How to attract new sponsors as an indiviual athlete...

If you are an athlete pushing the boundaries of what could be possible for you in your chosen sport, you are probably in need of funding – unless you have wealthy parents and/or friends who can support you.

There is also a free guide – my 15 point checklist that accompanies this and gives you a list of the things you need to focus on. Click here to download.

I am also happy to speak to individual athletes starting their sponsorship journey. You can also contact me for a free 30 minute call where I can go over how best to meet your requirements and answer any questions you may have. Get in touch here to arrange a chat.

Raising sponsorship funding is never easy but if you adopt a proven method and follow the process, your chances of success will be increased.

Please remember that whatever sport you compete in and wherever you are in your career, you do have something valuable for potential sponsors.

The trick is to really understand the added value you can bring to the sponsor’s business. It may be a PR story where a local organisation can leverage the value of supporting and promoting a local athlete, or an organisation that values running motivational sessions for their employees and recognises that all athletes have to be motivated and disciplined to perform at their best. Or maybe you can provide some tickets to an event where an organisation can entertain some clients or prospects and if you have a huge social media reach and your sport is widely covered by the media, some form of brand advertising could be valuable for an organisation looking to raise their awareness.

Getting an understanding of your value and how an organisation will benefit from a sponsorship or partnership with you is the first place to start.

Once this is understood, everything else then follows: the type of organisation, sector(s), size and geography. Always aim to build a relationship with the most senior person. It’s always easier to move down through the organisation rather than work your way up. So, if a mid-level manager is showing some interest, always, always ask about how the organisation will make their decision and if necessary, ask to be introduced to the mid-level manager’s boss or whoever will be involved in the decision making process.

Once you understand your value, your audience and level of decision maker, you just need to start building relationships. Do not go in for a ‘heavy’ sell straight away, you will probably be dealing with someone who may not know who you are and what your story is and how being in some form of partnership will help their business.

So, make sure you have a website. Contact me if you haven’t got one and need someone to help you create one. It doesn’t need to be complicated, just enough information about you and, importantly, you keep it up to date with your schedule and results etc.

Along with your website make sure you have both to a LinkedIn and Instagram profile. Again keep both up to date and relevant.

You will also need to approach your audience direct. Create a series of emails to help make contact and build a relationship. These always need to include a call to action such as 'contact me' for more information.

As mentioned earlier, use my 15 point check list and stick with and trust the process. Contact me for a free 30 minute call to answer any specific questions.

Download checklist

Authored by Kevan Baker

Baker International CEO & Founder