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Use the research that other organizations have done before you to help give you an edge. If you are looking for a special event sponsorship for a walk or running event, look at other runs in your area and look at who the sponsors were. This could be a good place to start. If your event is athletic in nature, consider Nike, Adidas, Livestrong, and other sports-related organizations as possibilities. If you're holding a music event or concert, consider local radio stations, music publications, and other ventures that have similar interests. If you're holding a food event, consider Gourmet magazine, the Food Network, and other big food conglomerates. Aim high. A big list of potential sponsors is great, but you don't want to simply ask every person and company that you know to be a sponsor. Your list needs to be a list of actual potential sponsors, meaning people or companies that you think will actually consider your sponsorship request. Include companies that have been sponsors for you in the past, companies that have sponsored other ideas similar to yours and people or companies that you have a personal connection with that would be able to be a sponsor. Having background information on the potential sponsor will go a long way in helping you gain a sponsorship. Look for reasons why it would benefit the potential sponsor to sponsor you. If you learn the demographics, business model, and the goals of your potential sponsors, you can start developing some sense of the way you might pitch the sponsorship. For this reason, more localized businesses are often a safer bet than larger corporations like Nike. While Nike's certainly got the coin to throw around, they're also probably getting several hundred sponsorship requests in a given week. The local radio station or sporting goods store? Probably much less. And if your customer base overlaps, that's potential earned income for them. Consider leveraging potential sponsors against one another. If one sporting goods store from the West side of town has already pledged at a certain level, mention that to the sporting goods store on the East side of town. They'll get the hint.
Look for companies that sponsor other events or activities similar to yours. Create a list of potential sponsors. Research every company or person on your list. Anticipate the needs of each potential sponsor.