Industry Insights on Sponsorship Marketing

As sponsorship marketing becomes an increasingly important medium to help companies connect with their audiences at a meaningful level, the desire to share knowledge among industry is demonstrated through organizations such as the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada, which was created in 2004 to advance the development of best practices and accountabilities in the field of sponsorship marketing.

The mission of the SMC is to help advertisers who use sponsorships as part of their integrated marketing communications strategies get the maximum return on their investments. The council provides a resource for Canadian advertisers to enrich their understanding of sponsorship marketing as a viable and effective MARCOM tool.

The Sponsorship Marketing Council’s annual Sponsorship Marketing Awards provides terrific insight into the strategic and creative approaches that companies consider to be best practices in the sponsorship marketing discipline.  I encourage you to take a few minutes to review the winning campaigns for this year to see what’s really working from an industry perspective and how you can apply this level of thinking to your own sponsorship program.

Later,

BC

P.S. A reminder that MARCOM 2008 (June 11-12, Ottawa) is fast approaching, so if you are thinking of attending, now is the time to act! MARCOM is Canada’s premiere national conference for public and not-for-profit sector marketing professionals and features two days of learning and networking with experts and colleagues from across Canada. For any organization that wants to take a strategic approach towards their corporate revenue generation programs, CMG Canada will be launching its Revenue Generation Boot Camp, a full-day Pre-Conference  Workshop on June 11th. Click on the link for details.

Good Marketing Leads To Successful Sponsorship Development

When I look at the organizations and/or individuals that are successful at generating sponsorship revenue, they are the ones that are usually highly committed to a marketing orientation. This should really come as no surprise – just look at the some of the key marketing functions that are essential to a successful sponsorship development and sales program:

• A highly valued product that customer groups want and actively support;
• A strong brand and competitive positioning in the market;
• Segmentation of various target audiences and a comprehensive understanding of the unique needs of each audience;
• A constantly evolving product that reflects the changing needs of customers;
• An effective marketing mix;
• A clear understanding of business objectives and how sponsorships can contribute to meeting these goals;
• An internal culture that supports the notion of sponsors receiving value for their investment;
• An effective sales promotion and sponsorship sales program;
• A diversified revenue mix;
• A structured marketing evaluation process.

The bottom line is that if you take a marketing approach towards the development of your sponsorship program, you will have an easier time selling it it to potential sponsors. The late Peter Drucker couldn’t have said it better “The job of marketing is to make selling unnecessary”.

MARCOM 2008 (June 11-12) at the Hampton Inn Ottawa and Conference Centre provides an opportunity for professionals in the public and not-for-profit sectors to become more proficient at marketing. The two-day conference covers almost every facet of the marketing process and provides a forum for delegates from across the country to network and share best practices. For the sponsorship professional who wants to take their game to the next level, there are literally dozens of sessions and roundtables that can help them acquire new skills and ideas that they can apply immediately to their sponsorship program. Here are a few of the topics that will be offered at this years event that will be of particular interest to the sponsorship community:

• Revenue Generation Boot Camp - One-day, Pre-Conference Workshop (June 10) addressing all of the core revenue streams that a non-profit organization can leverage with corporate partners including sponsorships, affinity programs, business member (allied) programs, web and print advertising.
• Using Marketing to Enhance Foundation and Grant funding Requests
• Strategic Marketing Planning (the foundation of good marketing)
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Social Marketing Sponsorships (groundbreaking research)
• Separating the Sponsorship Pretenders from the “Real Deal”. Do you have what it takes to operate a successful sponsorship program?
• The Branding Imperative – Why Non-Profits Need Powerful Brands and How to Build One
• Social Media Case Studies (Web 2.0)

I have been involved in this conference for four years and will be facilitating the one-day Revenue Generation Boot Camp as well as Sponsorship “Pretenders” session. I encourage you to take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn how marketing can help you take your sponsorship program to the next level. Visit MARCOM for more details.

Later,

BC

Using Objectives to Simplify Your Approach Towards Partners and Sponsors

If you are like most people, you want to save time and simplify your life. One of the simplest things you can do to achieve both is to have a clear plan. When I look at almost any instance in my life (work or otherwise) when I’ve become bogged down, it’s because I’ve been fuzzy about what I want to achieve and conversely, when I have clear objectives or goals, things seem to happen much easier.

Too often, organizations considering strategic partnerships as a means of achieving marketing objectives are not able to articulate the actual outcomes they want to achieve through these collaborative arrangements. This results in a lot of wasted energy at the recruitment, implementation and performance measurement stages.

So, putting aside all the textbook jargon related to setting objectives, here are my basic rules on how you can simplify your approach towards recruiting strategic partners and sponsors.

Start with where you are – in order to develop an effective partnership, you need a clear understanding of the current situation to determine your starting point. Simply stated, you can’t plan a trip without knowing where you are. The same principle applies to a marketing environment. This includes an honest assessment of your current status (in measurable terms) whether it be public take-up on a program or service, percentage of members participating in an event, revenue generated through a specific fundraising activity, etc. A SWOT analysis and competitive analysis are two useful tools to assist you in this exercise.

Determine where you want to be – Once you know where you are, the next step is to set a vision for where you want to be over the short-term and long-term. For example, if there is a high level of awareness for your program or service but not a lot of take-up, you need to understand the barriers to take-up. Based on this analysis, your focus may shift from partnerships that build awareness to those that build audience knowledge or credibility, or move your audience to action. In this instance, another partnership that focuses on awareness will not get you any further towards achieving your goals.

Narrow your list of potential partners – Now that you are clearly focused on what you want to achieve, narrowing your list of potential partners should be much easier. This stage may involve some initial research and/or discussions with potential partners.

Be realistic in what you want to achieve through any partnership – A partnership is not going to solve all of your marketing challenges; rather, they should be viewed as opportunities to fill the gaps in your overall plan. By breaking down what you want to achieve over the long-term into a series of time-specific, manageable steps, you will be able to set clear, measurable objectives that can be tracked and evaluated. For example, the first phase of a new partnership might focus on generating awareness and knowledge about your product, program or service while the second phase might focus on specific activities that move the audience through the causal chain (buying cycle).

What does all this have to do with sponsorships? – The same principles apply to recruiting sponsors, only in reverse. If you can understand what a potential sponsor wants to achieve and arrive at a realistic understanding of how you can specifically help them achieve their objectives, you are on your way to developing a successful sponsorship and long-term relationship. Conversely, if a potential sponsor cannot articulate his/her goals or has an unrealistic view of what the sponsorship can deliver, you are setting yourself up for an unpleasant experience.

So, whether you are recruiting strategic partners or soliciting sponsors, your first priority has to be identifying objectives. Once you take this critical step, you’ll be amazed at how easy the rest of the plan falls into place.

Later,

BC

Moving From Selling Benefits to Selling the “Experience”

With over 160,000 non-profit organizations in Canada, the competition for sponsorship dollars is fierce, with some companies receiving 300-500 proposals a week. And like it or not, the reality is that there could be dozens or even hundreds of organizations offering sponsorship features and benefits similar to your proposal. So the big question is, how do you stand out from the sea of competition?

One of the most powerful approaches you can use is to move away from features and benefits as your key selling point and focus on presenting the “sponsorship experience”. In other words, you want to provide an opportunity for your prospect to see, hear, touch or get a taste of your sponsorship opportunity – to appeal to the emotional “hot buttons”. Here are some quick tips on how you can sell the “experience”:

• Visual Representation – Use visual images to give your prospect a sense of what it’s like to be part of your audience. If you have a conference, show pictures of your customers listening intently to a speaker or show a crowded trade show floor. If you are running a public event, show your customers participating in one of your signature activities. Where possible, show sponsor profile opportunities in these visual images.
• Auditory and Customer Emotional Representation – Post an on line video (through your web site or a link to You Tube) that features your event or activity and includes audience testimonials. By demonstrating the customer experience, you are providing the prospect with a clear vision of your product and its importance to your audience.
• Peer-to-Peer Representation – If you have current sponsors, feature their testimonials in your promotional material. Nothing speaks stronger than a third-party endorsement of your product.
• Impact Representation – If your organization is dedicated to a specific cause, use case studies and statistics to demonstrate the results that are achieved through sponsored initiatives. This provides a clear vision of the good work that a sponsor can be a part of through their involvement with your organization.
• Creative Representation – Brainstorm for other creative ways you can demonstrate your sponsorship product or brand through one of the senses. For example, if you are an environmental group that is involved in planting trees, include a seedling with your proposal that includes a quote from a community member that benefited from your program (don’t try this on line).

The bottom line is that by focusing on the “sponsorship experience”, you can move beyond logos and other unpersonalized benefits to an emotional level where the prospect begins to visualize themselves as a willing participant. And once you make a connection at this level, the rest is a matter of details.

Later,

BC

Sponsorship Offerings Need to Keep Pace with an Increasingly Sophisticated Marketplace

I recently heard an ad on the radio that reminded me how sophisticated companies are becoming at connecting with their audiences in meaningful ways. The ad I heard was from an Ottawa-based Funeral Home that was offering support services (during the Christmas period) for those who might need some moral support during what can be a very difficult time of year, especially for those who have recently lost someone and are feeling particularly lonely. What really struck me about the ad was that here was a relatively conservative business was reaching out to their audience in an innovative way that demonstrated their sensitivity to the market in a way that went significantly beyond the traditional funeral service offerings. This company clearly made a decision that it was important for them to demonstrate the added value they bring to the marketplace. In my view, this is very good marketing.

The lesson for anyone in the business of recruiting sponsors is this – companies (no matter what size, background, service offering) are looking for unique ways to connect with their audience. The better we can be at understanding a company’s objectives and provide tangible opportunities for them to demonstrate their value in a market that goes beyond their core service offerings, the more effective we will be at recruiting these companies as sponsors. Sponsorships are no longer about logos and signs; they’re about helping companies make meaningful connections with their audience; so remember that the next time, before you send out that generic, “cookie-cutter” sponsorship package.

Later

BC

Welcome to my Blog on Sponsorship and Partnerships!

Welcome to the home page of my newly launched blog on Sponsorships and Partnerships.

The main reason I launched this blog is because the people I talk to through our consulting projects and workshops have expressed a need for an on going forum to ask questions about their sponsorship or partnership initiatives, share ideas and best practices and connect with like-minded people. I also generally have a lot to say on this issue.

Technology has made it possible to connect like no other way; but to make this work, I’m going to need your help. Here’s what each of you can do to make this forum a living, breathing community of sponsorship and partnership professionals.

• Ask questions
• Share your opinion
• Share your knowledge and experiences
• Post links of useful information

And one more thing…we all work hard (most times) and we’re all serious about being the best at what we do, but a little levity helps break up the constant pressure we put on ourselves, so let’s not be afraid to have a little fun with this and see where it goes….

The first thing I’d like to do is clarify what I think the difference is between “Sponsorships” and “Partnerships”.

In my view, partnerships are two or more organizations working together to achieve a common goal. Partnerships can be short or long-term and usually involve a sharing of responsibility, resources (financial or in-kind), risk and reward.

On the other hand, while the term “sponsor” has all kinds of meanings depending on your environment, sponsorships are essentially a commercial arrangement where one party receives cash or in-kind and the other party receives some form of tangible / intangible benefit in return for their contribution. In a sponsorship, you may be working together to fulfill an agreement but odds are, you don’t usually share the same objective. When’s the last time a sponsor of yours had the same goal?

Thanks to Gomery, the word sponsorship still has some kind of connotation to it, but the fact is that more and more people are turning on to sponsorships as a legitimate marketing tactic and/or means of generating revenue for their organizations. On this issue, I’d like to pose a question:

Is the term “sponsorship” still relevant in today’s environment or is there another term (besides the word sponsorship) we can use to describe the act of an organization contributing cash or in-kind in exchange for access to, and a closer association with a particular audience? It would be great to hear some of your creative ideas around this.

Later,

BC