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Sponsorship
"He Who Lives Within his Means has No Imagination" |
Sponsorship: Securing Editorial Commissions
and Sponsored Travel Writing Trips
Find out how to secure assisted air travel and ground
arrangements by offering tempting sponsorship proposals.
‘He who lives within his means has no imagination.’
This quote is especially true of travel writing. Without sponsorship from airlines, tour operators and tourism authorities, the lot of the travel writer would be a very unprofitable one indeed.
If freelance travel writers had to pay their way all the time, the cost would be crippling. Example: Stephen Rothwell added up the total value of all his sponsored air and ground arrangements for the year 2000 alone, and it came to US$23,400. It really does add up, and when considering cruises and luxury tours or cruises the figures can blow out beyond all expectation.
Sponsorship is the key to ditching self-imposed or financial constraints, opening up a world of possibilities to co-operate with carriers, tourism authorities and tourism operators worldwide.
Gaining sponsorship eases the freelancer's financial burden, leaving them free to do what they should be doing: travelling, writing, taking photographs, marketing to publications.
Freelancers must be fully conversant with the corporate sponsorship paradigm, striving to offer potential sponsors tempting and relevant exposure within publications they want to be seen, in their target geographic areas and to the right demographic.
The marketing gurus call this, "Tailoring sponsors' brand values to key publications" but however you want to say it, the deal is about finding out what sponsors want, proposing a deal and making the whole project happen - from conceptualisation to follow-up. Sponsor-seeking freelancers have to be idea-mongering negotiators, considering the needs of the sponsor before those of their own. Only by offering and giving something valuable to sponsors will freelancers gain useful sponsorship deals.
This session explores and demystifies a wide variety of sponsorship issues, from simple press releases through to full-blown corporate proposals. This session will reveal a wealth of knowledge about
- Applying for sponsored airline tickets
- Working with tourism authorities and tourism operators
- Securing letters of intent (to publish) from Editors
- Moving on to securing writing and photographic commissions
Interviews with Editors, Airlines and Tourism Authorities offer valuable sponsorship insights and perspectives, revealing top sponsorship tips, including typical freelancer selection criteria.
In addition, detailed Guidelines For Sponsorship Applications are supplied, along with examples of sponsorship proposals that have been used - successfully - in the field!
A lot of budding travel writers become overwhelmed at the enormity of the world - their canvas - and where they ought to concentrate their efforts. Well it's simple really: don't follow the crowds, follow your heart! Have you ever sat down and made a list of the places you would love to visit? Probably not, because affordability is usually the first consideration.
In this way, the would-be traveller shoots him/herself in the foot by limiting the scope of what could be covered. Sponsorship, then, is the key to unlocking a rich resource of travel experiences beyond the reach of our wallets.
In order to seek sponsorship, you have to suspend belief and forget the cost of any trip, for the issue of cost is largely irrelevant to the decision-making or trip-planning process. Instead, you have to concentrate on making the trip worthwhile for your sponsors. This means giving your sponsors the RIGHT kind of media exposure - in the right geographic area and in the right kind of publications, targeted at the right sort of demographic. It's all about finding out what sponsors want, proposing a deal and making the whole project happen – from conceptualisation to follow-up.
Sponsors stand to score big when freelancers come along with good proposals. Once you learn to play the game according to the rules, you can engineer trips that are to your liking and that will appease your sponsors. Sponsorship really can be a win-win situation.
In order to consistently secure valuable sponsor support, the freelancer needs to be an idea-mongering middleman, thrashing out fresh promotional ideas that bring together parties with a possible mutual interest. As such, the freelancer's contributions as an independent thinker/marketer will be highly valued. If good marketing ideas are followed up with great article text and images, sponsors can be secured on a long-term basis and the freelancer can enjoy the status of a 'consultant' who can be relied upon to deliver cost-effective, excellent sponsorship opportunities. And that is how one should approach sponsors: with genuine opportunities, not self-serving 'flights of fancy'.
This session will tell you who to approach, how to approach them, when best to approach them and most importantly - what they are likely to require in the way of sponsorship solutions. Importantly, you will also learn how to balance the needs of both the publications (screaming out for fresh, vibrant copy) and the sponsors (whose needs are often more conservative). With practice and application you can engineer personalised itineraries that get you where you want to go, to cover the stories you want to cover.
| >>> Main Sub-Headings in Sponsorship are as Follows: |
SPONSORSHIP PERSPECTIVES: INTERVIEWS WITH EDITORS, AIRLINES AND TOURISM AUTHORITIES
A DIFFERENT KIND OF SPONSORSHIP: THE SPONSORSHIP OF INFORMATION
SPONSORSHIP POSSIBILITIES: A BRAINSTORMING TABLE OF COMPARISONS
WHO TO APPROACH FOR SPONSORSHIP: THE INITIAL CONTACT
HAVING THE RIGHT ATTITUDE
- THE RIGHT IDEAS:
- PREFERRED GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE
- PUBLICATION TARGETING AND GETTING THE RIGHT TITLES ON BOARD
- SECURING THE RIGHT DEMOGRAPHIC
ADHERENCE TO MISSION STATMENT AND THOROUGH FOLLOW-UPS
GIVE YOUR SPONSOR MORE
BALANCING THE NEEDS OF BOTH THE PUBLICATIONS AND SPONSORS
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRESS TRIPS, SPONSORED MEDIA TRIPS AND INDIVIDUAL SPONSORED JOURNALIST VISITS
WHAT DO THE AIRLINES WANT?
WHAT DO TOURISM AUTHORITIES AND TOURIST BUREAUX WANT?
WHAT DO EQUIPMENT SPONSORS WANT?
WHAT DO TOUR OPERATORS AND CORPORATE SPONSORS WANT?
WHAT DO THE PUBLICATIONS WANT?
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EDITORIAL INTEREST AND EDITORIAL COMMISSIONS
JUSTIFYING YOURSELF IN THE EYES OF A SPONSOR
PRESENTATION
WHY COMPANIES SPONSOR: THE DOLLAR VALUE OF SPONSORSHIP
SHAPING CONSUMER ATTITUDES
THE CHANGING NEEDS OF SPONSORS
HOT SPONSORSHIP TIPS
CALCULATING MEDIA VALUES FOR SPONSORS
PR COMPANIES - YOUR SPONSORSHIP ALLIES
WHEN TO TALK TO SPONSORS
WAYS OF FUNDING A TRAVEL WRITING TRIP
HOW TO MAXIMISE YOUR CHANCES OF SUCCESS WITH SPONSORS
THE HUMAN SIDE OF SPONSORSHIP
GUIDELINES FOR SPONSORSHIP APPLICATIONS
WRITTEN SPONSORSHIP PROPOSAL CONSIDERATIONS
AN EXAMPLE OF A CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION
AN EXAMPLE OF AN AIRLINE SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION
OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS: SESSION FOUR: SPONSORSHIP
Students will learn how to secure sponsored media trips and individually-tailored sponsored trips, while keeping both the tourism industry and the publications happy at all levels, from individual tourism operator sponsorship applications through airline and corporate proposals.
This session will also detail how one can secure letters of intent (to publish) from Editors in order to secure further sponsorship deals. It will also show how to secure writing and photographic commissions. |
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