program, etc? What else?
  9. How many people will see this? (i.e. over 1000 people will attend each competition and we go to 5 events–your ad will reach 5000 people.
  10. Cost and duration: It costs this and your ad will run for 4 months.
  11. Why not throw in something extra, like an ad in your recital program? 100% sure you know that people are going to see that and they are moms and dads with kids. A coupon in your program can guarantee in-store traffic.

Businesses to Approach

The most likely candidates will be local businesses in your community, not the big chain stores. For example:

  1. Restaurants
  2. Clothing stores
  3. Dancewear shops
  4. Hardware
  5. Dry Cleaner
  6. Local Super Market (if they exist!)
  7. Nail salons
  8. Hairdresser
  9. Art Galleries
  10. Local Movie theaters – do they still exist???
  11. Bowling Alleys