How Indoor Playground Owners Can Secure Sponsorships from Local Businesses: A Step-by-Step Guide

Two of the biggest roadblocks we face as indoor playground owners are funding and sustaining cash flow- right? We need the money to get our business started and we need money to keep our business running.

And one tactic to help overcome either or both of these roadblocks that I feel is pretty underutilized is business sponsorships. 

But what are business sponsorships? Typically, what I mean when I say this is an arrangement where you, the indoor playground owner, receives money (either a one-time sum or some recurring amount) from another business or organization to either go towards your start-up costs or towards business operations.

And these arrangements can come in MANY different forms which of course we will get into throughout this episode but basically it is a way for us as owners to tap into an entirely NEW source of revenue- B2B or business-to-business sales.

We often think of indoor playground and play cafe businesses as entirely B2C or operations that are entirely business-to-customer sales focused. But I love tapping into the B2B sector for a few reasons:

1. Diversified Revenue Streams
• Relying solely on individual customers (families) can be limiting, especially during seasonal slowdowns and difficult economics, such as the one we are currently facing, at least here in the US. B2B sales introduce new, more predictable revenue streams, such as corporate sponsorships or partnerships with schools and local businesses, which helps balance out the highs and lows of foot traffic.
2. Higher-Value Transactions
• Businesses are often willing to spend more on events, bulk bookings, or partnerships compared to individual families. For example, one month of business sponsorship in return for advertising space can bring in significantly more revenue in a single transaction than typical daily play sessions. Businesses often have significant marketing budgets set aside for the partnerships we are going to discuss today, and many are just waiting for a mutually-beneficial opportunity to come across their desk or inbox. There is truly SO much opportunity here. 
3. Increased Brand Exposure
• B2B partnerships can also introduce your business to a wider audience. For example, partnering with a local business can of course benefit them, but it also exposes your brand to their employees, clients, and network, driving more awareness and potential customers to your playground.
4. Steady, Recurring Income
• B2B sales often lead to long-term contracts or recurring deals. Schools, daycares, or corporate clients may engage in sponsorships monthly or annually, providing a reliable income stream that helps with cash flow planning.
5. Leverage Existing Resources
• B2B sales can allow you to make better use of your space and staff. For example, if you have a TV but don’t want to expose the playing kiddos to screen time during open play, you can rent out advertising space on that TV to local businesses for a monthly fee. If you have empty wall space you can easily charge for signage to be placed advertising a complimentary business. Or you can do what I did and allow individuals or businesses to name one of your play houses for a year at a time. We charged hundreds of dollars for this since it was such a high-traffic portion of our space , yet the cricut sign we put up cost us just a few dollars to create and install. This funding tactic can be very low-cost to execute and highly beneficial for you financially.
6. Potential for Networking and Collaboration
• B2B sponsorships often lead to other opportunities, such as private rentals, co-branded events, or other partnerships. These collaborations can expand your playground’s offerings and create additional marketing opportunities.

And honestly I feel so strongly about the topic of leveraging B2B sales in a business like an indoor playground so while this episode is going to focus solely on sponsorships, in a follow-up Profitable Play Podcast episode I am going to give you even more ways to take advantage  of B2B opportunities in your area to soak up even more of the benefits we just went through.

Especially because I KNOW times are tough right now. Even though play spaces where I live in New York are gearing up for their busy season, spaces down south are bracing for a major slow down as their weather becomes more favorable to outdoor play and gathering. 

Preparing for and navigating things like slower seasons and economic slow downs are critical factors to an indoor playgrounds long term success, and because I believe tapping into these B2B opportunities is often overlooked or placed on the back-burner, I knew I had to give you even more of this content, so stay tuned for that. And I did try and sprinkle some extra out-of-the-box ideas here as well.

But right now, let’s talk about business sponsorships. You’ve heard how they can benefit your business and I gave you the 30,000 foot definition, but let’s talk about what these actually look like in real life as well as my best tips to secure them successfully.

So first I am going to give you some examples of different types of business sponsorships, then we will move onto my tips on how to actually get people to say yes.

And let’s start with PRE-OPENING sponsorships first.

Because initial build-out of an indoor playground requires a substantial investment. There’s no way around that and there’s no sugarcoating it. From playground equipment and safety surfacing to marketing materials and launch events, costs can add up quickly. Sponsorships can ease these financial burdens while fostering strong community connections.

1) Play Equipment Sponsorship

This is where, pre-opening, you would create tiered sponsorship packages with varying levels of visibility and perks. For example, a business that sponsors a major piece of playground equipment (like a slide or climbing wall) could receive premium placement of their logo, while smaller sponsors could be featured on safety signage or promotional materials.

If you are creating a playscape similar to a village where there will also be a market, maybe a vet office or doctors office or dress up area or something similar– reach out to local businesses in those categories to see if they’d like to sponsor those specific set-ups or houses. And sure, there are probably 30 different independent vets and pediatrician offices and clothing boutiques and small local shops you can reach out to. But don’t be afraid to reach out to the big guys either.

The major grocery chain here, Wegmans Food Markets, has sponsored local small children's museums in the area because they HAVE the massive budget to do so. Sure, it’s always harder to secure B2B sponsorships as a for-profit business, but it’s certainly not impossible. The expense would just come from their marketing budget instead of from their charitable outreach budget. So the key there is to ensure they can justify the marketing spend to the big marketing bosses, which we will talk about in the tips section.

But I have found that businesses are most likely to say yes when the piece of equipment they are sponsoring is directly in line with what they do. Because then, it doesn’t even feel like an advertisement to the families that visit- they view it as a super wholesome community partnership that gives the indoor playspace that much more of a warm, local, small-business feel.

So when you are planning your play area, make a list of any potential sponsors, and don’t be afraid to think outside the box.

For example if you have a play house, don’t be afraid to reach out to local real estate agents or real estate lawyers or brokers, or even custom home builders.

If you have a cash register, don’t hesitate to contact local banks or credit unions or local financial advisors or family estate planners to sponsor the equipment or place a sign near it.

If you have ride-on vehicles, reach out to your local dealerships who may want to sponsor them.

A good practice would be to do your research and reach out to potential sponsors as SOON as possible– somewhere between signing your lease and deciding on your layout.

Because oftentimes sponsors will want to have some feedback on the design of the items they will be sponsoring to ensure it’s truly aligned with their brand. And because this is a long-term investment, don’t be afraid to charge for it. If a custom home builder is paying for a custom playhouse, for example, if you’re building it to their specifications, they need to pay enough to not only cover the initial cost, but also potentially any wear and tear that may occur and require maintenance. Don’t be afraid to charge a premium here. You are getting their name and business in front of a LOT of local families for YEARS to come.

And once that house is built, you can work with local furniture stores or boutiques to fill it with play coaches and such and so on and so fourth. 

2) Other Equipment And Furniture Sponsorship

Consider partnering with local furniture, flooring, or landscaping companies that may want to sponsor elements of the physical space, such as seating areas, flooring, or greenery, in exchange for exposure. This will be a much harder sell especially if this is your first location and you don’t have an established customer base yet, but it’s ALWAYS worth a shot. And again, I will get to some tips to improve your odds of businesses saying YES to your pitch.

Because if you have 30 local furniture stores, it’s OK to hear 29 no’s. That is totally normal and should not discourage you. You only need ONE yes. Which is another reason I LOVE B2B sales– ONE completed transaction makes it all worth it because it is so high-value.

3) Offer Naming Rights for Key Areas

• Themed Play Zones: Instead of having businesses sponsor specific pieces of equipment, offer local businesses the opportunity to sponsor entire sections or rooms of the playground. For example, you could create a reading nook sponsored by a local bookstore, or a soft-play area sponsored by a pediatric therapy clinic. These naming rights allow businesses to create strong, visible associations with family-friendly spaces.
• Café and Party Rooms: If your playground has a café or party room, offer sponsorship deals to local restaurants or food suppliers who want to associate their brand with your space. For instance, a local bakery might sponsor your café in exchange for exclusive product placement and signage.

And if you’re looking for examples of what these signs might look like in practice, I will link a YouTube video that shows a really good example of a children’s museum that makes these signs look very polished and not “in-your-face” like some advertisements might be.

4) Pre-Launch Events and Media Sponsorships

Plan a grand opening event and invite local businesses to sponsor the event in exchange for exposure. Sponsors can provide giveaways, promotional items, or co-branded event signage in exchange for financial support or in-kind contributions. They can also benefit from media exposure if your event is covered by the local press. And if you need tips on getting FREE local press coverage for your business, I will link to Profitable Play episode 79 where I go over my favorite strategies in detail, because securing this coverage can certainly help your odds of hooking major sponsors. 

Now, let’s talk about getting sponsors AFTER you are already open on either a one-time or an ongoing basis.

1)  Host Sponsored Events

Reach out to local businesses to sponsor your seasonal events, such as holiday parties, summer camps, or back-to-school celebrations. In exchange for financial support, sponsors can receive advertising on event materials, promotional social media posts, and the opportunity to set up booths or kiosks at the event. This is MUCH, much easier to do once you already have a track record of hosting well-received, well-promoted, and well-attended events– so doing this AFTER you are already an established business can be extremely helpful.

This one is really a win-win because you can use the sponsorship money to host an even BETTER event, while still also generating revenue from the ticket sales. So you’re making more money, your customers are way happier, and you’re also helping another local business get new leads and customers. 

Once we were established, we RARELY did a class or event that wasn’t sponsored. That’s because we waited until our events were successful enough on their own to guarantee our sponsors a great experience. Once they saw good results from sponsoring one event, they would line back up to take advantage of the opportunity again. So we typically had a list of 7-10 businesses we rotated through to engage as sponsors. 

2) Be Open To Exclusive Corporate Events

You can offer exclusive playground access to corporate clients for team-building events or family-friendly company outings, while also potentially securing sponsorships from local vendors for decorations, catering, or giveaways.

If there are any businesses near you that do family-friendly holiday parties or summer employee appreciation type events– reach out to them to rent out your space for their event. They likely haven’t even considered it previously and what’s great about this option is that they will often want these events to be weekday afternoons or evenings, which are often some of the slowest times for indoor playgrounds– so there’s no big harm in closing early to the public.

3) Seasonal Sponsorships

This is one of the most approachable and easy-to-execute ideas on this list, especially if you aren’t finding success getting bigger sponsorship deals secured (yet).

Something we did between Halloween and New Years at our indoor playground is offer a one-time GROUP sponsorship opportunity for ALL of our events hosted during those months.

Our facility was focused on birthday parties the remaining months of the year, so this is the timeframe that made the most sense for us to offer this since our events were mostly concentrated into this one time frame, but your schedule may look a bit different than ours so just keep that in mind.

What we did is we offered #LOVELOCAL bags as kind of a goodie bag for every single event and class attendee. To fill these bags, we reached out to dozens of local businesses. 

Now, sure, some businesses threw in brochures or business cards as well– but one way we really ensured customers would love and actually use these bags was that we required any participants to put actual GOODIES in the bag– whether that was a promotional pen or water bottle, or a logoed coloring sheet or box of crayons they had purchased and stuck their information on. Some product-based businesses also put in samples or free coupons in the bag.

But in order to participate, businesses HAD to put something tangible OR free in the bag– I did not allow people to JUST add in a coupon or discount code or anything like that.

Depending on the year and the number of bags we could guarantee would get handed out we charged between $50 and $150 for participation– of course not including any of the supplies or materials they provided.

We always aimed to get at least 30-50 participants, meaning this effort could gross almost $8,000 for JUST that short time period.

Plus, I loved this strategy because it increased our customers’ satisfaction with our events and they left each holiday event feeling like we went above and beyond for them and like they got massive value out of the experience outside of the actual event itself.

The key here is to reach out to businesses who would love to get exposure to local families inside of the demographic range you serve– whether that’s childcare businesses or something more outside the box I’ve mentioned like financial advisors, car dealerships, or real estate agents.

Many of these businesses have TONS of promotional items lying around and would absolutely LOVE to get in front of hundreds of local families for less than $200– considering most mainstream forms of advertising like radio, print, yard signs, etc are considerably more expensive than that and probably less effective.

You can also reach out to independent makers or small business owners or crafters in your area– there are probably SO many out there in FB groups and other places just looking for ways to get that awareness and sales boost around the holidays.

These bags did take some time to coordinate and assemble– but we reached out to businesses MONTHS ahead of time to make this process smoother and just had our staff work in the bags during downtime in the afternoon.

This one definitely gets filed as a win-win because YOU collect a significant amount of cash right before a super busy time– which can be used for staff bonuses, space improvements, inventory purchases, working capital, or HEY– to pay yourself a nice end of year bonus… and it is super beneficial for your customers as well. So if you take no other tips from this episode, at least give this one a try.

4) Recurring Advertising Sponsorships

Another easy sponsorship idea is something I already mentioned briefly which is a recurring sponsorship you charge monthly or quarterly for.

If you get substantial website traffic, social media traffic, or foot traffic- take advantage of that and offer ad space to other local businesses!

Whether that means posting x number of times per month about a business sponsor, displaying their logo on a partners page of your website, sending x number of emails per month, or putting their logo and information in your physical space– such as on a wall sign or rotating through on your TV screen, there are SO many ways to make this work.

Depending on the numbers you can guarantee and the amount of platforms you plan to share on, I have seen businesses successfully charge anywhere from $30 to $500 a month– so this can be another great option if you’re reaching out to businesses with varying budgets for advertising spend.

The key is to put together a package or a number of packages that you can stick to and that showcase your most engaged platforms– whether that’s in-person or online, and allow for customizations if needed for different price points.

You will soon see what businesses are most interested in and you can tweak and improve your packages going forward so you can ensure a mutually beneficial long-term relationship and source of recurring revenue for your business.

Alright– those are just a handful of sponsorship ideas– if you are looking for even more examples of business owners rocking it with business sponsorships in real life you can find them over in Play Maker Society and one of our members even put together a full guest expert training on it available in your Play Maker Society hub- but as promised I wanted to also share some tips for making sure people get excited and say YES to your pitches.

So let’s get into it.

1. Understand Your Audience and Value Proposition

Before approaching potential sponsors, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of your audience and the value your playground offers. Consider the following:

• Demographics: Know the age groups, interests, and behaviors of your visitors. Highlight key statistics such as the number of families, age ranges of children, and peak visit times.
• Engagement: Highlight visitor engagement through foot traffic, membership numbers, and social media presence. Use data analytics to provide potential sponsors with clear insights.
• Benefits: Clearly articulate how sponsorship can benefit businesses, such as increased visibility, community goodwill, and direct marketing opportunities. Show how sponsoring your playground can align with their business objectives.

I recommend creating a media kit you can attach to all pitches where you can keep ALL of this data organized in one place. I have a template for Play Maker Society members but canva also has some good free options if you are needing a jump start! I also have a podcast episode about this topic including the most important information and points to hit on linked.

2. Create a Compelling Sponsorship Package

A well-crafted sponsorship package can make all the difference in attracting potential sponsors. Your package should include:

• Sponsorship Tiers: Offer various levels of sponsorship, from title sponsors to smaller contributions, each with distinct benefits. For example:
• Title Sponsor: Exclusive naming rights for major events or exhibits.
• Gold Sponsor: Prominent logo placement on all promotional materials.
• Silver Sponsor: Inclusion in event programs and signage.
• Bronze Sponsor: Recognition in social media posts and newsletters.

Consider creating names that are themed to your business or to the play industry to make it even more fun and eye catching.

• Branding Opportunities: Outline where and how the sponsor's branding will appear. This can include:
• On-Site Signage: Banners, posters, and digital displays within the playground.
• Promotional Materials: Flyers, brochures, and event programs.
• Digital Presence: Mentions and logos on your website, social media channels, and email newsletters.
• Event Exposure: Detail the types of events and exhibits available for sponsorship, emphasizing visitor numbers and media coverage. Provide historical data on past events to illustrate potential reach.
• Customized Options: Be open to tailoring packages to meet specific sponsor needs. Offer flexible options to accommodate different budgets and marketing goals.

3. Leverage Local Connections

Local businesses are often eager to support community initiatives. Here's how to leverage your local network:

• Chamber of Commerce: Join your local chamber of commerce and participate in networking events. Utilize their directories and resources to identify potential sponsors.
• Local Business Associations: Engage with local business associations and attend their meetings to build relationships. Volunteer to speak at events or host gatherings to increase your visibility.
• Community Events: Participate in or sponsor local community events to raise awareness of your playground and its sponsorship opportunities. Set up booths or displays to interact directly with potential sponsors. 

4. Highlight Success Stories

Showcase past successful sponsorships to potential sponsors. This can be done through:

• Case Studies: Provide detailed case studies of previous sponsorships, including the sponsor’s goals, activities, and the outcomes achieved. Include metrics like increased foot traffic, brand exposure, and customer engagement.
• Testimonials: Include testimonials from previous sponsors, highlighting their positive experiences and benefits received. Use direct quotes and highlight specific results.
• Visuals: Use photos and videos from past events to create a compelling narrative. Create a highlight reel that showcases the excitement and engagement at your playground.

5. Personalize Your Approach

A personalized approach can significantly increase your chances of securing sponsorships. Consider the following tactics:

• Research: Conduct thorough research on potential sponsors to understand their business goals and community involvement. Use social media, company websites, and news articles to gather insights.
• Customized Proposals: Tailor your sponsorship proposals to align with each potential sponsor’s objectives and values. Highlight specific aspects of your playground or events that would appeal to their target audience.
• Face-to-Face Meetings: Whenever possible, arrange in-person meetings to discuss sponsorship opportunities. This allows for more personalized communication and relationship building. Bring along a visual presentation to make a strong impression.

6. Offer In-Kind Sponsorships

Not all businesses may be able to provide financial support, but they might be willing to offer in-kind sponsorships. Examples include:

• Product Donations: Local businesses can donate products or services for your events or exhibits. For instance, a local bakery could provide snacks for a special event.
• Media Coverage: Partner with local media outlets to get coverage for your events in exchange for sponsorship. This could include radio mentions, newspaper ads, or online features.
• Volunteer Support: Businesses can encourage their employees to volunteer at your events. This provides additional manpower and demonstrates the business’s commitment to the community.

7. Find The Decision Makers and Don’t Be Afraid to Follow-Up

While local events and organizations can be great for making connections, I have also found LinkedIn to be an incredibly useful tool in making sure I am contacting the right person within a company.

LinkedIn is also a great platform to reach businesses that are NOT local but may still be interested in partnering with your business, like a toy company or children’s author for example. 

I always look for people in the marketing or advertising or partnerships department and connect with them so I can send a personalized message. I have found people to be much more responsive on LinkedIn than other social platforms or even email.

And if you reach out on one platform– don’t be afraid to follow up or reach out other ways as well. It often took several phone calls, emails, in person visits, and many, many follow up messages to secure some of my biggest sponsors that each ended up making a MASSIVE difference in my businesses. 

Persistence pays off here, and don’t be afraid to continue following up or checking in or asking for another point of contact. The worst they can say is NO.

7. Maintain Strong Relationships

Building and maintaining strong relationships with sponsors is essential for long-term success. Ensure you:

• Communicate Regularly: Keep sponsors updated on event progress and outcomes. Send regular email updates and schedule check-in meetings.
• Deliver on Promises: Ensure you fulfill all agreed-upon sponsorship benefits. Track your commitments and provide detailed reports post-event.
• Show Appreciation: Publicly acknowledge sponsors through thank-you notes, social media shout-outs, and post-event reports. Consider hosting an appreciation event or offering exclusive previews of new exhibits.’

Securing sponsorships from local businesses can provide the financial support needed to enhance your indoor playground's exhibits and events. By understanding your audience, creating compelling sponsorship packages, leveraging local connections, and maintaining strong relationships, you can attract and retain valuable sponsors. Start implementing these tips today, even if you just pick and choose one or two for now, to unlock new opportunities and a significant untapped revenue stream for your indoor playground.

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