I recently opened up an anonymous survey/feedback to our Instagram followers asking why they seek sponsorships. The main takeaway points from the survey results were:
- that a lot of younger riders in fact don’t really understand the concept of what a sponsorship actually involves
-that the motivations for seeking sponsorships range from wanting free stuff to “clout” bragging to friends and it looks good on their profile.
Some of the responses were followed by some vague talk of watching a business grow and promoting it. There were two or three responses by people who understood what sponsorship is all about and provided some good information. Anyway back to part two….
Like part one, the tone of this post will be casual and reflect our main audience. This will be speaking from the perspective of Equine eats n’ Treats, our experiences, and how we run our sponsorships/Ambassadors
Businesses generally have a budget set aside for marketing, at EENT we have a set quarterly budget and this includes any product for sponsored riders, advertising, sponsored shows, etc.
A reminder that Sponsored riders/Ambassadors and The business is a two-way relationship. We’re not here just to send people free stuff because they want it. Sometimes it feels like offering sponsorships and ambassador places is demanded of us and thats not exactly fair when people want it for the wrong reasons
What's the difference between a brand ambassador and a sponsored rider? And what do you look for?
Businesses are all different in how they approach this, so for this, I will just be speaking on how we do things at EENT.
Sponsored Rider :
- Sponsored riders for us, are most importantly, Long-term customers. They know our products extremely well, and they know that they like them.
They are competitive riders or are people well-known in their local equestrian communities. (or both)
-They have dedicated social media for their equestrian stuff, present it professionally, and work at growing and maintaining that social media presence. They are expected to show great horsemanship and sportsmanship both online and irl while they are sponsored and be a good role model for younger riders
- Sponsored riders receive products periodically (we aim for every quarter if we can) - or if they are visiting our trade stand at an event we just let them take stuff
They also have the opportunity to get more products by promoting the business and driving website sales with their discount code. When their code gets used a certain number of times we send them products up to a certain value. Sponsored riders also have a separate discount code for their personal use on the website.
-They also send us photos and videos of their horses using the products for us to use (with credit to them), as well as using them for their own social media promotion of the products. They engage with our social media posts and we engage with theirs.
Ambassadors -
- Once again they are long-term customers or long-term supportive followers. They are usually riders who are really active on social media and use all social media platforms and tools available to their advantage ( reels, TikTok, photos, stories, etc).
They are riders where we see good engagement, and growth potential in their social media and see that they have the ability to promote our products well. They should also be riders who are dedicated to growing and maintaining their social media presence.
-We also expect ambassadors to show great horsemanship/sportsmanship online and irl while an ambassador
- Rather than receiving free products on a set basis like the sponsored riders, ambassadors are expected to drive website traffic and sales to our website by sharing their discount code. When their code gets used a certain number of times they will then receive free products. They also get a special code ( with a higher discount) to use for their own purchases.
-We ask them to send us photos/Videos if they receive free products (content used with credit to the rider) and also ask for them to share products on their social media.
- We also expect them to engage with our social media and we engage with theirs.
Being an ambassador puts you on our radar for potentially becoming sponsored one day. It's not guaranteed but we have had ambassadors become sponsored riders in the past.
That is a general Run down on what the difference is between Sponsored riders and Ambassadors for Equine eats n’ Treats.
In Part 3 we will answer the last 2 questions,
How do I ask?
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