We’ve reached the point in the golf tournament process of initiating Sponsor recruitment and player participation. You’ve created Official Sponsorship packages and your Official Tournament Brochure. Now becomes the time to begin marketing your event. Depending on the targeted audience, sponsorship solicitation could start a year in advance. Most large corporation’s budget more than a year in advance and finding the right person to direct your communication to may take awhile. Even smaller local businesses budget on a yearly basis and you may need to get to them as early as possible for consideration. The good thing about local sources is that you approach them more directly and they would be able to measure the pay back with increased business exposure. Using the potential sponsor list that you created, The Tournament Committee should assign an individual to handle organizing and distributing those packages. The Club President should also make it a point during this time (at least 90 to 120 days out from tournament on your Timeline) to communicate to the Club membership that their help is also needed in securing sponsors. From businesses that they use to companies that they work for, friends and relatives. The more involvement the more potential sponsors. This needs to be an ongoing process during the whole time leading up to the tournament. Sending out Sponsorship packages becomes your eighth success point.
Registration forms for the tournament should start to go out to all of the Club membership 45 to 60 days prior to the event. This can be accomplished in multiple ways, from emailing the Tournament Brochure and then following up with handing out the Official Tournament Brochure at practices and games. The Tournament Committee must always have an ample supply on hand to pass out. Visiting local area golf courses and leaving applications is another opportunity to advertise to golfers that are not familiar with your group. Beginning to register players for the tournament is your ninth success point.
At this point, you will need to begin doing a couple of administrative duties for post-tournament use. Begin developing a Tournament Participant Thank You letter which can be generic in nature and signed by the Club President. Also a Tournament Sponsor Thank You letter addressed to the individual sponsoring and signed by the Club President. As the Tournament registration forms and sponsorship packages start returning, begin building your database. You will be using this to send out post-tournament thank you letters to all players and sponsors. If your sponsorship packages addressed this, plaques for yousponsors should be made during this time as well. Attention to the small details is important and lets the sponsors know that you are appreciative of their donations. Completing your Thank you letters and plaques are your tenth success points.