Getting Sponsors is Easier With This

Racers often think their ability to get paid through the sport is directly linked to their race results. Sometimes feeling "unqualified" from a lack of significant race results, they will not reach out to a brand to start a partnership. OR they heavily index on their racing without realizing brands do not care about that.

But when a racer does manage to acquire a sponsorship, they are given a discount code to purchase product. The athlete will still need to pay their own money to support a brand. This is not an ideal partnership.

Lets re-frame our approach to acquiring sponsors.

A Few Statistics About The Bike Industry:

• The global industry is estimated to be worth $69 billion in 2023

• 52% of Americans reported having a functioning bike available to them

• approximately 56 million people participated in outdoor cycling in the United States

BUT

• USAC only reports 100,000 license holders

In the United States, USAC licensed racers make up less than 1% of the total market.

Sources

How Does This Change Our Approach?

Instead of using your racing as the primary reason for your sponsorship, you need to think about it as a vehicle to resonate with your audience.

As a sponsored athlete, you are an ambassador that provides marketing for the brand. Your purpose is to help them sell more product. The better you can align your messaging, audience, and purpose with the brand you are working with, the better chance you have of acquiring a mutually beneficial partnership.

But what makes you different?

Just about every racer on the planet is sending their resume to brands like The Feed or bike manufacturers.

It's like applying for a job at a big company. There are thousands of applicants, a limited budget for hires, and the business wants to hire the individual that will give them the largest return on their investment.

If you want to stand out in the job market you need to present a unique set of skills and make a connection between them and how you can benefit the company using these skills.

You need to be articulate and persuasive. You need a cover letter

Writing a Killer Cover Letter

Your best chance of success when reaching out to brands for partnerships is through persuasive cover letters.

But your cover letter is not a summary of your resume. Nor is it an outline of what you have done in the past.

It should describe how you can help the brand in the future with your unique skills, unique perspective, and relationship with your audience.

Start With The Brand

A brand wants an ambassador that will help them, so your messaging should be focused around how you can help.

Research the brand's mission, vision, and values. This can often be found of the brand's website (like here for The Feed), or look across their social media accounts. What things do they consistently post about that's not exactly the thing that they sell?

A perfect example of this is Ben & Jerry's. They sell Ice cream, but they use the ice cream as a vehicle to spread their message of inclusivity, social justice, and political reform. You can very easily realize what the brand's mission and values are. One step further, you can make an assumption that their target customers are also people with similar values.

How can you reach that audience of people? The closer your audience aligns with the brand's target customers, the stronger your partnership can be and the more beneficial it will be for everyone.

Audience alignment is just one of the 3 major aspects to developing a strong partnership. Figure out how you can align the other two with the brand you want to work with.

The more closely each of these aspects align, the better chance you have of making real money and creating a lifelong partnership.

Persuasion Is Sales

The more persuasive you can be, the more success you will be in your sponsor journey.

There is a lot of skill in persuasion. Being able to clearly articulate a brand's message and values better than they can is an incredibly difficult feat. But if you can do it, you are all but guaranteed a partnership.

But just like sales, you will lose more deals that you win. Don't be discouraged if you send 5 proposals and get 5 nos. That's normal and expected.

Arguably one of the best sales people in history, Jordan Belfort (The real one that Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Wolf of Wall Street is based on), has a reported close rate of 50%. So the BEST sales person in history loses just as many deals as he wins.

Keep improving your persuasion, writing more clearly and concisely, and keep sending proposals. You will get better and you will continue to acquire better and better deals.

Want to Learn More?

There is a lot more that goes into writing sponsor proposals than what I can quickly explain in this blog. There is also a LOT more that goes into nurturing that partnership and making sure the brand is happy.

We are working on a comprehensive guide to help you write killer cover letters and make money in the sport. If you want to be notified when this is finished, sign up for updates below.

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