Are you having a hard time finding the funds for your project? Recently, I came across an interesting article on the Artist Management Resource website. The article gives some great advice for Artists who may be looking for sponsors for their tour. It turns out that companies are also looking for new ways to reach their customers. Many businesses are beginning to discover that consumers are becoming harder to reach using traditional advertising/marketing techniques. Sponsorships can provide a win-win situation for all involved - a way for businesses to reach consumers more effectively by utilizing integrated marketing; and an avenue for musicians to acquire funding for their tours and/or projects. I thought I would share some important tips from the article so you can jumpstart your career.
First, you must be able to clearly identify your audience, their loyalty level and buying habits - apart from buying your music/merchandise and attending your shows. Your target audience may just be the right fit. For example, if the highest percentage of your audience member’s are 34-55 year old females; they are proven to buy health and beauty products. Perhaps businesses that sell similar products to this audience would be interested in supporting your efforts.
You must also identify the benefits and market them to potential sponsors. Be aware of the benefits that will be most useful to a prospective sponsor including your mailing list, image, talent, or perhaps even logos, merchandise, and even copyrights and trademarks. You should keep your fees reasonable as well. In addition, you need to be clear about the type of image you project. Sponsors will associate with projects that fit their image they are trying to establish and cater to the demographics they are trying to reach.
Another suggestion is to create or produce a project that is appealing to the media. Companies prefer projects that can attract TV coverage, especially if their logos and/or products can show up in the broadcast of an event. Be open to bundling your project with other companies that have more clout than you. However, you must limit the number of companies that you attach to the event/project. Conflicts will occur when sponsors compete or don’t match well with other co-sponsors.
Finally, you want to help your sponsor to gauge the effectiveness of the benefits that you are offering them. The business needs to make sure they are generating a solid return on their investment. A suggestion may be to hand out flyers at the event with a coupon offering a discount or promotion. This will help the company measure the success of the sponsorship. You also need to prove that you can deliver the benefits promised to the sponsor. Make sure you follow through on all professional promises.
Artists continually search for funds to help support their projects. Sponsors are a great way to help! You can find more great information on this topic as well as Artist Management information at www.artistmanagementresource.com.
Retrieved from: Rwakaara, J (2007) ArtistManagementResource.com
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