As some of your may or may not know, I’m running an $800 contest at the moment. This isn’t a shameless plug for it though. Today I want to run over how I got the prizes I did in the pool and how you can get prizes for your own contests.

Friends and Family

This one is basic. These are the people closest to you. You’re friends online or in real life, and your family. These are the people that feel a strong tie to you and more likely than not will be happy to give something to a contest of yours. These should be the first people you ask.

The reason that they should be first is to kick start your prize pool. Sponsors like to sponsor with others. If you have some prizes in there already, there is a greater chance of another sponsor joining in. We can point out the giant contest at WinningtheWeb. It started out with over $5000 in the prize pool, and snowballed to over $14,000 in the pool at the end.

Social Networks

Networks should be tapped next. Entrecard and other social networks are great to mass send sponsorship messages with. You’d be surprised the number of replies you get. Remember, no prize is to small. If you get a lot of smaller prizes, you can just bundle them into something a winner of your contest will really like.

The success I had with Entrecard was huge. All I did was compose a message to the general public and send it to people’s inboxs that I thought would like to sponsor my contest. I got quite a few great sponsors that way.

Corporations

I know they’re scary, but they are also a viable option. The worst answer you can get for asking is silence and/or a no.

If you’ve already tapped social networks and your friends and family you should have a decent prize pool already. This will show the corporation you have community backing and make them more inclined to donate to your contest.

Remember, be professional when dealing with larger companies. If you are and ask really politely, there is a chance they will give you something.

My personal example is Affiliate Summit. I had never talked to them before and sent a long shot email. As a result I got a free $99 floorpass to give away. I didn’t expect it, but it just goes to show what can happen when you dare to try.

Yourself

Finally, if you’re prize pool isn’t that big you can bump it up personally. Have any cash, services or anything else you can give lying around? Chip it in. It should help grow your prize pool, but since we’re talking about gaining sponsorship rather than sponsoring it yourself, I’d recommend doing this as a last resort.