kim leikinn-reid's
sameiginlegur sponsorship blog

�G er snerting vi� a einhver fj�ldi af sponsorship leita a� hver ert unsure hvar til byrjun me� r�s�na sponsorship, e�a �eir ert erfi�ur til ala upp sponsorship og �ess’ r�ttl�tur ekki atbur�ur. Margir af �� hafa lesa the b�k, en gera s�r lj�st �eir ��rf fleiri hj�lpa og �essi �a� af nau�syn til vera gera pers�nulegan. �eir einnig gera s�r lj�st �eir dont’ hafa the fj�rhags��tlun e�a t�mi fyrir a fullur r��gjafi.

Hva�a �eir raunverulega ��rf er a gefa start, svo vi� vins�ll krafa, Ive’ skapa the M�ttur Sponsorship Gefa start program fyrir sponsorship leita a�.

Sj� ni�ri fyrir ��kve�inn greinir � ensku yfirlit e�a s�kja skr� af fjarl�gri t�lvu the PDF b�klingur fyrir the M�ttur Sponsorship Gefa start fyrir ekki minna en the sm�atri�i!

Hva�a er innifalinn?

The M�ttur Sponsorship Gefa start er ��kve�inn greinir � ensku gera pers�nulegan program af menntun, far�egavagn, og velta efni �r�un. Youll’ vera vinnandi beint me� mig. The program fela � s�r:

�r�un af a upp�stunga sni�m�t

Ekki viss hvernig til s�ningarsk�pur �inn eign? Hva�a til fela � s�r � a upp�stunga? Ekki til hafa �hyggjur, eins og Kim Leikinn-Reid vilja �r�a a g��i upp�stunga sni�m�t fyrir �inn eign. The upp�stunga vilja vera undirsta�a � bestur �fa sig l�gm�l og styrktara�ili- hli� inns�n t�na ax fr� 25 �r af advising maj�r styrktara�ili.

�r�r far�egavagn fundur

�� vilja taka � m�ti �r�r far�egavagn fundur fyrir �inn nota yfir the r�s af sex m�nu�ur. Hvernig �� nota �essir fundur er upp til ��, en sumir upp�stunga ert:

• Samvinna � a h�gg listi af m�guleiki styrktara�ili
• �r�a a�laga sponsorship tilbo� til rifa inn � �inn upp�stunga sni�m�t
• Tilbo� ver�lagning, a� me�t�ldum �- g��ur valkostur
• Samningager� og endurn�jun undirb�ningur
• T�lubla� stj�rnun

�- krafa a�gangur til webinars

�� vilja taka � m�ti �- krafa a�gangur til fimm fullur- lengd webinars fyrir sponsorship leita a�, leyfa �� til flj�tt ala upp �inn eiga kunn�tta l�r�ttur fl�tur. �essir webinars fela � s�r:

• Frumskilyr�i af Bestur �fa sig Sponsorship (90 min)
• Bestur �fa sig Tilbo� �r�un (90 min)
• Bestur �fa sig Sponsorship Velta (90 min)
• Stuttur Lei�a- T�mi Sponsorship Velta (60 min)
• Gagnr�ninn Kunn�tta fyrir Styrktara�ili Var�veisla (60 min)

�- krafa r��

R�ttl�tur hafa a flj�tur spurning? �� geta email, kalla, e�a Skype mig hven�r sem er fyrir the t�malengd af the Gefa start.

M�la me� au�lindir

�� vilja taka � m�ti a eftirl�king afThe Sponsorship Seeker’s T�l 3rd �tg�fa, eins og heilbrig�ur eins og a hr�s af minn hv�tur litur papp�rar. Einu sinni �G skilja �inn �stand, Veikur’ einnig afla a listi af m�la me� lestur og au�lindir, a� me�t�ldum s�rstakur hluti afThe Sponsorship Seeker’s T�l, annar vi�eigandi b�k, hv�tur litur papp�rar, s�rstakur blogs til lesa, s�rstakur blogs og Kvak f��a til fylgja, og fleiri.

Samvinna workspace

Eins og a Gefa start vi�skiptavinur, �� vilja hafa a�gangur til a pers�nulegur, �ruggur, samvinna workspace fyrir skjal hlutdeild, spurning, athugasemd, og fleiri.

Hver vilja hagur fr� a Gefa start?

The Gefa start hefur been skapa fyrir sponsorship leita a� og er jafn vi�eigandi yfir afdr�ttarlaus, fr� arts f�lag til h�t��, faglegur �r�un til , og margir fleiri.

The program er fullkomlega kl��skeri til �inn af nau�syn. Ni�ri ert r�ttl�tur f�einir af the �stand hvar a Gefa start ) gera a raunverulegur mismunur til �inn aflei�ing:

• �� ert r�ttl�tur byrjun til leita a� sponsorship og ert unsure hvar til byrja.
• �� hafa a n�r eign fyrir hver til leita a� sponsorship, og �� vilja til f� fyrir fer�ina burt til a flug byrjun.
• �inn sponsorship program hefur gamall e�a h�gg a h�lendi og af nau�syn til vera reinvigorated.
• �� ert �hrifamikill upp � tegund – leita a� allst�r styrktara�ili en �� alltaf hafa ��ur – og vilja til f� fyrir fer�ina r�ttur.
• �� var�lfur hoping til finna a sponsorship mi�lari, en can’t finna g�� kaup einn, svo you’re � �inn eiga.
• �inn sponsorship velta li� er n�r e�a �reyndur, og �� ��rf �� upp til hra�i flj�tur.

Ekki viss ef a Gefa start er r�ttur fyrir ��? Falla okkur a l�na me� �inn spurning �admin@powersponsorship.com, OKKUR +1 612 326 5265, e�a AU +61 2 9559 6444.

�G hitta a einhver fj�ldi af styrktara�ili, og eitthva� �essi sl� mig me� �gnvekjandi t��ni er the sta�reynd �essi svo margir af �� ert alveg me�vitandi af hva�a bestur �fa sig sponsorship er ��ur �, og the hagur af a�ger� �a�, en haven’t taka allir st�ga til lyfta �eirra sponsorship a�koma til �essi l�r�ttur fl�tur.

Hvers vegna vildi svo margir styrktara�ili �mak til tala svo sem g�� kaup leikur, hven�r �eir hafa neitun auglj�s �hugi � leika �a�? Hva�a er st�fla �� fr� hr�fandi the st�ga nau�synlegur til hagur �eirra v�rumerki using a fleiri herstj�rnarlegur a�koma? The fleiri �G hugsa ��ur � �a�, the fleiri I’m sannf�ra it’s �tti. Ni�ri, I’ve outlined the five biggest fears I see all the time.

You’re afraid it will be more work

You’re right. Getting sponsorship to really fly does require a lot of work. The good news is that best practice sponsorship spreads that load to the most sensible people, so your workload is likely to be different, but not bigger.

Here’s the thing, sponsorship does not work in a vacuum. To get the most out of it, it should be used as a catalyst – integrated across your other marketing and business activities. That means, you will be working with decision-makers from across your company and, newsflash, they are all better at their jobs than you are.

Got a sponsorship with a social media angle? Work with your in-house (or contracted) expert to develop the plan and then – yay! – they implement it. Got an employee angle? That’s where the employee experts, HR, come in. Sales? Your sales team is much better placed to develop the promotions and get retail buy-in than you are. The list goes on and on.

If you do sponsorship right, your job changes from “doer” to “wrangler”, as you manage the process through the different departments. And because those departments are already experts, they will be able to accomplish a lot and do it both expertly and efficiently.

You’re afraid of the higher bar

What if you make some changes and, lo and behold, they actually work? Suddenly the bar may be raised on everything you do!

While some corporate managers relish in meeting higher expectations, not everyone is in that category. Let’s face it, some would rather coast.

The thing about best practice sponsorship is that once someone – read: your boss – sees how smart, effective, and creative it is, they will become best practice true believers and you will be a star. And yes, that means higher expectations.

The good news is that once you know how to construct a best practice sponsorship leverage and measurement program, it is easy to replicate the process for the rest of your portfolio. It’s creative, it’s fun, and so very gratifying. Thinking that you shouldn’t make the first jump because the bar will eventually go up is silly and self-defeating.

You’re afraid that if you take a different approach, it will make you look like you were dumb before

I see this one a lot. A sponsorship manager or team wants to make a change, but they don’t want to admit to colleagues and bosses that they had it wrong – or at least not right – before.

Here’s the good news: You have a window of opportunity. Best practice sponsorship is not so common that you will look like you were late to the party. It is new enough that you can say you’ve been doing some research on global best practice and you want to overhaul the approach. There is absolutely no shame in that, so take ownership and lead the process. Be the spearhead. You’ll look like a visionary.

You’re afraid the sell-in will be tough

This is a valid fear. Sometimes corporate cultures just don’t readily embrace change and knowing you have to fight inertia is enough to stymie any attempts at progress.

Education is your friend. Distribute white papers (“Last Generation Sponsorship” is a great start). Involve colleagues in leverage brainstorms. The fastest thing you can do, however, is to host some in-house training with someone who really knows best practice sponsorship and how to teach it. Show your colleagues the light and they will see the possibilities for your own brands.

You’re afraid the perks will dry up

Sponsorship managers – particularly at bigger companies – are on a pretty good wicket. They get invited to a lot of events and get a lot of tickets that mere mortals dream about. It’s so good, that it is perfectly understandable that you don’t want to change anything, just in case you miss out.

It won’t happen. There is every chance that your portfolio may change to better reflect brand and target market needs, but you’re still going to get all the good invitations. As long as you still have a hand in decisions, you will not miss out.

There you go. Five fears you really don’t need to have. There are no excuses. Get out there and embrace best practice – for your brands, your career, and yourself. You won’t regret it.

Here’s the thing… I’m not sure what to call what a sponsor does with their sponsorship. Way back when, it was referred to as “maximising” a sponsorship, then “leveraging”, and now much of the world (but not so much here) uses the term, “activation”.

I have to say, I naturally gravitate toward “leverage”. I think it is more accurate, as those activities serve as a multiplier – a “lever” – on the results achieved. That said, if I’m confusing people, I’m open to change.

So, I’m throwing it to you. I really want your opinion. Do you have a preference for “leverage” or “activation”? Most important, why do you feel that way? Or do you think they’re more or less interchangeable?

This blog is full of how-to about selling sponsorship. I thought I would do a quick round up of some of the very common ways sponsorship seekers undermine their own efforts.

1. Make assumptions about the sponsor’s objectives
2. Make assumptions about the sponsor’s target markets
3. Don’t customise the proposal (AKA use “search-and-replace”)
4. Take a shotgun approach
5. Offer sponsorship levels
6. Your tone is arrogant
7. Your tone is needy
8. Start the sales process with the proposal
9. Submit the proposal to the Sponsorship Manager
10. Submit the proposal to the CEO
11. Submit the proposal via an online form
12. Submit the proposal to an agency
13. Any kind of hard sell
14. Threaten to sell to a competitor
15. Send a “letter of request”
16. Corner the sponsor at a function
17. Include a lot of irrelevant props (DVDs, etc)
18. Concentrate on your needs, not the sponsor’s needs
19. Structure your proposal as follows: Loads of pages about your property, benefits list, price
20. Don’t give the sponsors enough lead-time to get a leverage program in place
21. Make a pest of yourself
22. Approach sponsorship as a “numbers game”
23. Claim your property has “broad general appeal”
24. Put a junior person in charge of sponsorship
25. Invoke guilt
26. Put the sponsorship out to tender
27. Tell the sponsor they will be “a good corporate citizen” or “give back to the community”
28. Spam the industry with your uncustomised proposal and a 5 GB attachment
29. Emit any sign of desperation

I was tossing up between that title and “No, I haven’t fallen off the edge of the planet”.

You’d be justified in thinking so, considering how quiet I’ve been recently. Quiet and un-prolific don’t really come naturally to me, but I’ve had some extenuating circumstances. Without going into the gory details, about seven weeks ago, I was totally blindsided and am now suddenly single. So, there you go.

My brain has just not been in the game. Or rather, it hasn’t been in the sponsorship game – not as much as it should be. The good news is that I’m feeling a lot more like my normal self. I’m back to writing and am beavering through all of the blogs I’ve left half-finished over the past couple of months. You’ll see a lot of new content being posted at a pretty rapid pace, so don’t panic if your RSS feed starts to clog up with my back-dated blogs. It’s temporary. I’m catching up.

More good news is that I’ve come up with a new service for sponsorship seekers, which will be launched next week.

The upshot is that I’m very glad to be back in this game, working and writing and offering advice on a subject that I really love: Corporate sponsorship. Thank you all for your patience while my brain has been otherwise engaged.