Originally published in BowerPower Papers. Get on the list so you don't miss an issue.
If you made a giant pile of all the money that is invested in corporate sponsorship, then subcategorized it, 70 percent of it goes to sports.
That statistic has remained essentially the same for at least 30 years.
Another 10 percent goes to entertainment and tours.
That leaves 20 percent for everything else: causes, arts & culture, festivals and fairs, and associations.
Obviously, tapping into the celebrity system, sports and entertainment are unbeatable for sheer volume of audiences. Besides the enormous stadiums, these properties command influence over the media and social media.
That’s big. And attractive. I get it.
But I started wondering what else would justify 80 percent of all the dollars and how my clients could take a bite out of this number.
After all, having produced some pretty gigantic festivals that also have global renown, reach, and audiences, I know that in sponsorship, size doesn’t always matter. Quality does.
I discovered that performance leads to success with sponsorship. I wanted to understand what constituted high performance and set about researching the components that matter.
Ultimately, I identified eight key drivers of success.
When I work with clients, I often have them use an assessment tool I created, called SATellite: the sponsorship assessment tool for seeing your prsopects. This proprietary tool can give us a snapshot of where your organization is already strong—so we build on that—and where you need to focus and improve.
8 Key Drivers of Sponsorship Success
- Quality of the Property. Your event, program, campaign, initiative—whatever you’re acquiring sponsors for—has to be superior.
- Quality of the Sponsorship Program. Your program has to focus on value and significant ROI for your corporate partners.
- Quality of Income. This sounds obvious but if you’re putting together great value, then losing money on it, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
- Organizational Competence. Your organization has to be in alignment strategically and operationally to make sure your sponsorship program succeeds. I’ve talked to many sponsorship sellers over the years whose colleagues, supervisors, and/or board members are working at cross purposes.
- Leadership. The leader of the organization must always optimize the strategy for sponsorship success.
- Individual Performance. The person charged with initiating and growing corporate relationships must be skilled, strategic, creative, and most of all, enthusiastic.
- Client Relationships. Nothing substitutes for great, trusting relationships with your sponsors.
- Sales Process. A methodical and assertive process keeps the focus on key metrics.
These eight facets of your operation work together as a system and, when operating at optimum levels, lead to your success.