How Do I Get Sponsored?

Since 2011 I have been involved one way or another with Immersion Research Europe. One of the tasks I still carry out is helping to select which paddlers will represent the brand.

I regularly receive many a sponsorship request from kayakers. Some of these requests are absolutely outstanding. Some are, sadly, laughable.

I thought I'd write down some stuff that is worth thinking about if you are planning on trying your hand at going for sponsorship deal. This is written with people trying to get their first deal in mind.

Thanks to Mat from Pyranha for looking this over and letting me steal some of his own thoughts.

This is pretty much the opposite of a sponsored kayaker.

Are You Good Enough?

There are so many people looking for a deal. Just because you have scraped down a low Dart or Etive, don't assume this automatically puts you in contention for a deal.

What will set you apart?

What do you aim to do over the next few years of your kayaking career? Have some sort of plan. Even if you don't end up sticking to it exactly, it'll make you have some goals.

Apply to Companies That You Want to Paddle For

I guarantee at some point, they will ask you why you want to use their products. You should probably have a few decent reasons and show some enthusiasm. Do some research.

Are you only after a one time deal? Do you not want to exclusively use this companies products?
Then perhaps you should just go to your local shop and try your luck sweet talking them.

Treat it Like a Job Application

I see so many emails that have spelling mistakes, poor grammar or no punctuation. I've also seen emails that do not say anything apart from 'Please give me stuff, I am poor/awesome'.

I did at one point get an email that didn't even ask for a deal on gear. The person just told me about themselves, the company they worked for and said they were looking forward to hearing from me. I had to go back them to check if they were actually looking for a deal or if they had emailed the wrong person about becoming an IR re-seller.

Stay on topic and professional. If you cannot take your application seriously, why should a company?

Make Your Email Interesting and Easy to Read

Introduce yourself. State what you have done so far in your kayaking, tell them what you hope to achieve next. Send them your best media (if you don't have any media then don't expect a positive response).

It doesn't have to all be about being the world's best kayaker. Do you do volunteer work to coach people or run events? That's cool too.

Make sure you get all this in the one email. No one wants to be pulling together 2 or 3 different emails just to see you selling yourself short.

What Can You Offer a Company?

This is basically the tipping point of the whole thing. If you get given a deal it is because a company thinks that you can help them increase their sales. That's it. Nothing else. At the end of the day it's business.

I have had someone actually argue with me that it was my job to offer him a deal in order to allow him to progress. Dude, really??

Read the Question

If you are lucky enough to hear back from someone then they might ask you to fill out a form or to answer some questions.

Please, please, please take the time to take in these requests and digest them. They are asking you these questions for a reason and don't want to discuss topics that are irrelevant to them.

Your Current Online Presence

It is a certainty that whoever looks at your application is going to look at your facebook and see what you have been up to with your kayaking. They will probably look at what kind of person you are and how you interact with people. If you act or look like a moron they will assume that you are a moron.

Post topless photos of yourself working out or get tagged in a multitude of photos of getting wasted? My interest is wavering.

Act like an idiot on facebook? You aren't doing yourself any favours.

Liking questionable links/pages? Would you let your Gran see this?

Don't Expect the Free Stuff to Start Flying In

There are actually very few sponsored kayakers that do get free stuff. And you can rest assure that these select people earn it.
A company will probably expect you to work your way up the ladder.
If you are only applying to get free stuff, then it will quickly become apparent that you are not really the kind of person that a company is wanting to work with anyway. 

A true pro. Keeping all the people happy.

Working with kayaking companies can be a lot of fun and I've met a lot of great people as a result of it. Just make sure it's for you before you dive in. There are certainly easier and quicker ways to get gear; like a job.