Office of Outworld'southward mission is providing a knowledge base, and with that comes many, many questions. What tires are yous running? What size? How much lift? And for the most part, they're very easy to reply. But there's one question we see – often asked just rarely explained in useful detail.

How do I get my vehicle sponsored?
To be honest, information technology'due south non inherently difficult to go sponsored these days. More companies are seeing the benefit of providing their goods in exchange for media and marketing support, and many take budgets specifically for sponsoring/donating products. In the social media and influencer age, audiences tend to exist more receptive to an individual showing off products naturally rather than an overt advertisement, and that's where y'all (possibly) come in.


I've spent the last ten years building the foundation for Outworld, and in the process I've had the privilege of partnering with dozens of leading brands in motorsports, activity sports and outdoors – from sponsorships and endorsements to brand consulting and media production. These are some of the most important tips I tin share – from a long list of successes and failures forth the manner.

Assess yourself

Earlier making any kind of requests, it's important to consider the other side of this arrangement. Someone at that company you're targeting is being evaluated on their budget allocations. To some caste, y'all take the ability to brand someone's chore easier or tougher in this procedure. One time you receive your gratis products, the onus is on you to deliver your cease of the bargain.

People "hit and run" all the time: getting their hazard with free product then disappearing off the confront of the earth. It's easy to be sleazy. What's difficult is coming back to that person the next year for a renewal or expansion request and hearing, "Hell aye I remember you. What exercise you want to do this fourth dimension?!"

The hard truth is not anybody is cut out for the sponsorship game. Those simply looking for free parts with no business organization of return brand it hard on both the companies and other potential sponsorees actually motivated to provide value. Be honest with yourself about your commitment before sending annihilation off.

Understand your value

This is simple. What exercise you have to offer? Simply aspirations or dreams won't cut it; those requests come up in droves every twenty-four hour period and quickly overlooked. Unless yous have something unique to leverage, you'll probably need to go your vehicle started with your own funds to make an touch on and separate it from the masses. Social media post-obit is a major deciding factor for brands, and so start as soon as yous can.

It doesn't demand to exist a vehicle specific page, but yous demand to dedicate time to growing it. Use tags and hashtags, endeavor other websites and social media outlets. What else are you bringing to the table? Professional photo/video? Exercise you accept your own gear? Written content? Practice you accept a website? Are y'all tracking traffic? The more tangible benefits, and less hypotheticals, the improve.

Find the right contact

Some companies make information technology piece of cake and take sponsorship asking forms on their website. If not, you lot'll demand to sympathize the structure of the visitor. The larger the company, the further abroad from the top you lot need to start. For minor businesses, the possessor may be the correct contact, but for national or global companies, a marketing coordinator or similar may be better.

A combination of Google-fu and LinkedIn goes a long way. Some brands may part of larger, parent companies, and the contact you need may be within that organization. Find a name, try to detect the company'due south email format or just telephone call up their headquarters and ask for it. There's no ane correct way to get in bear upon, but email is typically the most effective nowadays.

Nether promise, over deliver, and accept examples ready

If your head is in this for the long-term, don't give them a five-year-plan. Outline deliverables you believe are immediately actionable. This tin can be a written review article if you have a website, a certain number of produced photos and videos, etc. Exist conscientious not to promise the moon but to go their attention – it volition catch upwardly to you.

Be prepared to show whatever previous work. Again, you may need to develop the first step on your ain to found yourself. If written content is a medium yous'd similar to develop, buy a product or 2 and share your opinions. Creating a blog site and article costs nix but time. If it's media, throw your best work on Instagram and tag any companies featured in the pictures. Attempt to become shared or featured to expand your footprint. Every additional share and impression helps.

Offset impressions are everything

Whether it's a phone call or email, you take a modest opportunity to make an impression with the decision maker. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who gets tons of requests, both legitimate and bogus, and how to win their attending speedily. Have your shit together. Brevity is primal, and some marketing buzzwords tin't hurt. Quantify as much you tin. Evidence them why they should invest with you lot. They're looking for valuable, and mostly – independent, render on their investment.

They desire YOU to provide initiative, gumption, direction. The more confidence and accountability you lot show in your initial plan of attack, the meliorate shot you lot have. If you accept the correct plan, y'all're making their job easier.

Determination

These are just a few of my main takeaways from a decade of hard-learned lessons, and hopefully this helps get you started on the right track. Keep in listen different companies have different fiscal years, and budgets can "reset" at different times of the calendar twelvemonth. And even if you boom all of the above, success isn't guaranteed. Exist relentless but calculated. If they say no with suggestions on comeback, bookmark that sucker and write dorsum when y'all've improved. Good luck!