{"id":439,"date":"2011-02-10T12:37:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-10T12:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/?p=439"},"modified":"2018-03-25T13:53:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-25T18:53:18","slug":"finding-local-conference-sponsors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/2011\/02\/finding-local-conference-sponsors.html","title":{"rendered":"Finding local conference sponsors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Do you have conference sponsors? Are companies willing to pay you to attend a conference and represent their brand?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Awesome Table at SOBCon<\/a> ’09,
\nan expensive but well-worth-it conference.
\nBecky McCray, Neenz Felaefine, Paul
\nMerrill, and Sheila Scarborough.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In some fields, it’s considered common practice. In other fields, it’s practically unheard of. I remember hearing legendary former Texas Governor Ann Richards speak, when her tour was sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. So sponsor relationships come in all sizes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
There are several guides out there to finding these kind of sponsors to send you to a conference. My recommendation:\u00a0Want to get Sponsored? You’d Better Be Sponsorable<\/a>\u00a0by Peter Shankman. He covered how to create an effective pitch statement and an example of providing value to your sponsor through blogging and other promotion.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But what if you could work with local business? How would your approach need to be different?<\/div>\n

<\/b>
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\nWhy local companies are a better bet for sponsors<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Your local community is full of businesses capable of affording sponsorships. Your local network is probably where you have your strongest connections. You know more local business leaders than you do national corporate leaders. And you can help a local business more directly than you can most national companies.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Local businesses are less interested in you giving them blog posts or promotion at the event (especially at a national event that might not even be near their market). But you do have something they are interested in: information<\/i>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Offer your local sponsors the benefit of what you’ll be learning at the conference.\u00a0<\/b>You might share it with them by doing a presentation or consultation with their team. Maybe you can do a presentation to a civic group on their behalf, extending that sponsorship into the community. (I’m betting your local sponsor would be happy to bring you as a guest speaker to their Rotary meeting.)\u00a0Find a way to share something of the knowledge you’ll be gaining or to gain attention in the community.<\/p>\n

Sit down in person with the potential sponsor, and talk through what they need and what you can offer. <\/b>Find a way to benefit both of you. There is no short cut. You have to dedicate the time to find the right exchange of value.<\/div>\n

Thanks to\u00a0Todd Jordan<\/a>\u00a0for helping to refine these ideas.<\/p>\n

Next week:\u00a0Not finding conference sponsors? Sponsor yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour<\/a>. Like what you see? Get our updates<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you have conference sponsors? Are companies willing to pay you to attend a conference and represent their brand? The Awesome Table at SOBCon ’09, an expensive but well-worth-it conference. Becky McCray, Neenz Felaefine, Paul Merrill, and Sheila Scarborough. In some fields, it’s considered common practice. In other fields, it’s practically unheard of. I remember […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12155,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions\/12155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallbizsurvival.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}