How to get perks
for your club's
members

The most underrated of the three

Member perks come third behind product and money in what organisers ask for, because they look less impressive. That misreads two things. First, it's the fastest yes you'll ever get. Second, it's the only partnership that doesn't stop the day after the event.

Funding pays for one night. A seeding fills a month. A standing discount for your members runs for two years, does something useful every time somebody uses it, and keeps you visible as an organiser well beyond the sessions themselves.

What it can look like

From the easiest to get to the biggest commitment for the brand.

• A dedicated discount code : 15 to 20% for your members, on a code in your club's name. It's the starting point, and the brand can measure how it's used, which suits it.
• Early access : your members see a new release before everyone else. It costs the brand nothing and carries a lot of perceived value.
• A standing discount : rarer and stronger. It turns membership of your club into a concrete, lasting benefit.
• A limited run : a product in the club's colours, in small quantity. Hard to get, but the kind of thing a club talks about for years.
• Access to events : reserved places, previews, invitations. Ideal when the brand already has a calendar with room on it.

Start with the discount code. It opens the relationship, and the other forms almost always follow a first collaboration that went well.

Why a brand says yes faster

Because it doesn't come out of a budget. Funding needs an approved line and sometimes several people to agree. A discount code for thirty people is decided by one person, the same day, without a meeting. If you want a fast first yes from a brand, this is where to start.

It also gets something specific out of it, and it's worth saying so in your ask: a dedicated code gives the brand a trackable channel. It can see how many people from your club bought something. That's exactly the kind of number that lets it justify a bigger collaboration with you later.

How to ask without underselling it

A member perk is still a partnership. Treated as a favour, it becomes one.

• Ask for a code in the club's name : not the public code already floating around the internet. That's what makes the perk real for your members and measurable for the brand.
• Set a duration : six months, a year, renewable. A perk with no end date expires without anyone deciding to end it, and nobody renews it.
• Keep control of how it reaches people : you tell your members, at your pace. A brand that wants to email your list directly is asking for something other than a partnership.
• Ask for the number back : how many people used it. It's your best evidence for what comes next, and the brand already has it.
• Don't trade it for posts : a member perk is justified by your audience, not by an obligation to publish.

Like everything else, it belongs in writing in your sponsorship proposal.

The way in to everything else

A member perk is rarely the end goal, but it's often the best first step: it creates a track record with a brand, with numbers attached, which makes the next conversation far easier. On Kithe, brands arrive with this kind of offer already prepared, without you having to open the conversation.

• Free for organisers.
• Product, funding or member perks: you pick what fits your club.
• Every approach goes through you: you say yes, no, or not now.

Frequently asked questions