Sponsorship tips from a sponsor (women included)

[Lane]

Reel Lady has given some of the best advise for sponsorship that I have read! As a woman,

and co-owner of a sportfishing company, I want to add to that. Marcia is right, you need to

USE and be a FIRM believer in the product(s), before you approach a company for ANY level

of sponsorship.  As a potential sponsor, I like to see well written resumes, and prefer to recieve

them via e-mail. That is only the first step! You need to follow up the resume with a phone call

to the potential sponsor. I interview ALL potential candidates via telephone, and depending on

the level of sponsorship, I require an IN PERSON meeting. Confidence in yourself and your abilities

are very important. You should also be interviewing the companies that you want sponsorship

from. Sponsorship is a TWO WAY STREET!  I believe that marketing yourself to smaller companies

can further your career, so NEVER count them out. For instance, on our pro-staff page we market

YOU! We post your picture and bio! In addition we pick two pro staff to go to ICAST every year

in Vegas. Our saltwater pro staff walked away this year with FOUR BIG sponsors. They are

NOT big names and may never be, but they have done a EXCELLENT JOB of marketing our

products. Remember TWO WAY STREET!!!!!!!  We are not looking for big names, since both

of our top guns are LEGENDS that been inducted into the Freshwater Hall of Fame. Both men

either have or have had their own T.V shows, written books, etc.

Now for the women! These are exciting times for you!  My husband (owner of the company)

tells me that there is NOTHING more SEXY than a pretty, smart woman that LOVES TO FISH

and enjoy the outdoors. Marcia has that covered, and I can tell from reading her resume that

she is one SHARP LADY!  If you have the looks, USE IT!!!!!!  I fully expect to see a WBT angler

featured as a Playmate in Playboy in the very NEAR future. Even if you don't have great looks,

women are very appealing to sponsors. More women are starting to purchase tackle, boats, etc.

Now for the kids! Kids can be sponsored as well! Our sister company will launch a new website,

were kids will have their own pro staff page!  You are the future of this sport!  So sharpen your

pencils and start writting those resumes!!!!!!!!

Good Luck to All of You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lane]

Sorry, for the typos in the post!!!!!! Too many interuptions!!!!!!

[Gatorbassman]

Here! Here!

Lane, Thank you for your incite. There are a bunch of members young and old that will benefit from this post. I just hope they completely understand the two way street.

[George Welcome]

You forgot to mention what company you own.

[Lane]

Two way street, means rewards for your hard work!  Here is a for instance.

At this years ICAST, the LARGEST retail chain in the country came to our

booth early the last day.  My husband was not in the booth at the time, and

I had not yet arrived.  Our pro staff talked with the buyer for a few minutes,

recommended some products, then when my husband arrived introduced

my husband to the buyer. No big name, but he believes in our products and

is a self confident man!

His bonus: AN ALL expense paid 7 day guided fishing trip to Alaska next year!

We knew that his dream was to go to Alaska and fish!

Another example. We were approached early this summer by a college team

for product sponsorship. I was soo impressed by this team, that we sent them

a check for $250 in addition to the product, so that they had a little spending

money for the BASS College Smashout. We also found them another sponsor

willing to donate to the cause.

Now we are a smaller company, but a stable one. My husband has been in the

business for 24 years, and has owned his own company for 16 years.  We

have LOTS of connections, and that is important in this industry. Kids should start

out young. I watched a 10 year old kid weigh in a 11lb lunker this summer.

We talked to him after the weigh in and his father told us that our products had

helped his son. It was such a great feeling, we gave that boy free product

and a shirt. I told him that he definately has a future in the industry.

If fishing is your PASSION, and you like people, go out and promote the products

that you believe in no matter how young or old you are!!!!!!!  We followed our

passion, and we doing pretty darned good! LIVE THE DREAM!

[Greg Harris]

That is some GREAT advice. Thanks for your input. That must of been cool seeing a 10 year old weighing in an 11 POUNDER!

[Lane]

Yes, it was great seeing a 10 year old collect a $1,500 check for the big bass and

take home a nice trophy. His dad told me that he had several trophies from bass

tournaments at home! Just goes to show you are never too young.

[JayPea2005]

If I may add some other advice, go the extra mile. Make investments of time, money, and your heart. If sponsorship is what you want in order to fish your tournaments, then be creative. Also, take a marketing class or two at your local community college. Community colleges sometimes offer non-accredited 6 week classes that you can take advantage of. Everything you do is taken into account when talking to prospective sponsors. As Lane said before, companies want to sell their products and gain market exposure.

Example: Here in Tampa we have a major outdoors expo coming up in March of 2007. I didn't have a clue what I would put in the booth when I made the decision to lease one for 3 days. A bit of a gamble and expense, but when I spoke to prospective sponsors about the fact I had a booth leased and wanted to promote their products, I believe it was the kicker that put them over the edge. ALL of them are GIVING me products to sell through my booth allowing me to recoup my expenses. Also, all of them have agreed to send a company representative to help me man the booth.

Lastly, do what you promised you would do. If you can't make time obligations then do not mislead your sponsors and yourself. A lot of companies know each other and they talk. I actually got a sponsor from word of mouth of another sponsor I already had. Be prepared to go the extra mile and it will work out for you. It won't happen over night either, have patience, plant your crops, and watch them sprout. Once they sprout tend to them as though they are your children... seriously!

[Lane]

JayPea2005,

GREAT advise! Your example is excellent! I am sure that you will not only recoup your

initial investment in the booth space, but make a small profit as well. Perfect example

of the two way street.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

GW- Lane and her husband are one of our advertisers.  They own "Sure Life", a maker of live release formulas such as

-Catch & Celease

- Please release me

[George Welcome]

Thanks Russ,

Now I can put faces and names when I read posts.

[BASS fisherman]

Great advice Lane and Jaypea2005!  I love reading posts like this one.

Thank you

[Bass XL]

what would the website be of the "Sister" company with the kids prostaff?

[Lane]

BassXL,

I have not been to this part of the forum for quite some time. If you want, you can

shoot me a PM about the kids pro-staff.

Lane

[Sam]

Lane,

What about "non-fishing related" products?

If you look at the demographics of our sport, we have mainly males between the ages of 21 and 60.

We have lots of males under 21 and lots of males over 60.

Sporting goods come to mind, as do autos and electronics.  Clothes, shoes and grooming products are also purchased by the guys.

So what is your advice regarding seeking "non-fishing" sponsors, like Ike's Toyota deal or the bail bondsman in the movie The Bad News Bears?

Thanks.

[Lane]

Sam,

You bring up a GREAT point! Especially how it pertains to the YOUNGER aspiring

tournament anglers. Mega corporations like, Google, Yahoo (who just bought U-Tube),

Dell, Microsoft, Mac. Even the telecoms like Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, and the list

goes on and on. The high tech big boys need to be brought to the table. Media exposure

is the key to getting the big boys outside the fishing industry. That is the BIG plus for

BASS anglers, because of ESPN. With that being said, ESPN needs to treat the sportfishing

anglers and their sponsors like sons or daughters instead of stepchildren! Sony is HUGE

with Playstation and electronics. If I were a young angler, I would try to get local franchise

stores like GameStop (large supplier of Playstaton, WEii, and X-Box) for a sponsor. Afterall,

aren't there interactive fishing games? The possibilities are ENDLESS!

On another note, I met one of the finest professional anglers from your state that I have ever

had the pleasure of meeting! His products are a household name around here, Lil Tony Chachere!

Another example of a NON fishing related company, and Lil Tony is a professional angler that

fishes the Elite Series.

[squid]

I have enjoyed this thread.  It is the first time I have seen on here where a potential sponsor tells ya what they are looking for in an angler.  Also, give advice on how to pick up others outside the industry.

I have gotten plenty of sponsorship in the past for my youth program(non-profit) and have promoted them so well that we never lost them as sponsors.  But did notice it was harder getting newer ones.  Also found it hard to get them to just sponsor me.  Which was interesting, since I attend/work 3 big sporting shows and some smaller ones every year for a team tournament trail.  That is how I picked up some of the ones I have now and working the Hawg Tank giving demo's helped too.  

When you can demonstrate that you can promote something and believe in it, you will pick up sponsors.  It might not be fast going, but they will come.

There are companies out there that will pay you to advertise on your vehicle, if you know where to look....that always helps the entry fees too.

[Sam]

Glad to hear you met Tony. He is a class act.

I have been watching for his name in Bass Times and I sent him a letter asking if he was still on the tour.  I am so glad Tony is back on the water.

And his products are excellent, especially the crawfish boil seasonings!

Happy New Year and keep up the good work and fantastic posts.

Sam

[Guest avid]

The fishing resume forum is one of the forums I visit the least at BassResource.com

But this was an interesting thread.  I think Lane made a number of excellent points.

The overall message is that once you aspire to be a pro, you are no longer a consumer but a salesperson.  You enter the business end of equation, and the potential sponsers want enthusiastic, attractive, energenic winners to represent their products.

If you ain't good lookin, then you better start winnin'  ;D

In case you haven't noticed, the "bubba" days of bass fishing are all but over.

[Jason George]

I have always wondered why there are so few (if any) women fishing professionally. Am I missing something?

[Karene Smith]

Is there any company looking to support older women anglers? If there are none currently, why not? I have been researching this issue and it seems that we older women, women and  girls in general are the largest growing demographic for sales and tourism. It’s a huge untapped market and I believe savvy companies would be wise to jump on the trend and the interest. I would love to promote an interested company 

[Glenn]

There's a lot of companies that will sponsor women of all ages. You just have to assert yourself and ask.  I recommend starting with companies who's products you already use and would recommend to a friend.  That should be a pretty long list; and if you get a few to sponsor you, that's all you need.

 

Also, tap into the Lady Bass Anglers Association (https://www.ladybassanglers.com/)  It's a women's tournament circuit that you can join - not necessarily to fish their tournaments, but expand your network and learn from the lady pros that already have sponsorships.

 

Hope that helps!