Entry 139-5

Randy Dearman on Sponsors

Working with Outdoor Communicators

Editor's Note: In 1983 Randy Dearman of Onalaska, Texas, started fishing the BASS circuit and also became a Strike King Pro. According to Dearman, "Strike King was my first sponsor, and I plan to stay with Strike King as long as I'm a professional fisherman. Strike King has always had great products, and over the years the company has allowed me to help develop products for them. They consistently come up with new products, and I feel fortunate to be able to work with a company like Strike King."

Question: Randy, you've mentioned the importance of working with the outdoor press to help promote products. How do you get writers to go fishing with you?

Dearman: You've got to remember that writers have a job to do. They're looking for things to write about. A writer is a teacher and an educator just like you are. So get to know those writers and whenever they need to get a story, make sure they know they can call on you, and you'll take them fishing and help them get that story and get those photographs.

When you're catching a lot of fish, call them up, and ask them if they'd like to go fishing with you. Tell them about the size and type of bass your catching. Share with them the technique you're using. Tell them about a secret pond you use that they can fish and catch really big bass. When you see them at tournaments, be sure and speak to them. Get to know them like you do anyone else. And learn how to help them. If you help the writers, the writers will help you. By helping you, they'll help you promote your sponsors.

Question: Randy, once you've got one of those writers in the boat, what do you do with them? How do you fish with them? They're not like tournament fishermen, so what goes on in the boat between you and the writer?

Dearman: The first and most important thing that you have to do if you're going to have a successful writer/TV host fishing trip is to make sure they have fun. You want to do everything you can to make sure that, regardless of how the day goes, the writer has a good time. The second thing you want to do is help them catch bass. You're not only the trip to show them what a great and mighty fisherman you are. Your purpose on the trip is to teach them and show them how to catch bass on the lake you're fishing with the products you use from the companies you're sponsored by.

Have a rod for them to fish with, have lures for them to use, have food and something to drink for them, and treat those writers like they were your boss and someone you want to impress. Show them the newest and best products that are on the market. Teach them the new techniques you've learned from the products from your sponsors.

Writers want to have the newest and best information they can get for their readers. You need to have the newest and best products that your sponsors produce for those writers to fish with. Then you need to teach those writers how to use those products and prove to them that they can catch more, bigger and better bass with those new products
than what they've been fishing with in the past.

Question: How did you get to know your first writer?

Dearman: I guess the first writer I ever took fishing was Bob Brewster from the Houston Chronicle. He was our local newspaper writer. I knew he liked to hunt and fish, so I got to know him and became friends with him. He really enjoyed bass fishing. And I'd call him up, take him fishing and help him catch a lot of bass. Then he'd write articles about his fishing trip with me in the Houston Chronicle.

Now when you're fishing with a writer, you can't push them to write about products. However, they'll write about the lures and the equipment they caught the fish on. That's the reason it's so important that you have the products available for the writer to fish on that are the newest and best that the company that sponsors you has out on the market.

When the writer begins to fish the lures you've given him, tell him why and how it works better than other lures that are similar. Then if he's successful in catching fish, he'll be able to write about the new products, how they've worked, and how he's caught bass using them. But the writer is not your personal PR agency. You won't always get them to write about all of your sponsors. However, you will get articles about that writer fishing with you, which you can then turn into your sponsors and show them you're working for them.

Randy Dearman on Sponsors

Working with Outdoor Communicators

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