Chris Baylis is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Sponsorship Collective.
After spending several years in the field as a sponsorship professional and consultant, Chris now spends his time working with clients to help them understand their audiences, build activations that sponsors want, apply market values to their assets and build strategies that drive sales.
Chris studied at Trent University and Mohawk College before he began his sales career in high tech and insurance. After several years in the sales industry, Chris decided to make the move to sponsorship.
The reason for Chris was simple:
“Sponsorship means you have to be an expert in sales, marketing, experiential, lead generation, account management and strategy. This challenging blend of skills is what makes sponsorship so fascinating but also incredibly complicated.”
Chris has been active in the sponsorship industry since 2007 selling sponsorship for a variety of organisations and every type of sponsorship opportunity as an employee, department leader, board member, consultant and volunteer.
After five years as a consultant with international consulting firm IFC out of London, England Chris decided to launch what is now The Sponsorship Collective. And the rest is history.
And it all began with a blog.
The problem, according to Chris, is that there was simply no information about best practice sponsorship when he began in the industry. Everyone was guarding their secrets and there was nothing by way of blogs, publications, or networking groups. And this is exactly what Chris decided to change.
When it was first launched, the goal of the blog was simple: to share sponsorship best practice with the world. Today, The Sponsorship Collective has been featured in countless publications, podcasts, websites, blogs, magazines, webinars and books. The Sponsorship Collective has also produced hundreds of YouTube videos, webinars and hundreds of thousands of words on the blog (at last count, enough to fill five business books on the topic).
In addition to speaking at conferences and stages across North America, a sample of publications featuring Chris Baylis include in Hopin, Blackbaud, several articles and references in Eventbrite, Inside Sponsorship, Cause Talk Radio, CSAE, The Partnership Conference and The Selling Show to name only a few.
Sponsorship is, at its heart, a marketing practice and marketing is nothing without audience experience as the main focus.
This is exactly how Chris thinks of sponsorship.
“Everything has to start with audience data and experiences focused on creating value for audiences. Most people think of sponsorship as simple logo placement, which could not be further from the truth” says Chris.
Because of Chris’ focus, The Sponsorship Collective takes an “audience first” approach to sponsorship. Starting with audience data, then moving to creating engaging activations before moving to valuation, sales material and then a “discovery based” approach to sales.
Here is a sample of the most recent articles written by Chris:
Your festival has just ended for the year, and you know what that means. That’s right, it’s already time to begin thinking of next year’s festival and who may sponsor it! How can you find festival sponsors to propel your event? Here are 7 proven methods for finding...
You know how magnets work, right? They have south and north poles, and opposites attract. Now imagine pulling sponsors to you like a magnet. It would be effortless, right? The gravitational pull would do all the heavy lifting. This doesn’t have to be simply something...
So often, I see sponsorship seekers pursue only the highest-caliber sponsors, especially in the festival sphere. They assume that unless they have huge names for their event that their audience won’t care. Fortunately, that’s anything but the case! I recommend local...
Recently, I wrote an article about sponsorship festival dealbreakers. The post got a very positive reception, as I think sometimes a dealbreaker doesn’t seem like such a big issue until poof, your pending sponsorship deal evaporates into thin air. I’ve seen it happen...
Sponsorship is about marketing, and as a marketing venture, your sponsor wants value out of you. However, sponsorship seekers sometimes struggle to provide value to their sponsors, which can sour deals and prevent longer-term arrangements. How do you offer real value...
Imagine this: your event or program just wrapped up for another ultra-successful year. You’re exhausted but satisfied. It’s time to rest, right? Absolutely not! It’s time to begin searching for sponsors all over again to ensure you have enough for next year’s event....
Before you dive in, if you are interested in podcast sponsorship, check out these titles in our “sponsorship for podcasters” series: Resource Page for Podcast and Influencer Sponsorship The Complete Guide to Podcast Sponsorship How to Market Your Podcast Cold Email...
I’m all for a bit of trial and error, but not with a pricy sponsorship deal on the line and a looming festival on the calendar. In that kind of scenario, you must be cognizant that dealbreakers could cost you a sponsor at the last minute. What gaffes should you avoid?...
Before you dive in, if you are interested in podcast sponsorship, check out these titles in our “sponsorship for podcasters” series: Resource Page for Podcast and Influencer Sponsorship The Complete Guide to Podcast Sponsorship The Do's and Don'ts of Pitching Sponsors...
I always recommend that sponsorship seekers put together their own case studies to illustrate to prospective sponsors how they’ve helped other sponsors or clients in the past. It’s a lot easier for your prospect to put themselves in the shoes of your clients and...