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Today’s question: “I’m new to sponsoring & speaking and totally overwhelmed by the ideas and options for maximizing my sponsorship. How do I narrow the options down to what’s most important?”
LOVE this question!
You’re right – there are loads of advanced sponsorship strategies, and especially when you’re first starting out, that can lead to overwhelm and sabotage your results if you get stuck in “analysis paralysis” or try to include too many strategies and do a half-a– job with all of them.
Sponsorship can lead to either dismal or spectacular results, and of course you want to land on the spectacular side of that equation!
So, let me answer this question by sharing what I see as the 5 Sponsorship Basics – these are the things that will most ensure your success with your sponsorship results.
Basic #1: Choose your sponsorships carefully. Most important here is to choose events your ideal clients attend. You also want to know that they are qualified buyers – in other words that they have had to invest in some way to attend the event. Ask a lot of questions when you’re considering a sponsorship. It has to be a right fit for your business and goals.
Basic #2: Calendar everything! Once you’ve made the decision to sponsor the event, sit down with your assistant and your calendars and calendar all pre-event, actual event, and event follow-up deadlines and activities. Be sure to calendar multiple days (or even an entire week) after the event for follow-up calls, which are essential to actually making money from your investment.
Basic #3: Create a sponsor booth that represents you and attracts your ideal clients. Think in terms of you magnified here – not “who else do I need to be in order to attract people?” Your booth must represent the authentic you if you want to attract the people who are looking for you AND who you will truly enjoy serving. Think authentic, not gimmicky!
Basic #4:Be the expert that you are from the minute you walk into the event venue and have effective conversations with people you meet there. In order to do this, you’ll first need to know your exact goal for the event. And remember why you are there. You are there to be a valuable resource to the attendees, not to be a fellow participant!
Basic #5: Follow-up! Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard it a hundred times – “The Fortune is in the Follow-up!” Well, actually this statement is totally true! That first week after the event is critical to your ROI from your sponsorship. People are still conscious and open from the event, and they probably haven’t been totally sucked back into their pre-event apathy and inaction yet. And even if they’re not ready to buy from you yet, this is a great time to re-connect with them so they remember who you are when they do need you.
If you’re overwhelmed by your sponsorship, start with these 5 basics. And do them really well. And you will be on your path to the results you want!
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