I’m not much of a country music fan, but I love me some Johnny Cash. Perhaps more than any other musician, Cash’s lyrics are just stuffed with life lessons. Usually of the hard-learned variety. You can even learn a thing or two about sponsorship from them.
When working with clients on their sponsorship sales goals and strategies, I see common themes come up again and again. Unfortunately, when I am working on the brand side and helping them assess their sponsorship marketing goals…I see the same trends from those seeking sponsorship dollars. I recognize that I’m in a unique position of being able to see things from both sides of the sponsorship coin, if you will. And what’s so interesting to me is that even though sponsorship seekers and the companies that give sponsorship operate from two different places is that they still run into the same issues. There are enough of these issues, and they’re so prevalent in my varied experiences working with those on both sides of the sponsorship equation that I’ve dubbed them appropriately. These are the Seven Deadly Sins of Sponsorship. You know, like the cardinal sins you’re supposed to avoid at all costs according to the Christian religion. Well, these are also cardinal sins that you should begin avoiding at all costs whether you’re seeking sponsorship or offering it. This guide with an infographic will illustrate the most common sponsorship mistakes and how to avoid making them yourself! The Seven Deadly […]
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, […]
Welcome back from, what I hope was, a restful and relaxing time with friends and family! If you’re anything like me, you spent the month of December saying things like “I will take care of that in the new year!” Putting off tasks to be handled by some future version of yourself in a distant land called “next year.”
The sponsorship landscape has changed dramatically over the last five years and the pace of change has picked up, with no signs of letting up. While this increased pace of change makes it challenging for sponsorship sales professionals, it also opens up opportunities. Here are three changes and trends that you should be aware of:
In part one of my corporate sponsorship gone wrong post I covered three examples of what NOT to do with your sponsors. If you liked those three examples, you are going to love these last two examples. Have a horror story of your own to share? Leave it in the comments!
The goal of this post is simple: learn from my mistakes! I have been doing corporate sponsorship deals for charities, private companies, and associations and not for profits for a long time and I have had some great successes but I have also had some disastrous corporate sponsorship deals gone wrong.
I get this question or a variation of it every day, multiple times a day and at every speaking event, workshop and webinar that I run.
Events can be great. They can engage your donors, show off your cause, increase revenue and, most important of all (in my highly biased opinion) drive sponsorship dollars. Sponsorship sales can be a major revenue source from events. With a little effort, you can make your next event a sponsor’s dream!