Week 9: Beat the Streets

In our meeting with Erin, the director of Barnabas Network, she emphasized that having more corporate sponsors is vital for their existence. This is a great idea and can be done. Yes, obtaining a large sponsor in any venture is significant to the survival and sustainability of that business, but it is significant for that business to make sure they have be familiarized by a large part of the community. That's why beating the streets is an important part of what can make a small venture as large as it wants to be.

The problem I have seen is that no one is really as familiar with the company. There is not enough wide spread knowledge about Barnabas throughout the community that helps build a strong reputation for this venture. The first thing a small company would say when approached by a representative of the company is "who?", more less the response of a larger one. What larger companies want when associated themselves with another venture is good press. Offering advertisement for that company is good, but there is not enough advertisement for that company if you have not put enough advertisement into yourself. With this beating the street is essential. The main reason why is education. The more people that are educated on your venture, the more referrals, the more clients, the more good press. But you have to be able to sustain yourself somehow in the mean time, so to do that you have to market within the community. Getting as many people interested in what you do and getting as many smaller companies donating to your cause, makes you more attractive to larger sponsors.