I have been getting a lot of questions about in-kind sponsorship lately. Not so much focused on getting in-kind, but how to get your in-kind sponsor to “upgrade” to cash. In my post “The Seven Deadly Sins of Sponsorship,” I speak out against in-kind sponsorship as one of the deadly sins. In a world where cash is king, I am not a big fan of in-kind sponsorship. There, I said it! I am also not a fan of the philosophy that you should use sponsorship to cover off your expenses and let ticket sales drive your revenue. The hard costs of your event or program have nothing to do with the market value of your assets. Getting “free” wine, AV, lunch, dinner, photo booths etc. is actually costing you thousands of dollars. Why? Because the value of the wine as a marketing opportunity is unrelated to its hard costs. Every logo placement, call out from the stage, and opportunity to connect your sponsors to their audience has value. Apply your valuation calculator to your wine (and all in-kind sponsorships) and sell it to companies who care about your demographic. Bonus tip: I never sell wine sponsorship to wine producers. Instead, […]
