NCMC Sponsorship Tips Newsletter September 2006
Contents:
Keeping up with Marketing Trends can help Your Sponsor Search
FABCAR Motorsports and Rolex Grand American Series
Branding Services for the Sponsor Search
Keeping up with Marketing Trends can help Your Sponsor Search
I’ve read a number of great business management and marketing books through
out my career. Back in my early days, the trend in business management was a
concept called “Excellence” and there were a number of books written that
taught companies how to achieve it. Then came SPIN Selling and it was a great
method for making the long-term sale; and I still advocate the process. One
thing I've learned is that many such concepts are merely repackaged concepts
that are part of existing good business management principles. All they do is
teach a new generation how to do things that the founders of good business
management knew a hundred years ago.
I recently contacted a company that told me their new marketing paradigm had
sent them away from sponsorship into an entirely new marketing approach they
called “demand generation.” Well, I thought, hmmm, sounds like a rephrasing
of the term "major account selling", but when the marketing manager told me
they were focusing it on consumers, I thought it might be another term for
"brand marketing." Immediately, I suggested that they look at sponsorship
from a sponsor valuation standpoint, comparing the cost of sponsorship to
other forms of advertising and coupling it with measurable programs. Her
response was that her board of directors wanted "demand generation" programs.
Sorry.
That’s one thing I like about talking to corporate execs. They are smart and
up on the new ideas that are designed to make them better. Yet the problem
with trends and new concepts is they go the way of the adoption curve. This
means that a new trend in marketing will work, but once the idea becomes
common it loses effectiveness and eventually yields to the next new idea.
What struck me about her comments, however, is that sports sponsorship is ALL
about "demand generation." Her board of directors just didn't get it.
Let’s face it, success in business comes from three principles of action. 1)
Hard work 2) long hours and 3) selling a product that everyone needs. You can
mitigate the first two principles if you are selling something everyone
needs. So principle number 3 will work if you are selling something like oil
or automobiles, but may not work if you are selling something no one wants
such as e-coli tainted spinach. There is just no demand for spinach right
now. Sports sponsorships create demand by exposing sports fans to new brands
and connecting those brands with loved athletes and personalities, the
excitement and drama of sport and the hope of winning. Sport creates brand
loyalty and it is one of the most effective means for doing it.
But my discussion with the marketing manager did point up something that
applies to sponsorship sales: earning sponsorship is all about generating a
demand for your sports property. How can you become become the sponsorship
brand that everyone wants? You need to find ways to distinguish your brand so
people recognize it and have a reason for buying it over other brands. That
means you need demand generation for your team.
Your Demand Generation Program
So if sponsorships are really a good way to create demand for products, how do
you ensure that you can help a sponsor gain that new demand? Here are a few
tips.
- Make sure they know that you know
Your job is to help them get more sales, especially new sales. Make sure
your sponsor knows that you know your job. Always be aware of your sponsors’
issues, what are their hot buttons, what do they want to see you do, say, and
how do they want you to say it? Ask them how you are doing in terms of real
returns. If they are having a problem measuring the returns, ask them if
there is anything you can do to help.
- Be a trusted adviser
I like the analogy about the king who always kept his trusted adviser close
by. Those advisors that didn’t keep his trust lost their jobs and their
necks. A trusted adviser is always looking for new ways to help their
sponsors succeed, always leveraging every event, every success, every news
article to help his sponsors. And he is always open to new ideas the sponsor
brings to you. Be an asset to your sponsors, not just an employee.
- Create your own business network
How many of your sponsors could be doing business with each other? Have
you worked to see about putting them together? How much business are you
doing with them? We should always be seeking to do business with our friends
and our best friends are our sponsors. Why shouldn’t your sponsors want to do
business with each other?
- Always have the sponsors’ best interest at heart. This is key to your
establishing trust and a strong long-term relationship. In addition, word
of mouth about your property will spread and you will be seen as a value by
other potential sponsors.
- When the sponsor asks for anything, make it a priority.
- Always measure what you do for the sponsor in terms of dollars. Always
be prepared to express to the sponsor how many dollars you have made for
them. This may not always be possible but try to the best of your ability
to convert everything you do to tangible results.
Getting back to my discussion with the marketing executive, what’s the
problem? Why can’t she sell her board of directors on motorsports
sponsorship? Here are some ideas:
- They’ve had a bad experience. Either they did not do a good job of
developing an effective activation strategy or they had none at all. Worse,
the teams they sponsored did not do a good job of creating demand for their
products. In fact, this company was once in NASCAR as a primary sponsor.
Perhaps they were lost in the shuffle.
Bad experiences are everywhere in motorsports. You see it when a sponsor does
not do adequate research in identifying good properties. A good sponsor
valuation will help in comparing the cost of sponsorship to other forms of
advertising. This is a start toward putting together a good program. So put
“sponsor valuation” into your bag of new terms. What is the value of your
property in terms of advertising dollars?
Another problem could be that the activation strategy they put into effect was
not well-thought out. Sometimes the problem here is quirky board members that
think sponsorship is a bad investment and they refuse to allocate enough
dollars for the programs that would leverage and gain value from the
sponsorship. When you hear this happening with a sponsor, watch out, you’re
next to get the axe unless you can figure out cost-effective ways to prove you
can bring real value. And when a marketing VP does not get support from his
superiors, well then the marketing plan is doomed and so are sales. To learn
more about NCMC's sponsor support services, check
http://www.i-sponsor.com.
FABCAR Motorsports and Rolex Grand American Series
FABCAR Motorsports is available to manage race teams for your company.
Turnkey services can be created for virtually any team. In addition, the
company seeks to participate in the Rolex Grand American Series in 2007.
Interested sponsors should contact Robert Villegas at 1-317-881-3826
Branding Services for the Sponsor Search
NCMC has developed a new paradigm for the sponsor search. This service is
designed to leverage a solid package and tangible value in order to ensure a
better sponsor search for our clients. Learn more at
http://www.insmkt.com/teambrand.htm.
Robert Villegas
CEO
New Century Marketing Concepts
1-317-881-3826
http://www.i-sponsor.com
sponsorship123@aol.com
Books
