How to Approach a Sponsor for the First Time

To approach a sponsor for the first time, ask for a short conversation, not a sponsorship. Contact the person who owns the budget through the channel they are most likely to answer, make the message about their brand, follow up a limited number of times, and use the first meeting to learn what they need before you send a proposal.

For building your prospect list first, see our guide to finding sponsors.

What should you do before you contact a sponsor?

Before you make contact, you need three answers: who decides, why this brand, and why now. If you cannot write each in one sentence, you are not ready.

• Who decides. Aim for the person who controls and approves the budget: a brand, category or channel manager at a large company, a regional marketing manager for a national firm's local sponsorships, or the marketing manager at a smaller business. Sponsorship managers and agencies are usually not the first people to target (Power Sponsorship).
• Why them. Check their current ads, recent social posts, website, media room and trade press (Power Sponsorship), and find an objective you can help with.
• Why now. A launch, a new branch near you, a sponsorship that has just ended, or a fixture that fits their calendar.

For research sources, see our guide to personalising sponsorship pitches.

Which channel should you use for a first approach?

Use a warm introduction if you have one, a short personalised email if you do not, and a phone call to follow up. In the UK, each channel has its own rules.

What should a first sponsor email say?

A first sponsor email should say who you are, why you picked them and what you could do for one of their objectives, then ask for a short call at a specific time. Sponsorship Collective recommends 50 to 125 words, no attachment, and a proposed date and time rather than "when are you free?" (Sponsorship Collective).

An example from a club to a regional building society opening a new branch:

Subject: Your new Northgate branch and matchday

Hi Sarah,

I saw you are opening the Northgate branch in March. Around 9,000 local fans pass our East Stand concourse every home game, many of them in their twenties and thirties.

I have mocked up how your brand could look on our concourse screens and LED boards (below). I would like 15 minutes to learn what you want the launch to achieve, so anything we suggest fits.

Could we speak on Tuesday 10 November at 10am?

Tom Hayes, Head of Partnerships

The names and figures are illustrative. Note what it leaves out: the word "sponsorship", any price and any proposal.

Hunter's analysis of 31 million cold emails sent by its users in 2025 adds evidence, though it is vendor data across all cold email, not sponsorship (Hunter, State of Cold Email 2026):

• Subject lines of five to six words had the best reply rates; "Quick question" underperformed (2.5% replies against 2.9% for other subject lines).
• Emails with two custom attributes got 5.6% replies, against 3.6% with none.
• Manually edited emails got 5.2% replies, against 4.4% fully automated.

What do you say on a first phone call?

On a first call, say who you are, refer to your email, give one reason you contacted them and ask for 15 minutes at a set time. Do not sell on the call.

For example: "Hi Sarah, it's Tom Hayes from the club. I emailed last week about your Northgate opening. Could I book 15 minutes to understand what you want the launch to achieve? Would Tuesday at 10 work?"

In the UK, a follow-up call to a business contact is still a marketing call. Screen the number against the TPS register (sole traders and some partnerships) and the CTPS register (companies, other partnerships and government bodies), plus your own do-not-call list, and do not call a registered number unless that business has specifically consented to your calls. Say who is calling, display your number, and give an address or freephone number if asked (ICO). The ICO notes this guidance is under review following the Data (Use and Access) Act. This is a summary, not legal advice.

If you hear "just send me something", offer a one-page outline and ask for ten minutes once they have read it (see the warning signs below).

Can you approach sponsors on LinkedIn?

Yes, but use LinkedIn to confirm names and warm up a contact rather than to pitch. Power Sponsorship finds it useful for checking names and titles but is "not convinced" LinkedIn messaging is a good way to introduce yourself (Power Sponsorship).

Connect with a short, specific note, engage with their posts, then make the real approach by email. Note and InMail limits change, so check LinkedIn's help pages first.

What if the brand only accepts proposals by form or email?

Follow the published process exactly, but still tailor what you send. The criteria also tell you whether to approach at all.

Barclays, for example, asks for your contact details and a very brief email summary: the name of the opportunity, a one-line description, the fee sought (inclusive of all taxes), the term, the sector and the territory. It replies only to opportunities that fit its objectives, considers team sponsorships only by exception, and does not consider properties with significant exposure for banking competitors or events starting within two months (Barclays). British Airways asks why you chose it and wants at least six months' lead time (British Airways).

Use the one-line description to show why them, treat these routes as lower probability, and look for a regional or brand contact too.

What happens in the first meeting with a sponsor?

The first meeting is a discovery conversation. Its goal is to be invited to submit a tailored proposal, not to close a deal (Power Sponsorship).

Advice on length ranges from about ten minutes (Power Sponsorship) to around 30 minutes (Cutting Edge PR) to about an hour in person (Sponsorship Collective). Aim for 20 to 30 minutes. Keep the overview of your property brief (Power Sponsorship), ask your questions, repeat back what you heard, and book the next step before you leave (Sponsorship Collective).

Prepare five to seven discovery questions (Sponsorship Collective), such as these drawn from Sport NZ's guide:

• What are your marketing goals and challenges over the next 12 to 24 months?
• What sponsorships have you done before, and how did they perform?
• When do you plan and set budgets?
• Are new products or regional expansion coming up?
• How are partnerships approved, and by whom?
• How do you like proposals packaged?

Do not bring a generic proposal or package deck; a short one-sheet is fine. If pressed on price, give a broad range such as "mid-five figures" rather than a firm number (Power Sponsorship). Brands do want an indicative cost early (ESA), and a range answers that without fixing a price before you know what they need. Send the tailored proposal a few days later; our guide to writing a sponsorship proposal covers what goes in it.

How many times should you follow up with a sponsor?

Follow up two or three times, and make each message add something new. In Hunter's vendor data, three-message sequences had a 6.8% reply rate against 3.3% for a single message, and longer sequences had lower average reply rates (Hunter). Power Sponsorship's rule of thumb is that if three voicemails go unanswered, the sponsor probably will not respond, and chasing further can look desperate (Power Sponsorship).

Good follow-ups bring a different mockup, a short video of their logo on your screens, or a relevant fixture.

After a meeting, send a thank-you summarising what they responded to, and if no timeline was agreed, check back in about three weeks (Cutting Edge PR). If there is no reply at all, stop, and consider a second contact at the company later.

How do you know a sponsor is not interested?

Power Sponsorship lists six signs: being told to "just send in a proposal", never hearing back, being referred from the brand manager to the sponsorship manager, to the agency or to the foundation, or being pointed to a submission form (Power Sponsorship).

None is a hard no. Thank them and ask whether you can get back in touch when their next budget cycle opens.

What does a memorable first approach look like?

The most memorable first approaches show the prospect their own brand as your sponsor before they have agreed to anything.

Chelsea's search for a replacement for Samsung as shirt sponsor included a personalised approach by Saatchi & Saatchi. According to the marketing blog Activative, 33 chief executives each received an aluminium briefcase containing a Chelsea shirt, a Premier League medal engraved with their name and an iPad showing a custom video of them as Chelsea's sponsor, and Saatchi said every CEO responded personally (Activative). Activative itself doubts that flattering a chief executive is how sponsorship decisions are really made. Chelsea's eventual shirt deal was a five-year agreement with Yokohama Rubber from 2015-16, reported at £200 million (Inside World Football), but no source links it to the briefcases, so treat them as an example of the approach, not proof that it works.

You do not need briefcases. Showing a prospect their brand on your assets is now far cheaper with good sponsorship mockups, and it is the clearest "why them" signal in a first email.

How Sportworks helps

Sportworks.io is the AI platform for sports commercial teams, built to create personalised sponsorship pitches, including branded mockups, activation images, videos and pitch decks, in minutes.

• Designs puts a prospect's logo on your kits, LED boards, stadium signage and social content, built from your own inventory photos with matching colour, sizing and perspective. That is the image in your first email.
• Video turns a Designs or Studio image into a short clip, such as their brand on your LED screens: a strong follow-up.
• Decks builds a personalised deck for each brand from your own template, ready to send after the discovery meeting. Deck tracking adds open notifications, per-viewer analytics and a slide-by-slide heatmap, so you can time your follow-up call.
• Scale generates personalised pitch assets for several brands or a whole industry in one run, with batch download and team sharing, built for outbound campaigns.

Birmingham City FC's Head of Partnerships says: "We can create personalised decks in minutes." Sportworks reports, from its own client data, 3x more conversions and 10x faster production (Sportworks customers).

FAQ

Should I attach a proposal to my first email?

No. Send a short email with one visual and ask for a conversation. The tailored proposal comes later.

Is it legal to cold call a business in the UK?

Yes, if the number is not on the TPS or CTPS registers or your own do-not-call list (or the business has specifically consented to your calls), and you say who is calling and display your number. Screen against both registers before you call. See the ICO guidance.

Should I mention price in the first conversation?

Not a firm price. If asked, give a broad range so they can judge fit, then price properly in the proposal.

Should I contact the sponsorship manager or the marketing team?

Start with whoever owns the budget and the objective you can help with, usually a brand or marketing manager. Being passed to a sponsorship manager can signal low interest.

Make your first approach count

Book a 30-minute demo to see a prospect's brand on your own inventory in minutes, or see pricing.