The Internet is full of people trying to get their message out. Unfortunately, there are so many people "talking" that it is hard to be "heard" above the din.
What if you could find a few select clients who actually want what you have to sell? Let's look at how to do that.
During the Gold Rush, one of the sure fire ways to make money was not to pan for gold. Rather it was to sell supplies to gold miners. There were no guarantees that anything good would happen when you struck out looking for gold. But as long as the Rush lasted, if you sold mining supplies, your customer base was guaranteed.
So a lucrative source of sponsors would be groups of people who are trying to get their voices heard on the Internet. Here's the strategy, first prove that you can attract eyeballs to what you are doing by attracting would be sponsors. Tell them that they can take advantage of being on the #1 slot on a web page that is ranked #1. Tell them that you will get them rank #1 traffic without rank #1 cost. You will do it with volume. You will buy the advertising and media slots. Your sponsors just need to come up with a fraction of what the #1 slot would usually cost.
You can make this situation as cheap or expensive as you want and you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. You can hire IT guys and/or advertising guys or you can go to an existing company that provides those products and services for you.
One of the advantages of Internet is that there is always something new coming along. Pay attention to any well financed new technology that has not really hit the street yet. They may be willing to sponsor something just to get their name out. You want to get the next Twitter before everyone talks about it and to get to the next MySpace before it goes pass.
Speaking of pass technologies, you might get some sponsorship from Internet companies that are longer the latest thing but who are looking to get back in the Saddle. There are many places you can get this kind of information and it is best to cultivate your own sources. To get you started you might try, Google, Digg, Propeller, Technorati, Twitter, Delicious, FaceBook and MySpace. Look for forums having to do with what is hip, hot and happening. Look for the best thing no one has ever heard of.
I have found articles that list the top 50 Internet sites to be interesting. After the top 10 sites you will often find that sites 11-50 might be the coming thing. Contact them and see if they are interested in sponsoring your event.
Another alternative way to find sponsors it to give away a useful CD at every garage sale and Laundromat the city. Useful is in the eye of the beholder so maybe you should giveaway two CDs. One with free computer games and the other with free open source office software. Build commercials for your business into the software in an entertaining and unobtrusive way. Remember what you are seeking here is quantity. A large number of people who can contribute relatively small amounts of cash to your sponsorship pool.
Finally, write to, call and email all the open source software companies you can Google on the Internet. Let them know you need sponsors on a large event at which they can give away all the free software they want. You may need to rent booths and make sure there are power and Ethernet outlets.
As an alternative, set up a Wi-Fi hotspot and advertise that you are giving away Internet connectivity and an entire office full of open source software for free. So people can drop buy and log into the Internet for free and get a free Linux operating system as well as free spreadsheet and word processing software. This should get you some attendance which in turn should get you some sponsorship from open source software companies. If you can tie in with a school or company that trains chefs or a catering company that wants to get people to sample its wares, you can give food away as well.
A final tip, find people and organizations that are eager and maybe even desperate to get known and give them a way to be seen. You don't need them to pay you for the privilege, you just need them to do what they do for free-for the publicity. Community colleges and vocational schools can be full of such people and organizations.