As many of you who read my blog know, my daughter is about to test for her black belt. Her rank is currently "black belt recommended" and for the past four years she has studied and trained for this achievement. Come June she will use those years of training for another four hour exam to reach the goal.
In addition to her serious training, she is also part of the Texas Extreme Martial Arts Team (TXT). This performance team conducts shows all over Austin, and beyond. These kids, ranging in age from 8 to 18 work hard at perfecting high quality and entertaining performances for audiences at a variety of venues.This summer the team has the opportunity to perform at a major martial arts event in Houston, but they need to raise about $2000 for new uniforms and travel costs to the performance.
Here is where I need your help:
What types of businesses do you think the kids should target to raise sponsorship money for the team. They have the ability to put the sponsors name or logos on the front and sleeves of their uniforms for the next year (think NASCAR) and to promote the sponsors at the school and at a variety of other events where they will participate (sometimes they end up on TV). This is not a big business with massive reach, but an important part of the lives of the kids who are enrolled in the program.
Four sponsors at $500 each would cover all their needs, however this is not your normal marketing promotion....so I am struggling with coming up with the right mix of value to those who would support these kids for their summer trip and performance.
I have some thoughts swirling in my head, and the owner of the studio, Master Juarez, has spent a lifetime in the martial arts - thus he has many great ideas.... But I know that someone out there in the blogosphere might just have an "AH HA" moment that can spark the answer they seek.
Feel free to comment on the blog or to send me an email. All ideas are good ideas, and I appreciate you allowing me to tap into your minds..... as when more than one person contemplates a solution, amazing things can happen. How cool that the medium of the internet allows this brainstorming to go beyond just a few.
Thank you to those of you who share your thoughts.
Have A Great Day.
thom
http://www.thomsinger.com/
***Follow Up- Wednesday 5/7/2008
People are AMAZING!!! I have received several emails with some great marketing and sponsorship ideas, as well as the comments left on this blog.
What is really fantastic is that two of the readers of this blog have reached out and offered to donate $200 each to the TXT team. Wow. That was not in my thoughts when I wrote this that readers would donate money. The kids and the owner of the karate school are appreciative and I am just thrilled that the world is filled with so many generous souls. I will be smiling all day because of this!!!
Kids have parents, so anyone who markets to families is a potential sponsor. Real Estate, Banks, Supermarkets, Mortgage Cos, Private Schools, Pizza, Restaurants, Electronics Stores, etc...
ReplyDeleteSelling sponsorships is only partly about selling promotional aspects. The other half is special privileges. Could you offer tickets to the event in Houston or some sort of table where the sponsor could put out some promotional stuff? Or here in Austin at some sort of special event where there will be high-traffic? (Say Farmer's Market day downtown?)
ReplyDeleteAs far as who to target, think about who would want access to the audience that will see these kids. Could you cut a deal with the equipment supplier--sponsor the uniforms, get their name in front of all those other kids needing uniforms?
You might also want to think of tiering the sponsorships to broaden your range of options.
Let me know if you want to have a chat about this--I used to do this professionally (albeit on a much larger scale).
My quick response would be "the Parents employer". There is no target more owned into the child's activity than the parent and my experience has been a company always tries to support its employees. Alas, the employers get many of these requests and surely cannot fulfill all so some choose to fulfill none. What about asking the employers to match a % of what the kids raise on their own (neighbors, church, etc)?
ReplyDeletei will give my support for $200. let me know who to give money to. cg
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