Seeking Sponsorship

Team GB Top

Team GB Top

As you’ve probably already read elsewhere on this blog, I have recently qualified for Team GB to compete in the 2012 ITU Age-Group Triathlon World Championships. These take place later this year in Auckland, New Zealand.

As you can imagine, travelling to Auckland to compete is going to be expensive. Not only are there costs associated with flights, accommodation, race entry fees and equipment, but many other costs will be incurred both during the event and whilst training for it. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity so I want to make the most of it, but it is likely to cost in the region of £6,000. The Team GB Tri-Suit that I have to wear costs £110 and the race entry fee is £280 for starters.

I will also be training and racing around the UK in the run up to the event in Auckland, all of which costs money, but is also an excellent opportunity for me to promote any businesses or individuals that want to sponsor me. I’m therefore looking for potential sponsors to help me achieve my dreams of competing for my country by entering into sponsorship deals that should offer mutual benefits.

To say I’m over the moon at qualifying for World Championships is an under-statement, I’ve put in countless hours of hard work and training and it has paid off. I obtained the top qualifying place of four available in my age-group at the British Triathlon Championhsips on May 27th which gained me a place on the British team. Now the hard work and training ready for the World Championships really starts, along with the fund-raising to get me there.

What will Sponsors get from the deal?

I’ll do my best to promote any company that helps me get to and compete in Auckland. I’m well known and respected in the local community and also in the online community and will advertise my sponsors wherever possible. Triathlon is a fast growing sport and its participants range enormously in age and backgrounds. As a 41 year old family man who has qualified to compete for his country in this exciting sport I feel as though I could be an ambassador for the sport and market my sponsors to a potentially lucrative market.

I’m a prolific blogger and have been blogging about my exploits for the past 7 years. My weblog, A Simple Life of Luxury, which you are probably reading now, currently gets around 10,000 visitors a month. I will continue to publish articles about my training and racing along with any other triathlon related topics up to, during and after the World Championships in Auckland and will mention any supporters in such posts.

I comment on many other blogs, forums and other online resources too and as a web developer and marketing assistant I am experienced at generating online exposure and promotion for companies. This is what I do for a living, so I’ll use those skills when promoting my sponsors. I will also write articles that I will try to get published in national magazines and local newspapers in order to get as much coverage as possible for me and in turn my sponsors.

I also run several other popular sports related websites and will mention sponsors on those where possible. Whenever I mention my sponsors online I will include a targeted, search engine optimised link to their website which will not only generate traffic to their sites but will also improve Page Rank and Search Engine Ranking for those websites.

I’m always posting on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/justal), Twitter and Google+ where I have a strong social network of people who hear about my exploits. I share training data in various places such as Garmin Connect, Strava and TriBlogs, have another blog at TriBlogs and generally have a very good online presence where my posts and comments reach and influence a wide range of people from all walks of life.

I’m also a member of and on the committee of many clubs and organisations where individuals get to hear of what I’m doing and will therefore also get to know about any sponsors of mine. Wherever I am, either online or in the real world, my sponsors will be prominent too.

As part of any sponsorship deal I’ll go out of my way to promote my sponsors through a wide range of channels. Through these I will be an ambassador for the sport of Triathlon and any sponsors that help me compete in it.

I hope you feel that I am someone that you would like promoting and representing your company and that you can find some way of sponsoring me. Larger sponsors will obviously get more coverage, but anything you can do to help would be appreciated. Please let me know if you can help and hopefully we can come to an arrangement that will be of mutual benefit.

You can find information about the ITU World Championship in Auckland here: http://auckland.triathlon.org/site

and more about the British Triathlon Teams here: http://tinyurl.com/cwkho94

If you would prefer just to help out with a small donation then I’ve set up a Fund within PayPal and you can use the button below to donate.

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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