Sponsorship Strategist

Don’t Fear a Sponsorship Apocalypse

If you follow news about corporate sponsorship, you might think we’re preparing for an apocalypse. Do a search and if there are stories about corporate sponsorship and certain areas of our culture — particularly municipalities, education, and parks, nature, and the environment — there will be handwringing, anxieties, and panic among the citizenry that the world is coming to an end. That world is black and white, on or off. No gray, no dimmer switch, no continuum. Fueling the anxieties are some reporters who imagine sponsorship in worst-case scenario terms. Take, for instance, a recent story in The Washington Post... Read more →

Sponsorship relationships in balance

Getting the balance right is what leads to a great, long-lasting relationship. Read more →

Measuring sponsorship ROI: when the wrong people buy corporate sponsorship on your behalf

Find out what happens when the wrong metrics are used to evaluate and measure sponsorship ROI and how marketers and brand managers may be at risk. Read more →

How to recognize — & run away from — a terrible job in corporate sponsorship

You’re thinking about your next career opportunity, and you’re ready to take your next step towards a new position in sponsorship. You’re ready for a new challenge. Good for you, and congratulations! Evolution, continuous learning, and challenging ourselves are what make life — and us as individuals — more interesting. Go for it! That new corporate sponsorship job may sound great, but is it? Or will it drag you into the quicksand? Before you sign on the dotted line, however, don’t get caught in the quicksand of sponsorship positions. These are jobs that may sound great but actually may drag... Read more →

More about understanding sponsorship

If you sell sponsorship, you should hope that your prospects read Seth Godin's influential blog because today's post endorses sponsorship. Godin cites several reasons why corporate sponsorship is a good medium, particularly for reaching "an elite or allusive demographic," in an era of exploding media options. (I wrote about this very topic earlier in the explosion, which you can read here, making the case for why sponsorship is a highly effective choice among our fragmenting, proliferating media.) He encourages people seeking sponsorship to understand more about why corporations sponsor to begin with and notes five reasons: Substitute for advertising. Bragging... Read more →

How to know if your event has too many sponsors

Thanks to The Onion, here's an easy way to decide if your event or festival is oversaturated with sponsors. Enjoy! Read more →

Baltimore sponsorship workshop for nonprofit leaders

I will collaborate again with the Baltimore Business Journal next Friday for a special workshop for nonprofit leaders, designed to enhance results with corporate sponsorship. Corporate Sponsorship Workshop We'll start the morning with Partnering with Corporations: Five Strategies to Increase Sponsorship Income during which attendees will learn to: Increase the value of sponsorship opportunities Improve the fee structure of sponsorship offerings Enhance the structure of opportunities to increase revenue and marketing exposure Explore sponsorship opportunities for programs and other initiatives, not just events Expand and nurture networks so building partnerships comes naturally. Roundtable Afterwards, for those who'd like to take... Read more →

The Banished 13: Corporate sponsorship practices we could do without in 2013

It's a new year and an excellent time to consider your sponsorship operation anew. Here are 13 practices by both corporations and sponsorship sellers that are a good place to start. Time to let these dated, ineffective behaviors or operations go. Suggestions for corporate sponsors. Online forms. The conundrum is that you receive tons of proposals that don't begin to meet your objectives. I get it. My company receives enough off-the-mark sponsorship proposals to make the extrapolation easy. But here's the thing: you're turning away good opportunities and the potential for meaningful relationships with organizations that won't waste their time.... Read more →

Sponsorship workshop: confidence builder

One of the biggest challenges organizations and event producers face in their sponsorship development efforts is how to actually approach potential corporate sponsors with confidence. If you'll be in Philadelphia on Thursdsay, August 16, 2012, join me for a workshop with the Philadelphia Business Journal and colleague Robb Pardee. Supercharge Your Nonprofit will provide you with the tools, approach, process, and confidence to take action and introduce the value you have to offer to potential corporate partners. Cultivating Powerful Partnerships with Corporations Walking through the doorway into a prospective partner’s office can be a thrilling or anxiety-provoking moment. Join marketing... Read more →

Celebrating jazz and sponsorship

More good sponsorship news today. (See my earlier post.) Are these signs that we might like sponsors more now, since the days of TARP and bailouts? The New York State Senate issued a resolution today, proclaiming June "Jazz Month" in honor of the 35th Anniversary of Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, produced for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center by my dear friend and colleague Dan Melnick, president of Absolutely Live Entertainment, and their teams. The festival –– founded by George Wein of legendary Newport Jazz Festival and Newport Folk Festival fame, among a whole host of important music events –– has... Read more →