We encourage clients to seek sponsors for their Resources site. Clients have turned to local banks (particularly Wells Fargo), financial planners, the United Way, utilities, and other organizations who want a visual presence with local businesses or who like this way of giving back to their community. We can put sponsor logos/ads (including a hot link to their website) near the top of the homepage and on every main page of your Resources site. This can be one logo or a different logo for each section. If you have more than one sponsor, the logos will rotate. We do not charge a fee for any of this.
You decide how much to charge and do anything you want to with the funds. That is entirely your decision.
We happy to do demos for a potential sponsor or a group of sponsors. One approach is to bring a group of potential sponsors into your office for a demo of The Resources. Having synergy can help raise new capital. We usually put a rotating sponsor box in the upper right panel of every page. You decide how quickly the rotation happens. The width is between 200px and 300px. You send us the sponsor logos and the web address for a link. We will resize them to fit within your Resources. We are happy to consider other options.
We are exploring national and statewide sponsors who could contribute to multiple sites. Let us know if you are interested in this option.A number of our clients have brought in partners to help share the cost of The Resources/Tools. One client had 12 partners! Some of the best combinations have included the chamber of commerce, Small Business Development Center, City, County, multiple counties, college or university, and the local library system. Multiple private sector companies also make great partners. We can incorporate multiple names or images into the top of your homepage.
Several of our clients have received grants from state, local, and regional organizations to pay for their Resources/ Tools subscription. In a number of cases, the client also included funds for their own marketing efforts – to market all their business assistance resources and services, not just The Tools/Resources. We can help supply text for these grants. Several clients have applied for and received grants that funded three or four years of The Resources/Tools
If you recommend The Resources to another organization, and they subscribe to and pay for our service, you receive a $300 referral bonus on your next invoice. You will also receive $150 every year that you and that organization renew your subscriptions. You do not need to do a demo or close a deal. All you do is talk to the other potential hosts about the Resources and encourage them to talk with us. You give us their contact information, and we will do the rest.