100 Reasons You’re Still Searching For Sponsorship
Things have to get better than this year right? The best part about 2009 is that it has re-focused both buyers and sellers on what really matters in sponsorship. Marketers are creating leaner, more effective sponsorship portfolios and properties (”sellers”) have been forced by the competitive environment to take an honest look at their sales practices and offerings. In the end, I’m convinced we’ll all come out better for it. Properties will sell better, sponsors will have more positive outcomes, and sponsorship as a practice will have more successful case studies. Until then…
100 Reasons You’re Still Searching For Sponsors
100. You sold exposure, your prospect wanted relevance
99. Your property wasn’t “green” enough
98. Your team fixed a race
97. You didn’t prospect for multi-nationals
96. Your title left and so went their business partners
95. The sponsor decided to create their own property
94. It competed with yours and took your sponsors
93. You bought a certified measurement
92. The sponsor did their own certified measurement
91. New legislation ate it
90. You focused on your assets
89. You didn’t focus on their needs
88. You spent too much time watching webinars
87. You didn’t spend enough time listening to sponsors
86. You called it alliance
85. You called it sponsorship
84. You called it partnership
83. Your prospect was thoroughly confused
82. You didn’t “sell up” through regional and local constituents
81. The proposal management system ate it
80. Your property isn’t big enough
79. Not enough media
78. Your consultant over-promised
77. The prospect’s agency ate your proposal
76. You didn’t look outside of sponsorship periodicals for business and marketing trends
75. You didn’t explore new categories
74. Your boss’ pricing expectations were unrealistic
73. You thought SpongeTech would sponsor forever
72. You sold name awareness, not brand
71. You sent a wrap-up report that looked like a sales brochure
70. Your prospect was too lazy to forecast ROI
69. Your sponsorship opp didn’t have cross-divisional appeal
68. You listened to “experts,” instead of your sponsor
67. Financials were hibernating
66. You sent your prospect to a paypal button
65. Your prospect is going more direct to customer this year
64. You didn’t have a witty reply to “its the economy”
63. Your prospect’s budget was too low
62. Your asking price was too high
61. Your sponsor got ambushed last year
60. Your prospect found a way to ambush this year
59. Your book of sources was outdated when it was printed
58. You didn’t follow-up with conference contacts
57. That contact from the conference referred you to…
56. The auto industry
55. They’re spending on the ——- festival instead this year
54. You didn’t know your audience demographics
53. Your team’s not winning
52. The jersey patch didn’t peak interest
51. Your athletes have competing sponsors
50. Your teams have a competing sponsor
49. You have a competing sponsor
48. You didn’t share contacts/leads with peer properties
47. You don’t know how much traffic your website gets
46. You didn’t start selling early enough
45. You inflated attendance numbers
44. You started with “banner inclusion”
43. Your prospects CEO doesn’t play [insert sport]
42. No sponsor summit
41. Your sponsors didn’t give you case studies 40. You didn’t sell your sponsor success stories
39. You looked at your sponsors as competing for attention at your event
38. Your competitor sold cross-partnership opportunities among his/her sponsors
37. You sold a multi-year package
36. Your prospect wanted to “test the waters”
35. Your existing sponsors didn’t activate making you look bad
34. Your sponsor changed marketing strategy
33. You didn’t offer the opportunity to shift assets with it
32. You didn’t look for ways to cross-partner with similar properties
31. You didn’t have a cause/charity tie-in
30. You thought social media meant myspace
29. Your sponsor went bankrupt
28. Your sponsor had layoffs
27. New legislation changed your sponsor’s objectives
26. You sold sponsorship manager, but..
25. Sponsorship manager left the company
24. Your sales agent ate it
23. You didn’t sell multiple constituents within your target co.
22. You didn’t focus on how the sponsor can prove ROI
21. Naming rights are so 2000
20. People don’t want to party (hospitality)
19. You had a PR nightmare
18. You didn’t use your network to find new company contacts
17. You kept calling… and calling
16. Your website is outdated
15. You couldn’t find the decision-maker
14. You went through the sponsor’s agency
13. You didn’t use all of the online tools at your disposal
12. You didn’t use that same agency to build support
11. You didn’t get creative with benefits
10. You waited expectantly from a single company in the category
09. You didn’t pitch to other companies in the category
08. You focused too much on signage and seats
07. You didn’t spend enough time selling spirit and “soft benefits” of your event
06. You already sold a category that was too broad
05. You pitched hospitality to scared banks and autos
04. You didn’t research your prospect’s biz
03. You weren’t flexible with fee structure
02. Your prospect didn’t want to be your 77th sponsor
… and when all else fails…
1. The Economy
Don’t let that get you down though. Afterall just think of the alternatives to sponsorship. You’re certainly not alone if you haven’t met your sponsorship goals this year. Some things you can control, some things you can’t. The point of this exercise wasn’t meant to be a downer, but rather show you that there are a million ways to sour a sponsorship deal, and only one sure way to win one…
The 1 reason you got a sponsorship:
You were agile, adapted to a volatile environment and sold to specific sponsor needs
Anything else to add to the list? Feel free to add it in comments below.
photo credit via flickr: gerlos
