a presentation by Patricia Martin

Summary of Course
Sponsorship overview
Attitude shift
Discovering your value
Selling strategies

Sponsorship Basics
Sponsorship is a marketing strategy
used to communicate about a product
or service by affiliating with an event,
experience, or organization that is
valued by the sponsor’s customers.

Sponsorship Basics
Sponsorship vs. Philanthropy
• Value based, not need based

Sponsorship Basics
Key definitions:
• Property
• Sell
• Deal

Sponsorship re-boots
• Social responsibility
• Hybrid spending
• Volunteer management/employee
experiences
• Web 2.0 features

That Was Then
Top 5 sponsoring categories:
• Beverage
• Automotive
• Food—sampling/retail traffic
• Financial services
• Retail

This is Now
Top sponsoring categories:
• Beverage
• Automotive
• Technology
• Telecom
• Health care
• Energy

What Sponsor’s Value
Access to targeted audience
Drive sales
Good will
Employee/customer relations
Showcase product attributes
Influence influentials
Imagery/context

Getting Ready
Self assessment
• Gather marketing assets
• Measure your audience
• Gauge internal climate
• Intangible valuation
• Tangible valuation—playground slide

Intangible Value
Self assessment
• Consumer trust
• Track record
• Loyalty
• Prestige
• Cool

Tangible Value
Self assessment
• Media – 10%
• Engagement -- quality
• Conversations – participation
• Transactions --sales
• Qualified Impressions

Getting Ready
Reality check: Do we have any prospects?
• Track record-who has a deal?
• Ask
• Find a fit with your audience.

Get Set
Competitive Analysis
• Track local deals
• Price media
• Ask colleagues in other regions

Biggest Barrier?
Not Enough Time to Sell
Entire sales cycle represents 9 to 18 month effort
Your work
begins here
Set campaign focus
and sponsorship
policies. Sales effort
starts here
Prioritize
Note objections; prospects
Refine; Tailor proposals by industry
Close
Create
awareness;
Prepare
Get meetings
sales
materials

Solicitation
Drive Warm Leads
1. Create a sampling program.
2. Offer B2B hospitality to existing sponsors.
3. Raise profile with PR.
4. Join/form a business group.
5. Help sponsor be “super hero”
Which super hero would you be?

Selling
Cold calling:
Purpose —
• To discover if it makes sense to meet.

Go!
Cold calling:
Polish your elevator speech
• Do your research
• Practice the script
• Expect rejection
• Have a next step.

Selling
What is an elevator pitch:
1) What we do
2) What difference we make
3) For instance….

Selling
“We are e-Learning experts who have
discovered which kind of online
learning actually changes behavior. We
help McDonald’s make a perfectly
consistent fry around the world and
Mayo Clinics outpatients take their
meds.”

Selling
First meeting -To Pitch or Probe?
• Ask permission to pitch: Would it help…
• Elevator + broad brush strokes
• Ask probing questions

Go!
Prepare proposal
• Develop detailed proposals based on:
– Information gathered at the first meeting.
– Answer the needs of the business

Get Visual

Selling
Negotiation
• Deal with objections — unanswered
questions
• Establish next steps.
• Negotiations begin.
• Contract is prepared.
• Contract is signed and circulated.

Selling
Tips for a down economy:
• Get a meeting – go where you are
known and loved
• Voice mail – leave it, briefly, gleefully
• Be a collaborator—Container Store,
Volvo, State Farm and Hospital

Aftermath
Fulfillment
• Celebrate and acknowledge.
• Internal team meeting “Here is what
we agreed to.”

Measurement
Tips:
• Use radio with phone-in give-aways
• Develop web downloads
• Use ticket bounce-backs or envelopes
• Create sweeps and raffles for product give-
aways
• Encourage test drives.

www.litlamp.com

Economic Realities
Common 3 yr. trends:
• In-kind vs. cash
• Need for guaranteed media.
• Philanthropy gets teeth.
• Quality rules
• Reliability

Next
RenGen Research
Proposals

Agents into Artists

Permanent/Public/Ownership

Focus on Youth 18-30

Corporate Entertainment

High Concept/High
Entertainment Value

www.madepossibleby.com