Well not when you are able to get some or all of your tour expenses sponsored. No I don’t mean you need to wrangle with major beer companies or try to talk with those huge corporations who slap
their logos on t-shirts and splash their celebs all over TV ads.
On the contrary, I’m talking about starting with local businesses and organizations.
Does this take some work? Absolutely!
Is it worth your time and effort? You bet!
I want to teach you how to work with logical, well chosen potential sponsors. You’ll learn how to create your pitch, design your benefits and incentives and win loyal supporters to help you defray the costs for your tours and other projects.
Let me help you add some additional income streams to your yearly bottom line and make your tours even more profitable.
There are methods and strategies to it all and I want to share those with you so you may use this for the rest of your touring career, no matter the market, no matter where or when.
These are timeless techniques that will serve you well for your entire career. Why not start using them as soon as possible?
You’ll hear about one student and client who added $1000 to a festival gig from his car dealer and another who had a year long sponsorship to play farmer’s markets from an international web site company.
I wonder what you can come up with?
Module 7 of the How to Book Gigs and Tour Profitably
is all about Sponsorships: Additional Income Streams.
I’d love to share this valuable information with you so join me for the premier session of the new video course. Don’t miss this opportunity to work with me and learn how to book more gigs, book better gigs and get paid more money.
Many years ago for several years I did a music program at senior communities (nursing homes, assisted living centers etc). Now don’t get ahead of me…this type of work is often regarded as limited as a place people sing for free, for church groups or frankly for folks that aren’t very good or can’t get a gig anywhere else. While there might be a thread of some truth in that- during this time and to this day I’ve kept a stable of fairs, theaters and specialty events on the schedule at the same time. Though my days of singing at senior communities have been behind me for many years I did employ some simple strategies in regard to “sponsorship” to cover costs when traveling.
You see, I rotated about 500 facilities a year sometimes visiting 3-4 a day as often 3-5 days a week. (Most we ever did was 7 in a day! (Friday before Christmas) I had it ramped up on steroids. Even developed a course on it. At its peak- a person to drive, and a work-from-home person on the phone booking dates. (If you’re out working dates, you can’t be on the phone keeping your schedule full.) Point is- most facilities were paying $100-$150. (Specialty events, more). Sometimes billing was 30 days, sometimes a lot longer. Rarely did they pay on arrival. (Very corporate mindset- they treated you like the bread vendor.) Routings were good. But travel 2 hours from your home base and not get paid that day and you’re still out gas and meals.
Here’s the point- local/regional restaurants and businesses when approached for nominal amounts often don’t hesitate to help. Gift cards for meals and gas. $10-$100 each. These amounts are small when we think of “sponsorship” but if you have a person on the phone getting it done it ads up quick. I found that locally headquartered regional/national chains worked best- Krogers, Skyline Chili, Wendy’s, Frisch’s, Pizzas. (I’m in Ohio.) They would often send free meal coupons- sometimes a dozen or more. It’s not charity, though they appreciated what we were doing…They wrote it off as advertising. Each one is a meal you don’t have to purchase…Your job? Eat healthy. Even fast food has healthy options. Some local businesses would do gas cards. Hotel was hardly needed but in a few cases that was comp’d too. I developed a mentality about it, “Think Smaller.” And there are many ways to give back to the companies…though none of them asked for anything…mention them at your show- tweet/fb/instagram a picture of your lunch or mention where you ate. (Not a commercial- just include it in telling people what you’re doing and where you’re at.)
Jeri’s book was incredibly valuable during the time I was ramping this up.
Best part was – you’re in and out in 45-60 minutes, no drunks, no heavy equipment and these people love you – and you’re doing a good thing.
So think smaller when it comes to covering your costs. I’ve done things where sponsorships were 1, 3, 10,000 and more. Those can take some work and not every situation is a fit for those…and companies that can do that are fewer and harder to get and have to have a ‘bigger reason.’ Think smaller.