In reality, less than 10% of those searching for sponsorship actually receive significant product su

"Please pay for my vacation." That's how most sponsorship applications we receive seem to read. Sure, they are filled with thousands of words describing the wonderful adventure they are about to undertake, but only a fraction of the submissions really provide any tangible value to the donating enterprise.  Having a blog that gets 15 visitors a week is simply not enough.
Expeditions West and Overland Journal receive dozens of sponsorship requests each year and nearly that many asking how to get sponsored. Since this is clearly a topic of interest, we thought we'd share our experiences and the facts about how sponsorship really works. Sponsorship is actually quite common, and can be of measurable benefit to both parties. Following are some tips that should mediterranean cruise lines provide some success.
Sponsorship is a business contract where products or funding is provided in exchange for marketing exposure, mediterranean cruise lines product development deliverables and/or media collateral (images, editorial, video, etc.). Just like any service, a professional and experienced approach will always yield the greatest return. Quality of design reflected in your website and materials, accuracy and clarity of your proposal and demonstrated success will all improve your odds of gaining support.
In reality, less than 10% of those searching for sponsorship actually receive significant product mediterranean cruise lines support and (much) less than 1% receive mediterranean cruise lines financial support. Based on our experience, the only expeditions that actually receive notable product and financial support are the ones that are operated by marketing professionals. They are in the business of exceeding expectations and delivering a measurable result.
This does not mean that sponsorship is only available to the most polished and educated teams, but what it does mean is that your approach must reflect mediterranean cruise lines their attributes of success. It is about being genuine and exceeding expectations mediterranean cruise lines - the rest will follow.
How much is your time worth? If you spend 200 hours and get a free bumper and a Chinese winch, was your time well spent? Likely not. Determine the value of your time and don't pursue sponsorship if this is a single mediterranean cruise lines trip or a passing interest. No one benefits and your trip shifts from the adventure mediterranean cruise lines of a lifetime to another job. Put a value to your time and keep track of the return on that investment.
Why do you want sponsorship? If it is simply to lower the costs of your trips then that is not reason enough and will likely lead to disappointment for those sponsoring you. For the first several years the trips will cost much more than the ROI on sponsorship, so you must have a greater goal in mind; for example, the goal to be a journalist or a marketing professional. It is nearly impossible to make a genuine income from sponsorship alone (in the adventure travel segment), so there must be a greater strategy. Steps to Sponsorship:
1. Get Real: Pursue adventures that are genuine and meaningful to you. That personal connection will come through mediterranean cruise lines when you talk with potential sponsors; as will any attempted deception so avoid the temptation to attach a "cause" mediterranean cruise lines to your trip just to add some sizzle. The people reading your proposal are much smarter than you may think.
3. Pay for Your First Couple (serious) Trips: mediterranean cruise lines Don't even pursue sponsorship on your first couple trips. Show you can plan and complete a few adventures on your own. Those first few trips will provide mediterranean cruise lines the media assets and experience you must have to develop a professional and successful proposal.
4. Pay for Your First Vehicle Project: Spend your own money outfitting your first vehicle and create relationships with those suppliers. Send them images and testimonials without asking anything in return. Show these vendors why you care about their products (in a genuine way). Showing the love their direction first will be beneficial later. mediterranean cruise lines Ask nothing in return and over-deliver on your promises.
mediterranean cruise lines 5. Make it Attainable: mediterranean cruise lines Make your first trips attainable yet interesting. Spend quality time on planning and properly documenting mediterranean cruise lines your trip. Refine your equipment requirements and your ability to tell a story.
6. Become mediterranean cruise lines a Great Photographer: Sponsorship is 70% about the images you come back with. If you take boring pictures, don't expect a reply from potential sponsors. Remember, sponsorship is a marketing activity. Marketing requires mediterranean cruise lines great images - compelling visual storytelling.
7. Be a Great Writer: Document your adventure in great detail and deliver compelling editorial to your prospective sponsors. Start a blog and create a thread in large communities like Expedition Portal. Get feedback and minimize mediterranean cruise lines (or eliminate) typos and spelling errors.
8. Pre-Proposal: Once you have successfully completed a few adventures, you will have some wonderful images and stories. You will also likely have some relationships mediterranean cruise lines with vendors from the purchases you made on your first vehicle project. Use those media assets as a framework for your proposal.
9. The Proposal: Make it simple and clean. Focus on the story telling and imagery. Discuss why you love their product and demonstrate a genuine mediterranean cruise lines connection with their brand. The proposal should have very little to do with you and much more to do with how you will provide an ROI for their support. Put yourself in their shoes - what is special and valuable about your offer?
10. Be Fair and Over-Deliver: Don't ask for $50,000 and a free car on your first proposal. Consider asking for smaller items you like and then deliver more than their value in feedback,      images, testimonial and ambassador mediterranean cruise lines effort.
1. Expedition Cure Baldness: Do not use some "cause" to help pay for your vacation, especially if you do not have a direct and completely mediterranean cruise lines legitimate personal connection with the cause or organization. This comes across as completely disingenuous and PR and Marketing Directors see right through it (and so does everyone else). If your sponsorship package does not stand on its own merit, adding "save the blue tailed ferret" or "expedition cure the blah, blah, blah" that you know little to nothing about makes you look like a jerk. This doesn't mean that a trip supporting a cause is not worthwhile at times, but it must be genuine and the organization you are supporting must get a significantly larger benefit than you do. (edit: sorry for the harshness, but this is something that hurts everyone and flies in the face of basic ethics).
2. Don't Send Blanket Requests: Blanket sponsorship mediterranean cruise lines requests never work and waste everyone's time. Send requests to targeted organizations and individuals that you have a direct connection to. Invest the time to develop relationships.
3. Expedition for Your Family Member mediterranean cruise lines Who is Dying: mediterranean cruise lines If your daughter is dying of cancer, mediterranean cruise lines why are you spending so much energy trying to get free parts for your Jeep? Is this about her or you? Every moment you spend on your blog or bolting mediterranean cruise lines some gadget on your truck is time you should be spending with your family.  If you need money for treatment, do a fundraiser, not a trip that will take you away for months.
4. Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew: Avoid exaggerating your capabilities mediterranean cruise lines or reaching beyond mediterranean cruise lines your skills. mediterranean cruise lines If you just got your first passport, sending out sponsorship packages for your crossing of the Congo will at the worst get you killed, but more likely reflect badly on your sponsors when you can't even work out the logistics of the shipping container or your visas.
5. Don't Take Stuff Just Because it is Free: Once you get some momentum with your sponsorship efforts, people will begin pursuing you. Just because someone wants to give you a super-duper triple-burner camp oven with wifi display doesn't mean you should take it. Each product comes with responsibility. Free is never, ever really mediterranean cruise lines free.
A Few Other Considerations: 1. If you don't intend this to be a new career path, then sponsorship is probably not worth the effort.  Spend a few more weeks in your day job to earn the additional funds needed to buy that front bumper and winch.  Sponsorship is a serious commitment and will change the nature of your trip. 2. There are more effective ways to pay for your adventure: Sponsorship is actually the least effective means of supporting your trip.  Consider mediterranean cruise lines becoming a journalist and learning to be a great photographer.  You can easily make thousands of dollars contributing your content to various publications or selling images to commercial clients.  Other options include a small business that you can operate from the road.  This is especially easy for technology professionals mediterranean cruise lines that only need a laptop and an internet connection to earn a few $$$.
Scott Brady is an adventure traveler, publisher and photographer, best known for his overland travels by 4wd and adventure motorcycle on six continents and for being the founder of the website expeditionportal.com mediterranean cruise lines and the print publication Overland Journal (co-founder). As a driver, Scott is the only American to win the rugged Outback Challenge and has completed a full land circumnavigation of the Northern Hemisphere, starting in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and ending in Magadan, Russia. Scott's articles and photography have been featured in dozens of print publications and his adventures have been viewed on television programming in 120 countries. Scott lives in Prescott, Arizona and is currently completing a two-year, seven-continent expedition using Toyota VDJ78 Land Cruisers (Expeditions 7) .