Forum Sponsorship

First of all on a personal notation I would like to say that if you have started your forum, and/or website with the sole aim of making money so you can quit your job and live a life of luxury - then stop reading now...

... The chances of you earning the millions of dollars you would like is almost the same as you winning the Lotto - sure every now and again there are ones that surprise us such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace but most niches are now covered and so breaking into the market is not going to be an easy thing to do.

I have written this article to help my fellow Administrators and Moderators out, as someone who personally spent as much as 18 months planning, organizing and implementing my very own forums.

This advice is just from my own personal experiences, and if you are hoping that upon completion of this article you will be getting thousands of dollars in sponsorship - forget it I had to handle numerous rejections to get what I currently have for my forums.

Sponsorship for forums is becoming a more common by the day, as business attempt to get their name out to more names over the world wide web however try to shy away from some of the ridiculous amounts some administrators ask for advertising on their website.

Therefore here are number of steps I have taken that to date has been somewhat successful for me with my current forums - please keep in mind that my website is a sports website and therefore some of this may not be viable for you to do however the steps could be the same and could help you in the long run.

Steps taken towards Forum Sponsorship:
As part of the preparation for my website (the 18 months of planning) I sat down and worked out what I wanted on my website, what features were going to make me unique compared to the millions of other sport websites on the internet and what I was going to offer to visitors and advertisers that would be most beneficial to them.

It is important to have unique selling points - there is no point really starting a forum that is "just like all the others" - if you do not have unique selling points you may earn sponsorship but it would not be worth your time nor the time of your sponsors.

One of the key things to work on is advertising positions, and where you would be happy to advertise any sponsors you may be able to earn.

Once these points are sorted out in your mind, and have started to be placed in action this is when you begin searching for your potential sponsors.

To be honest it is not a good idea to chase the biggest companies in your niche, for my sporting website I did not chase places like NIKE, or ADIDAS or anything like that because they all get thousands of requests every month if not every day or week.

Instead what I did was look for smaller businesses in my niche, that were still popular and well known amongst the sporting community however were not the biggest stores you have come across.

What I did was type up and email introducing myself, my website, I informed the potential sponsors of the key features of my website, how we were different to our competitors, what we were looking for from the potential sponsors and what we were offering them in return.

I found that (for me at least) asking for direct money from potential sponsors did not go down too well, and most replied back with a quick sharp "No".

However when asking for items to be donated as prizes for my competitions, or asking for something for free in return for advertising, links and mentions I had a better success rate.

Some key things to look at and to remember when looking for sponsorship is to go for a smaller company rather than the bigger companies who would continuously be bombarded with sponsorship requests.

Sponsorship for a forum is different to advertising - sponsorship means you are getting something and they are getting something, and so be clear with what you are hoping to receive from them.

Remember that (especially in the global financial crisis) the potential sponsors will probably not be looking at giving away thousands of dollars worth of goods for just a couple advertisements on your website - especially a new one.

Always treat your sponsors with respect, remember not to demand products from them instead treat them as if they were a somewhat co-owner of your website - keep them up to date with major things happening with your website - this is the least you could do after they have given you products for free.

Conclusion:
Although having sponsorship is a major coup for any website, and can make things a little easier on the admin - especially one that runs competitions it means he/she does not need to purchase the prizes for the competitions - it must be remembered that a lot of hard work goes into getting any sponsorship.

It is important to remember that Sponsorship is different than advertising, advertising see's companies exchanging money with you in return of the advertising service you offer, whereas a Sponsor is somewhat "investing" into your forum.

A lot of work can be dedicated to finding the best sponsors for your forums, however it is remembered that many of these companies are bombarded each and every day for sponsorship from numerous websites, groups or charity organizations - so expect a number of rejection emails to be sent back to you.

Try your best to remain professional, these people are not your friends, although remain friendly with them chances of you meeting up for a drink are pretty slim so keep cards close to your chest but do not lie to potential sponsors just to get them on board.

I hope this small pep talk to you and some information I have provided earn many of you great website sponsors if you are looking.

Best of luck!

This post has been promoted to an article

 

Wow, very nice article Merk! Thank you for sharing this with us all.

(I wasn't sure which category would be best for this article, so I just put it in Community Development).

 

Not a problem I just thought in the last 18 months I have got 2 laptops donated in return for sponsorship, free hosting on a dedicated server, advertising in a magazine, and about $800 worth of prizes given to my site through sponsorship in return for advertising.

 

I've always looked at those that advertise on my site as sponsors and partners in the venture. Sure, they are paying for the banner space but I do my best to bend over just as backwards for the site sponsors as I do for a site member. Features are balanced. do something for the membership means doing something for the sponsors as well. The biggest thing I think any of can do is make the sponsor, advertiser whatever you may call them, feel engaged with the site. I see it as we are all in the same boat and all rise together. So far it is successful and I have sponsors lined up as I will not take on more sponsors until the membership grows more. I'm forgoing short term gains for a long term outlook.

Great article, thanks for sharing what has worked for you.

 

Yes I completely agree forgoing the short term gains for long term (I was going to mention stuff like that but didn't want my article to be long and too boring).

I agree with your point that sponsors are just like forum members etc - mainly what I was trying to outline was that going for the biggest companies unless you are getting millions of page visitors a day is not a good idea.

There are always two ways to look at things - you can go the short term gains or the long term road. However although mine are short term gains my current sponsors and I have plans put in place that over the next two years would see my website earning over $2000 a year plus commission from sales.

I just wanted to outline that people normally do not get everything for nothing in order for the sponsor to be successful you will get something out of it and they will receive prominent advertising on your website.

Thanks for your input gnaster

 

This article helped me to gain a sponsor =)

 

This is a very useful article that should benefit any webmaster. I applaud you on a well written and informative article that I will personally put to use. I have an affliate that I may be able to have sponser my website in the future, though the differences between the two are night and day.