Having trouble getting a sponsor?
Recently, we contacted another (non-motorcycle) racing site, www.clean-image.co.uk, having read its sponsorship article. Rather than copy the piece word for word, we have paraphrased part of it here. We'd like to thank Danny Argent at clean-image for allowing us to post the article and hope that readers can learn something from it.
In addition, we'd like you to let us know what you think. We know that most, if not all racers have struggled at some stage in their career to get anyone interested in helping out. If you have anything you would like to share, be it problems or (particularly) successes, please get in touch with and he will post any relevant responses. After all; the best experience anyone can gain is other peoples' experience. Alternatively, go to our Contact Form page.
Why you can't get sponsorship.
At the beginning of the year we usually get a bunch of emails asking Clean Image to sponsor their racing car. Generally, they tell us little about themselves, they don't ask for any particular amount, or if they do they ask for way too much. Often all we receive is a standardized flyer given to them by their race series organizer. These may well be well presented PDF files with lots of glossy pictures but basically the proposal is still the same...
"Give me money and I'll put your sticker on the side of my car [bike]."
I'm in charge of marketing here and so I know a bit about the subject. There is one golden rule that I go by and it is this:
"For an advertising/marketing campaign to be successful, it only needs to pay for itself."
In other words, I need to break even and get my money back and that's easier said that done! Most advertising campaigns I have tried either make a loss or barely break even, despite these being carefully crafted and planned with lots of words and pictures and being well placed in magazines and newspapers. So you have to ask yourself, what chance have I got of making my money back just by having my company logo on the side of a car? The answer is practically zero! In fact, I think I'd probably stand a better chance spending my money on lottery tickets.
It just so happens that during my career in marketing, I have briefly been involved in motorsport sponsorship, so I know a little about this too. So, when I get a sponsorship proposal, if I see an opportunity, I do know enough to be able to turn things around and make it work. However, I just don't have the time - it can be a lot of work when you are trying to 'organize' somebody who has already taken your money! You have to choose the people you sponsor with great care, not just choosing people who win races which actually isn't very important.
So, if you do a bit of motorsport as a hobby, and have written (or emailed) several dozen companies asking for sponsorship and had no interest at all, you now know why!
You can read the original article in its entirety here.
Of course, all the above applies just as much to bike racing. We have spoken to a number of bike and bike accessory shops, plus companies and suppliers away from and at the race track. The opinion seems pretty much the same; in general, it is simply not cost effective for a company to sponsor a rider and simply have its name on the side of the bike/car in the vain hope that a sticker will in itself generate business. Granted, many companies enjoy the association with racing success but even this doesn't seem to be the main driving factor. A company is in business to make a profit. It isn't going to give money or a service without expecting to get that money or the value of the service back. The topic is also discussed in greater detail in our "Australian View" page.