How to get businesses to support your ocean rowing expedition, part 1
About the author: Chris Shirley MA FRGS
A former Captain in the Royal Marines, Chris has been an advisor on the BBC’s High Risk and News Safety team, has led the risk management function in an international media charity, and has been an international disaster responder with Re:Act for a number of years.
He holds a master’s degree in business management, has travelled in over 60 countries, is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), is a Guinness World Record holder, has rowed across the Atlantic in a 5-person team, completed the Marathon des Sables, Ironman triathlons, and many ultra-distance events.
This is a subject close to our hearts, so felt it necessary to break into two pieces to allow people to digest it before moving on to part 2.
Ocean rowing expeditions are notoriously expensive, with the average project cost being well over £100,000 before you even start the challenge. With that in mind, most ocean rowing expeditions can only happen with some support from businesses, whether that’s financial backing or equipment donations. But these only happen if the business sees a ‘Return on Investment’ (RoI – remember this term and the acronym, it’s important when talking to businesses!) for their support to your project.
We’ve had lots of ocean rowing teams on our stage giving their insight into how they made this remarkable adventure happen, so combined with our own experiences of rowing 3500 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in 2017, this is our updated advice on how to best make it happen.
1. Decide your team’s name
This is perhaps the hardest part of getting your expedition funded – as it orientates the entire personality of your branding.
Make the logo too obscure and your entire branding will confuse people. Make it hard to read or unrelated and it may not land well enough with your preferred businesses (see this article on cognitive dissonance).
The advice from our branding partners, Haus of Hiatus, is to make it short and memorable, using some alliteration if you get stuck. Ocean rowing teams often use a play on words (often using something with ‘oar’ or ‘sea’ in it), metaphors or rhyming words.
It’s worth checking social media (specifically Instagram) to see if your team’s name is available (and not already in use by another team). Try not to go with the first idea that comes into your mind and consult people who have no control over the name, so you generate a good range of ideas. Go with the best, but don’t be afraid to change it if the situation changes or you find something more appropriate.
2. Get a good logo that’s free of any copyrights (very important - check why in part 2)
The next part of the puzzle is to get your logo sorted. It should be optimised for mobile phone, ideally – as your campaign will rely heavily on social media, where you’ll want to maximise on rapid recognition.
Making it too complex will limit its impact when reduced to a small size. A good graphic designer should be able to research what other options are out there so your unique selling proposition (USP) has impact when you reach out to the marketing managers (more on this further down). It’s important to realise that the businesses with the most marketing budget may get pitch decks from other ocean rowing teams before you, so it’s worth investing in a quality logo to prevent it being ignored. It’ll also come with the full copyright to use as you wish (such as printing or embroidering on team apparel).
If you’re thinking of using images found on the internet, do remember that you’ll need a copyright to do so, otherwise you risk a big invoice or potentially getting a cease-and-desist letter asking you to stop using it. Which could prove fatal if you’d spent a lot of money on branded merchandise to sell or give to your supporters, which you then have to change!
Imagine you’re the business that you’re trying to approach, you show them a logo that’s low resolution and amateurish, it doesn’t bode well when you ask for financial support or gear to make the expedition happen.
A completely bespoke logo won’t cost a lot from our creative partners, Haus of Hiatus, message them to ask and they’ll get you looking fantastic for approaching businesses for support.
An example logo for an ocean rowing team made by creative partner, Haus of Hiatus
3. Secure the account on social media channels as soon as possible
Get your social media account moving to generate buzz! High quality photos and videos are preferred, it’s worth getting some content on there to establish yourself. Furthermore, start following all other ocean rowing teams as well as the race providers to stay informed, and businesses that you’ve got a connection to and are involved in ocean rowing (like dehydrated food providers, waterproof clothing companies, gear manufacturers – take a look at our kit list article here for ideas).
4. Commission some high-quality photos of the team
Next, invest in some high-quality training photos and headshots for your website and pitch deck – it’ll increase the chances of the business saying yes to your requests!
There is nothing worse than when a team has got a great looking logo, a cool team name and epic brand personality, only to ruin it with blurry and out-of-focus images taken from a friend’s mobile phone (that blow everything out of proportion with its mildly telephoto lens, but we’ll dive into that in another article)
5. Get a website built
This is hugely important, as not all businesses or marketing managers are on social media yet. The website makes you look like a professional project and less like a scam (which is something the first suspicion when marketing managers are approached by people with poor visual toolkits).
If you’re confident you can build one that looks good – then get a domain name and get going. Failing that, speak to a professional creative agency and they’ll get you set up at a small cost.
Example business cards for an ocean rowing team made by creative partners, Haus of Hiatus - note the simplicity.
6. Get some business cards printed
There is nothing worse than when you’re giving an enthusiastic ‘elevator pitch’ and it ends with you realising you’ve got nothing with your email address, team name or logo on.
It means the lead then has to search through social media or a search engine trying to find you – even harder if your team name has ‘oar’, ‘sea’ or ‘Atlantic’ in just as every other ocean rowing team is likely to have.
7. Get a professional pitch deck made
Now that you look like a credible project and not like a scam, you can start approaching companies to discuss how you might work together.
Fundamentally, businesses rely on marketing efforts to raise their profile with their target demographic. Therefore, if this is something you can prove you’re able to do, you’ll increase your chances of success.
The gatekeeper to the marketing budget that will help make your expedition happen, are the marketing managers, and they get requests like yours every single day – so be sure you stand out for the right reasons!
Before you approach, be sure to do your research. See if they’re already aligned with ocean rowing teams or expeditions, as this may mean you have to approach in the next financial year.
The time of year you approach is also important as budgets are most flexible to new projects in quarters 1 and 2 of the financial year (April to September)
An example pitch deck for an ocean rowing team made by creative agency, Haus of Hiatus
