Why a New Blog?

• This site was getting a little dated with not as much functionality as a new site had to offer;
• I got tired looking at my orange complexion;
• I wanted to expand my sponsorship and partnership postings to include a broader range of marketing and revenue generation strategies because in the end, they all need to be integrated to be effective.

What will my new site offer?

• Expanded content to help you make more money or spend your money more wisely (focus on Your Bottom Line)
• Blog topics by categories (including previous postings from this site)
• Links to free resources
• Improved linkages to other social media channels.

So, make the switch today! Get started by Clicking Here.

Later, BC

Here are five key “game changers” that are influencing the way we market our organizations or products or the way we recruit sponsors.

Impact of Technology and Social Media                                                      Simply put, social media and other collaborative technologies have changed everything, from the way we connect with colleagues and friends to how we purchase goods and services to how we build our business. Today’s smart marketers realize that to build online awareness and brand equity, your presence needs to go way beyond your web site. As an example, when’s the last time you typed in a web site address? The simple fact is that if you are not building social media and other digital engagement strategies into your marketing or sponsorship plans, you are missing a key ingredient in your marketing mix and one of the main elements that sponsors look for in benefits packages.

The Power of the Customer                                                                      The balance of power has shifted from governments, corporations and other organizations to where it belongs – with the customer. As consumers, we have more choices than ever before on almost every aspect of our lives. Just look at the choices you have on where/how to shop, get an education or loan, spend our leisure dollars or even receive health care. What this means for most organizations is that we now have to EARN the business and loyalty of our customers.

The Importance of Branding and Positioning                                                 With all the competition for “mind-share”, every organization needs to stand out favourably from the competition. Articulating what makes you different (positioning) and reinforcing your organization’s or product’s attributes (branding) day-to-day is paramount to your customers finding you and sticking with you. Despite this, many organizations are stuck on “being everything to everyone” and wonder why they don’t appeal to anyone; and many organizations are still stuck on their logo vs. what effective branding is all about. In short, your brand defines you in the market and if you are not being proactive in this area, someone else will influence your brand for you.

The Selling Cycle                                                                                          In the “old days”, when someone wanted to buy from you, they looked up your name in the phone book (remember?) and called you or visited your place of business to learn more about what you had to offer and you usually started by providing basic information about your program, product or service. Today, they know a lot about you before they contact you. The problem is that you don’t know what they know (or believe) when they initially contact you and this complicates the selling process significantly. For example, if someone contacts your organization about a sponsorship opportunity, chance are that they’ve done their homework through online or social media channels and already have a preconceived notion of what they’re getting into. To be effective, you need to quickly understand where they are in the decision-making process and adapt your presentation to their needs, otherwise you risk losing them.

The Need to Re-Position Sponsorships                                                                      All of the above factors have created a need to re-position sponsorships from the traditional “awareness” benefits to a more sophisticated marketing medium. Marketing has changed dramatically and what companies are looking for in a sponsorship environment has also changed. In order to recruit the kinds of sponsors you want or need, you need to help them address the challenges they’re facing in today’s highly competitive and complex marketing environment.This means demonstrating how your sponsorships can help them build brand equity and connect with their customers in real ways.

I’ll be discussing these and other “game changers” in my upcoming fall Sponsorship Workshop Program. Click on Upcoming Workshops at the top of the page for more details.

Later,                                                                                                                                                     BC

• Setting clear financial  and non-financial objectives and getting initial Council buy-in for the overall concept;
• Developing a Steering Committee of senior-level managers to lead the charge in their individual departments;
• Developing a Working Group of mid-level managers from each department who helped facilitate the gathering of information from individual programs and facilities;
• Having a Sponsorship Policy in place that establishes parameters for working with the private sector, but is not restrictive in nature;
• Conducting consultations with the various program and departmental personnel to educate them on the various aspects of sponsorship so that everyone understands the bigger picture and how they can fit in;
• Identifying issues upfront and addressing them (i.e. how will this affect our budget);
• Conducting initial “market testing” with potential sponsors to assess interest and add credibility to the report / strategy; and,
• Keeping Council focused on the strategic elements of the initiative and not the “nitpicky” details.

I’ll be discussing these and other important considerations at the upcoming Municipal Forum on Sponsorship, October 17th in Toronto.

Click on the following link for the City of Ottawa Council Report that set this innovative plan into action. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you as we move forward on this exciting municipal initiative.

Later,                                                                                                                                                     BC

When a sponsor invests in your organization, they’re looking to leverage your audience assets and goodwill for commercial gain; a professional joins your group to take advantage of your industry expertise and connect with your other member “assets”; and when you collaborate with another organization to achieve compatible marketing goals, you’re making the best of what both of you have to offer by leveraging each others’  assets and networks.

Simply stated , our #1 asset is the audience we reach and serve. Without a clearly defined audience base that has a strong connection to your organization, you really don’t have much to offer anyone. This especially applies to any organization that is looking to partner with private sector organizations through sponsorships, member loyalty programs, advertising, memberships and events.

So, the key in getting anyone to join your organization, sponsor your event, partner with you on a marketing initiative, advertise in your publication or on your web site is to understand the unique audience assets that you bring to the table and articulate it from their perspective.

The critical starting point for any organization is having an in-depth understanding of who your audience is, where they come from from, what’s important to them and why they value their relationship with your organization. Once you have your “audience assets” nailed down (who you reach/serve and/or want to reach/serve), the rest of your marketing or revenue generation plan will unfold much easier because you’ll be focusing on “people” first and “audience touch points” second, as a means of connecting partners to your audiences.

Later,                                                                                                                                                     BC

Increasingly we find ourselves minimizing the use of the word “sponsorship” when promoting and selling sponsorship opportunities because the word simply doesn’t get the respect it deserves.   The industry has only itself to blame for this lack of respect because most sponsor-seeking organizations have a history of offering low-value benefits and/or unrealistic expectations of the value of their property.  As a result, many prospects immediately associate the word “sponsorship” with “low value ROI” and that is not what effective sponsorship marketing is all about.

Generally, we find that we get a better response from prospects when we refer to the opportunity as a “marketing partnership” or a “cooperative marketing opportunity”. When the opportunity is positioned in these terms, it implies a more commercial exchange with tangible benefits and measurable outcomes.

The bottom line is whatever words you use to describe the “opportunity”, you need to properly position the potential exchange of money or in-kind for the purpose of marketing benefit so that the reader gets an immediate sense of the “value proposition” of being involved with your organization and property. I’ll have more to say on this issue in an upcoming post.

Later,                                                                                                                                                     BC

Simply stated, if you are considering and/or currently doing this, you need to stop because you’re hurting yourself and the entire industry.  Sponsorship pricing needs to be based on a number of factors including, but not limited to:

• the Tangible Value of your assets (baseline value);
• the Intangible Value of your assets (i.e. level of exclusivity, uniqueness of the opportunity, audience make-up, prestige of the property, etc.);
• the cost of servicing the sponsorship;
• the going (fair) market value of similar opportunities; and,
• the ability of the sponsorship to make an impact on the audience.

So when you set the value of your sponsorship opportunity, that value should apply to all potential sponsors – big or small  – because the value is what it is and should be established at a level that you can confidently rationalize to yourself and any potential sponsor. What’s different is how the value will be perceived by different companies, depending on their particular marketing objectives at any point in time or the “pain” they are trying to eliminate through the sponsorship.

The bottom line – if you’re going to create basic sponsorship packages and/or levels, establish the “fair market value” for these opportunities as a starting point and be prepared to customize benefits packages as required to respond to a potential sponsor’s objectives. If a company with deep pockets (or even not) see real value in the overall opportunity, they won’t be hesitant to spend more if they see that additional investment will help them achieve their goals.

To learn more about determining the value and pricing your sponsorships, check out my Upcoming Webinar on June 22nd.

Later,                                                                                                                                                         BC

I’m pleased to announce that my firm (Centre of Excellence in Public Sector Marketing – CEPSM) and The Sponsorship Report have teamed up to present the first known Municipal Forum on Sponsorship to directly tackle the key issues involved with implementing a successful municipal sponsorship program. The one-day workshop will be held on October 17, 2011 at the Grand Hotel & Suites in Toronto.

Workshop content will focus on the many challenges that municipalities face in identifying, determining the value and packaging municipal assets; getting buy-in from Council, staff and the public; promoting and selling municipal assets and creating a cost-efficient infrastructure to implement and manage the program.

For more information and registration details, visit CEPSM or The Sponsorship Report.                                                                                                                                                   Later,                                                                                                                                                        BC

Our firm recently completed a comprehensive Sponsorship and Advertising Strategy for the City of Ottawa that when fully implemented, will generate over $3 million in annual revenue to the municipality. Based on our research of over 100 municipalities throughout Canada and the US, the City’s approach to corporate revenue generation is by far, one of the most strategic and ambitious in North America. The Sponsorship Report Article: http://bit.ly/SponsorshipOttawa

Critical to moving the strategy forward was the City’s forward-thinking approach in realizing that in order to be successful over the long-term, they would need to take a coordinated, professional approach towards identifying, packaging and marketing the City’s assets as well as putting the infrastructure in place to manage the program and deliver on the promises to its corporate partners.

So what does it mean to take a strategic approach towards municipal sponsorship development? Based on our experience with the City of Ottawa and other public sponsorship programs, the following are key strategic elements that need to be considered in establishing a municipal program:

• Having a Policy in place that supports the goals of the program, establishes the parameters for corporate partnerships and ensures transparency in the process.
• Having a governance structure in place to vet opportunities and ensure that the best interests of the municipality are maintained;
• Getting senior-level buy-in for the program across all business units that will be affected by the program;
  
• Addressing perceived or real barriers upfront on such issues as “How will the dollars raised be allocated?” and “How will this affect program budgets?
• Identifying the full scope of assets that the municipality can market to potential corporate partners as well as the fair market value of these assets;
• Having a communications strategy that effectively positions the corporate partnership program and communicates success stories;
• Establishing the required processes and infrastructure to market and manage the program; and,
  
• Educating staff (all levels) on the sponsorship process and how they can contribute to the goals of the program.

By taking an organized, strategic approach towards corporate revenue development, municipalities will find that they will be able to better leverage their assets, create sustainable revenue streams and be more positively received by potential partners.

I’ll be addressing some of the finer points related to this topic over the coming months. If you have a municipal success story or any specific topics or issues you’d like to discuss, I welcome your comments.

Later                                                                                                                                                      BC

When examining the range of potential sponsors, it’s important to remember that your property is really a conduit to your audience, so when a sponsor invests in your festival, conference, cause or association, they are really investing in an opportunity to connect with your audience members in some meaningful way. Therefore, if you want to expand the range of potential sponsors, you need go beyond demographics (i.e. age, sex), geodemographics (i.e.where they come from), socio-economic factors (i.e. education, income) to psychographics, which is an understanding of the values and lifestyles of your audience. Once you understand the values and lifestyles of your audience, you can ultimately determine what they buy – and when you are armed with this information, you can easily identify companies that sell these products or services to your audience.

For example: does your audience buy homes or rent? Do they drive F150’s or are they more environmentally sensitive and own smaller vehicles? Are they sports enthusiasts or Internet “gamers”? Is financial planning important to them or are they in a “live for today” mode? Are they family people or single? All these questions provide an understanding of the products your audience segment buys and what types of sponsors are more likely to be interested in, and successful in your environment.

So, the question you need to ask yourself is “who really is the audience I serve and what’s important to them”? This analysis can include both a business and personal level. The 3 questions below will help you identify your Top 30 Prospects:
1. What are the top 10 products or services my audience buys?
2. Who is the leading supplier of these products or services?
3. Who are the leading supplier’s top 2 competitors?

By taking the time to understand your audience, you will open the doors to a wide range of potential sponsors that may never have been on your radar before. And your sponsors will also be likely successful because you will be connecting them to people who are really interested in the products or services they offer.

Later,                                                                                                                                                      BC

• A clear understanding of their brand and unique positioning in the marketplace;
• A clear understanding of their audience (s) and their relationship with the same;
• Evidence-based research that supports their business / operational decisions;
• Customer-driven programs and services;
• A high level of customer satisfaction for the products they offer;
• A diversified revenue model;
• An effective communications program;
• A clear understanding of the value of their assets; and,
• A culture of innovation and improvement.

Simply stated, to be the type of organization that gets noticed by corporations, you need to consistently demonstrate your value in the marketplace and that comes from positioning your organization relative to the “competition” and delivering a product that is known and respected by your customers.

If you want to take your sponsorship program to the next level, you need to have a good understanding of marketing because in the end, that’s what effective sponsorships are all about.  And there is no better opportunity to learn about marketing in a public or not-for-profit environment than MARCOM 2011, May31-June 1 at the newly opened Capital Convention Centre in Ottawa. You’ll hear from experts from across Canada discussing how they have applied marketing tools and strategies to make their organizations more relevant and responsive in the marketplace.                                                                                           Later,                                                                                                                                                     BC