Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Thank you very much for all the input. It is a growing event, even with the difficult economic times.

Here is what one of our people was told by a businessman and a person who does marketing:

Marketing is a relationship of customer service. we are selling a concept.
We are NOT selling a product.
Therefore we do want to sell exclusvie to each if need to be.
Big events like state and regionals can have competitors in the same venue.
We are still growing.

If a sponsor can only give us this $$ amount this year, then they are in, they have been with us since the beginning, for what ever reason they are still with us, but have cut back. We don't bring his competitor in to see if they can bid higher. We are not selling product.
Right after our event, we then go to the competitor and ask them for the higher value, can they give us that, are they interested, while everything is fresh in their minds.
Granted we are all burned out, and don't want to deal with any of it until the beginning of the year.

Its like.
You have a cow, it gives you milk, cheese, butter, ice cream. etc.. But if you kill the cow, if gives you meat, hamburgers, steak.. etc. .. And its dead, and you have no cow for anything !!.

I'm not sure how to respond on this forum. I appreciate all input, and if possible would like more ideas. I just am not sure if I can respond without closing it.

We are two 501c3 groups who host this event; survival depends upon sponsorship money to pay for our "main" event, and we rent vendor booths to pay the rest of the bills.

1st year 2100 people and 400 dogs. 2nd year 2800+ people and 400 dogs. That isn't a bad increase in attendance so I think we are disappointed not only in our soda sponsor (no beer- family event) but many of our other sponsors are feeling the economic pain and dropping out. We will be scrabbling this year to make ends meet, which is why the exclusivity and burning our bridges is such a concern.

Great advice above from my colleagues. I can only add these two small tidbits.

1 - Exclusivity is standard in beverage sponsorships and it will be hard for you to get around that. Make the decision based on the long term relationship and the factors identified previously.

2 - Choose your radio partner based on the exposure they will give you. Look at the audience size and demographic. It doesn't do you any good to save a few dollars in this area if you lose your ability to pull big numbers to your event.

For most events, there is a natural cycle - great promotion drives a larger audience at your event - the larger audience will bring more sponsorships - more sponsorships will allow you to promote more...

Best of Luck, JohnnyB

Sponsors "feeling the crunch" is a totally different issue than whether or not to give exclusivity. Its also not the real issue-- if they felt they were getting something out of the event, they'd find the money.

Deciding to lower the sponsorship $$, or not to give exclusivity is a business decision. Handled professionally and upfront, bridges will not be burned.

But you have to partner with your sponsors and take care of them, cause when they leave you have situations like what you are feeling now.

Have you spoken with them, sat down with them, conversed what would it take to keep them at the current level? Or not pull out? Dig deeper than accepting the "economic times" excuse. I think its a stall vs a real objection.

Have empathy, but not sympathy. Of course cash is short, but the work you are doing, for them and the community is important too.

And don't just fold up the tent and say, "now I can't make ends meet"- you're going to have to roll up those sleeves, pound the phone and pavement to replace those sponsorship dollars. Adopt the attitude "failure is not an option".

No! I wasn't saying you were wrong in the first response.

I was giving you the advice one of our people was given the other day: "Here is what one of our people was told by a businessman and a person who does marketing:" etc...

I agree with your advice, and I am sharing your responses with our group.

We have divided responsibilty for different aspects of this event up, and from what I have learned here I think we all need to sit down and redo the way we think and have been doing business.

"We responded based on our interpretation of your question, but your first response was along the lines of telling us why we were wrong! Your second post provided some more detail on the event, but still no indication of what information you would like us to provide."

I hope you understand from my response above that I wasn't telling you you were wrong.

I really needed some insight on how to handle the radio and the beverage sponsors. The advice has been great, now we will need to sort through the responses and see what we can up with as a consensus with our group.

I am not one of the ones who has to sit accross the table and do the asking for money, my role is web site, printed materials, etc. Which brings up another question, do you help critique marketing materials? I would like to see what you think of what we have going so far.

This is going to be a very difficult year for us, and I really appreciate every post. Unfortunately, the beverage sponsor is definite about reducing their level and we will have to make it up with someone else. I feel better about trying now.

I will let you know how we come out.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

This is fun!

Likely they're dropping down to $1000 because they don't receive the value in exposure that they thought they'd get.

Ask for $1000 plus a percentage of sales in exchange for exclusivity.

Michael

No, we got no cut on their items. One of the problems was, the first year all food vendors had to sell their product. Which was ok, but it had to be 16 oz bottles so they made more money.
The second year, our person in our group forgot to specify 16 oz bottles and the food vendors asked them for fountain drinks. That is one grievance they brought up this year, but I suspect it was just an excuse to drop sponsorship. We should have been more on top of it though.

I certainly don't want to give them exclusivity on beverage sales at $1,000 but some in our group are scared to lose even that. That is an idea...but that wouldn't fly. According to them they didn't cover costs. But since it is a write off, I'm having difficulty with that. I'd just like to go to the other softdrink vendor.

We HAVE to raise at least $6000 to cover our main attraction of a national DockDog competiton. We have committed to 2 years. lol We'll do it, but we'll have to really work.

First, do you have another beverage sponsor? Focus on that. When you get one, you'll be able to make a good business decision.

the advice you are getting on here is great. I would just add this link I came across the other day. It may help, it's called five Things a Sponsorship Seeker Must Bring to a Sponsorship Meeting by Kim Skildum-Reid, online at https://blog.powersponsorship.com/index.php/2010/02/five-things-to-bring-to...

To me it sounds a bit more like the sponsors are controlling everything and not you. This article should help. And exclusivity is worth a lot of money for even a small show.

I would also recommend a book by Gail Bower, How to Jump-start Your Sponsorship Strategy in Tough Times available at https://www.gailbower.com/store/index.php

good luck!