Thanks, Alex. Great tips as always and very relevant right this minute. :) On Monday, May 11, 2015 at 6:55:05 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote: > > I've experimented a LOT with in-kind and cash sponsorships of all kinds. > Here's a handful of lessons from what's worked and what hasn't: > > - *in-kind (product or service) sponsorships are MUCH easier* to get than > cash sponsorships, especially for smaller/local businesses. > > - *one-time sponsorships (for events, for example) are MUCH easier to get > than ongoing, open ended sponsorships* to keep a vending machine or snack > tray stocked. > > - sponsorship is a relationship, like any other it needs ongoing care and > maintenance. *you want your sponsors to feel like they're getting 10x > return on their contribution.* if you can't come up with a creative way > to offer/keep that up, expect that sponsorship to be short-lived. > > - *discounted/wholesale prices* are MUCH easier than asking for things to > be totally free. > > - assume any sponsor you approach is getting hit up often. *what makes > you and your community uniquely valuable to them?* > > - provide them with an easy, obvious upside they can say "yes" to, but > also *invite a sponsor to define their terms. *"we'd love to do XYZ and > here's how it'd work for both of us, but if there's something that would be > more valuable to you AND mutually beneficial to our community, let's talk!" > > - encourage active participation. rather than "hey, send us free stuff and > we'll tweet about it", I've had the MOST success giving them a platform to > meet our community and make a real connection. *Make our members love you > even if you WEREN'T giving out stuff for free. *Come to our Show & Tell, > but instead of a sales pitch, teach us something about your business. > > To look at this in another light - I've been asked to sponsor countless > events and such, and 99% of the sponsorship pitches I get are absolutely > horrible. Nobody ever opens with the upside for me, the business owner. > It's always about them and what they need. > > So...it's really easy to stand out from the crowd by doing just a LITTLE > bit of research about what the sponsor would want/care about in return for > their contribution. :) > > -Alex > > > > On Saturday, May 9, 2015, Alycia Benjamin-Peebles < > [email protected] <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Hey has anyone been successful with getting local and mainstream vendors >> to send free snacks to your coworking space? >> >> -- >> Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >
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