Tomorrow is July 1-Canada Day, or for us old timers-Dominion Day. There will be festivals and events across this great nation celebrating Canada Day-our national birthday. In two years’ time, in 2017, those festivities will likely be ten times as many and ten times the size we celebrate our 150th birthday. Festivals and events are an important vehicle for marketers. In fact, events such as Canada Day, the Durham Festival, the Coombs Fair, Winterlude in Ottawa, the Grey Cup Festival, Canadian Music Fest, and many others are huge marketing channels that deliver trackable and measured positive results for brands. The incremental dollars being allocated to festivals and events is staggering. In fact, the Canadian Sponsorship Landscape Study shows that this is the second largest category (after pro sports) for sponsorship dollars and the most steady growth sector over the nine years of the study.
Events drive results. So why are we not making more money from them? Why are so many festivals (many smaller) still struggling to attract sponsors and the revenue they rightfully deserve?
I attribute this lack of success to three main reasons. Over the past several years, the Partnership Group – Sponsorship Specialists™ has worked with many festivals and events to help them make changes to be successful. It is a huge paradigm shift, but the track record is proven. Our festival and event clients have seen success when they have been able to make these changes. Here are the three main road blocks to success that need to be overcome.
1. Shift from selling product to providing solutions. Too many festivals and events have a series of “stock packages” ranging from $500 to $50,000. They are out pushing product, selling packages like the multi-level marketing company sales folk do. They sell what they have been given.
The shift is to provide solutions. Sit with the prospects. Figure out what they are trying to achieve and their budget to achieve their goals, then custom build a sponsorship program that will work for them.
Be the private tailor or dressmaker-not the “off the rack” salesperson.
2. Understand the strength of event marketing overall and illustrate to the prospect how effective event sponsorship can be versus traditional marketing (where their money probably is) such as TV, radio, outdoor, and print. According to a Salesforce research study, 38% of 5,000 surveyed marketers plan to shift from traditional mass advertising to advertising on digital channels. Digital marries events and content like a hand in a glove!
Research from the Event Marketing Institute shows that 93% of consumers believe events are more effective than TV commercials, print advertising, online banner advertising, and radio. The same study shows that 98% of consumers who tell a friend or family member about their event experience will mention a brand or company name associated with the event. In post event surveys, 74% of consumers reported a more positive opinion of the companies, brands, products, or services associated with the event.
Event marketing through sponsorship is effective and delivers better ROI than where most of your prospects are presently placing their marketing dollars. Your job is to educate them about this.
3. Know what you have to sell. There is nothing worse than going to market and not understanding the depth and breadth of your assets. It is essential that you know and have a list of all the assets you have available to sell, from introducing a band to providing sampling, from banner space to naming rights, from hosting and hospitality to behind-the-scenes activities. You need to know this list inside and out, and the values of all those assets. Like your competition, TV, outdoor, and radio, you need to know the real market value of your assets. Radio knows the CPM when asked or the GRP delivered. Papers can tell you the line rates based on circulation and other PMB information. Do you have third party validation of your asset values? Do you know what you should be getting for your each?
It is essential that you know what you have to sell and the value of those assets. WalMart always knows what is on its store shelves and the related value of those assets. That is why it is successful. You need to do the same-no matter if you are the Shediac Lobster Festival or the Pacific National Exhibition!
These are just one person’s thoughts. Yours are welcomed as well. Please add your thoughts or comments below. Thank you for reading and your feedback.
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