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Dear Tig,

We're preparing a proposal on sponsorship of our weekly email newsletter that reaches between 45,000 and 50,000 members. We also have a printed magazine distributed to our entire 100,000 membership. To complete this proposal, I'd like to be able to reasonably predict what impact soliciting sponsorship of our newsletters will have upon advertisers in the printed magazines. The fear is that it would cut into the success of our magazine advertising.

Thanks, On the Fence

Dear Fence-Sitter,

I'm quite confident that an email sponsorship will not entirely cannibalize offline sales. Of course, there may be some budget shifting among your existing advertisers. But remember that most companies keep two very different budget line items open for offline and online sponsorships.

(That this is the wrong way to handle budgeting is an entirely different matter that I won't address here.)

Suffice it to say that you can count yourself lucky that you get to exploit this market inefficiency. The fact that there is an independent pool of dollars for offline and online means that you're not getting your fair share of advertiser dollars unless you offer an online component.

The specific impact on your print sales will depend on a few factors. It will be greater if your online prices undercut your offline prices. It will also be greater if your print pricing structure is highly stratified, allowing advertisers to jump down a level to save money.

Of course, it will be negligible if you choose to sell the online product specifically to companies not currently advertising.

One word of warning: If your traditional sales people are compensated based on their print commissions, then they'll be very tempted to give your email media away. Don't let them do this. Once clients perceive it to be free, they'll never want to pay for it.

To prevent this, make sure your sales staff get even more of a commission from the smaller email media deals.

 

Dear Tig,

I work for a not-for-profit developing a sponsorship program for its well-respected arts festival. How can I make contact with large companies that might want to help sponsor the event?

Thanks, Not-for-Profit

Dear Not-for-Profit,

Large corporations generally don't like to do things in small doses, unless there's some sort of public relations benefit or other advantage. To that end, you might consider making some sort of post-event collateral product that they'll be able to use in promotional materials.

For instance, you could make a video of the event, focusing on the sponsor, clips of which could be used for advertising and PR purposes. This, along with a “thank you” plaque for corporate headquarters, will help encourage repeat sponsorships. These types of extras will also help sell potential new sponsors.

To narrow your target list to an efficient number of companies, use the web to find firms that have already sponsored similar types of events. Google tells me that “Art Festival” and “Corporate Sponsor” yields 45 results. These companies will be much more likely to want to hear your pitch.

 

Dear Tig,

I work in advertising for fundraising, generally for a commission on the funds raised. Do I own the intellectual property of "my" innovative programs, slogans, etc? Can I reproduce the same programs for other groups in other locations? Can I stop the original organization from using my ideas without me in future campaigns?

Thanks in advance, Still On Commission

Dear Still on Commission,

This depends on the deal you strike with your client organization. If you structure it as “work for hire,” the answer's no. If you're licensing them a packaged program for a limited time, then the answer's yes. In the absence of specific language in your work agreement, it gets fuzzier.

Generally, in the absence of specific contract language the “industry practice” prevails. And in the marketing industry, the much more common practice is for both client and agency to assume that the client owns the work.

Most client contracts I've made with advertisers specifically stipulate that the client owns the work after the agency has been paid. So, for you to continue to own the rights to your fundraising package, you must get your client to agree to your terms beforehand.