Finding sponsors

[Lynda]

This one is not entirely for me. A local group are launching a new newspaper, and as they've never done this before they aren't sure how to get sponsors. I'm good with websites and online sponsorship, but sponsors for offline promotion isn't something I do very often, so I've had to say I can't help. I'm snowed under at the moment anyway.

They've got advertisers, but were hoping to find sponsors for things like opinion columns, reviews, etc. Unfortunately they're not sure how to approach them, how to find sponsors in the first place, and how much they should be charging. Does anyone have any experience from either side, either sponsoring a feature like this or trying to find sponsorship for it? Any advice would be gratefully received!

 

[Nancy]

It sounds like they need to do some good, old-fashioned cold calling. Stop by businesses in person. Show them the paper and share the excitement they have for the project! Enthusiasm will go a long way in recruiting sponsors! Lay out the benefits the sponsor will receive and who the target audience will be. Maybe have a cost/result comparison to other types of promotion. I would also contact the current advertisers. I am sure some of them would consider upping their participation too.