Patricia Hudak of Jersey City, New Jersey writes:
“I am a young entrepreneur and recent college graduate. I started my company, Real World 101, to help graduating college seniors transition from college to the real world.
“I’ve created an informational care package for college seniors that covers all of the topics they will face such as personal finances, career, apartment living, social life, health & fitness, travel & entertainment, and success after college. The package contains seven booklets (one for each topic), a multi-media CD of tools, and materials from colleges and corporate sponsors.
“My plan is to give the care package away for free to graduating college seniors and have it sponsored by companies that want to reach these students. However, that task is proving more difficult than I had anticipated. Do your Hounds have any suggestions on how I can gain corporate sponsorship for a new product that’s targeted to an untapped market?”
I’m interested in talking with Patricia about her project and sponsorship. Please contact me at tony at altusti dot com.
Thanks!
Look at who else is already marketing to that population, such as big financial planning companies, gasoline companies, recruiting firms, and cruise lines. Contact their marketing departments with your proposal. Be prepared to modify your package if they are interested in parts of it. In fact, it may serve the sponsors better to pull apart your package and provide pieces of it spread out over time to keep them in front of that audience longer.
Hi Patricia,
My first thought as an HR and business professional is, What are you including in the “Career” module of your package? And how is that helpful to the company you are approaching for sponsorship? It’s the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) part. More specifically, while new college grads are often very savvy in technology and more globally aware, employers are dismayed at their lack of work ethic, top salary expectations with little or no experience to back it, attitudes of ‘entitlement’, and weak written and verbal professional communication skills (text messaging doesn’t fly well in most corporate business settings). If those kind of skills are included in your Career module, those would be attractive selling points to businesses that are recruiting from the college of students you are targeting.
I think you should look at the “welcome kit” market … these ladies that bring care packages to people who move into the area. Darnit, I can’t remember the name of them right now, but I saw a whole feature on them on the news recently. I think they were in one of the Carolinas … can anyone help me out?
In any case, they just tapped into local businesses to provide the goods in the basket. But a proven program like this would demonstrate the effectiveness and need for this kind of project when you put together a corporate sponsorship package for your own market.
Good luck!
While your care package sounds like it is very nice, I wonder how the sponsorships are incorporated. Are you offering advertising in the booklets, or just to include some of their materials in the package?
In order for companies to truly get the benefit of sponsoring they will want their logo and contact information prominently displayed, not lost in a sea of other advertisers or added at the end. It is also important to ask companies to sponsor segments that relate to their business (i.e. accounting firm to sponsor personal finance section).
Also, I think you should consider an online version in lieu of the booklets. You could sell banner ads, have companies sponsor sections, etc. The key is to have the sponsorships seamlessly added so that the company benefits from being included. And the benefit of being online is that the information can be periodically updated.
Great idea!Try talking to the PR person in each of the industries you mentioned. Also, consider being a guest speaker at a local Rotary Club, Zonta Club or Womans Club. Members are all in business, good exposure for you. Good luck
I think that Patricia’s idea is a very good one. She could consider finding a sponsor for each section of her package from within the appropriate industry. For example, one of the major banks or accounting firms might sponsor the personal finances section. A major real estate firm (I believe you call them Realtors)might sponsor the apartment living section etc. It may pay to have them comment on or endorse their section of the package and then somehow include a list of all the sponsors and their comments as part of each package. The contact details of these “experts” may then become an extra source of referral for anyone using the package. Offering to include their names and contact details may also enhance Patricia’s chances of attracting sponsorship considering the potential size of her market.
I wish her well.
Sophie from Melbourne, Australia
Here’s an idea Patricia
I don’t know what you’ve done so far.
But see who’s currently sponsoring in
the college scene.
Research who their competitors are.
Approach current sponsors and their
competitors for either the WHOLE pack
you’ve got…
OR
approach sponsors specific to each
of the 7 topics you’ve got covered
in the pack.
Know it’s not easy. Hope that helps.
Keep it up!
Alex
=)
Christmas Island, Australia
Helping people Start Speaking Chinese in 58 Mins
And Almost remember it for Life
http://www.ChinaSpeak.com.au
Hi there Patricia…
Congrats! Great idea and great company name too.
1. Have you approached any banks? They are always on the lookout for new ways in which to reach graduates and would likley find your product a bright and practical new way with which to do this… especially since you are advising about personal finances.
2. If you can sell this as the care package for new taxpayers, most municipal governments (City Halls / Councils) might be willing to help get the word out or even fund a portion of the project. 🙂
3. Call to get invited to attend a Better Business Bureau in your city to present your project/product and ask for assistance in getting the word out… there may even be people there who may volunteer as a corporate sponsor.
Best of luck with this!
CRQ
The first thought that pops to mind is to narrow your focus in on companies that will also have an interest in this age group. Credit card companies, job search and placement services, bankers and lenders, etc..and then make sure your pitch is written in a compelling manner that emphasizes what you can do for the company. Placing their ad directly in the hands of their target customers.
Blog! Create a place online where you can interact with and share your ideas with college grads and young career enthusiasts. Offer portions of your programs as downloads. Spend the time to build a following for yourself and you’ll be better positioned to engage sponsors. You’ll probably even attract media and become a valuable resource, or you may get a book deal out of it or a radio show. Start talking today, now, right this minute!
First of all Patricia, congratulations on taking action on wanting to start a business. Many people dream but never do. I think it’s a good idea too.
My first question for you is what objections are you getting? It would help us as readers to know to be able to advise you more specifically. Also, if all you’re getting is a plain “no”, push a little harder for the “why”, otherwise you’ll be shooting in the dark forever.
Since I’m guessing at objections, the big one I can think of would be the sponsor doesn’t see clear benefits, and if you can overcome that one, many of the others go away.
For example, what is the student’s incentive to interact with the sponsor? Is there a coupon or other enticement to visit the store, website etc. or is the sponsor’s name simply on the packaging?
An incentive should be easy to include in the booklets themselves or the packet, and would yield results both you and the sponsor can quantify. When you have success with response, you then publicize that to other potential sponsors.
I hope that helps.
Cheryl Pickett
http://www.publishinganswers.com
Offer potential sponsors a way to interact with the students. Savvy marketers know that they have to do more than just slap their logo on an item to woo Generation Y consumers, so if this is all you’re offering sponsors, it may be a tough sell.
The good news is your product lends itself to an online presence and even to on-campus events. A website where sponsors can brand the different channels or a campus tour with games and activities that tie in to each topic not only give sponsors a way to connect to students, it promotes YOUR brand as well.