A couple of weeks ago, as I mentioned, I moderated a terrific panel discussion at the Sport Event Congress in Toronto. It was discussing what makes smaller communities so successful in bidding and hosting sport events. The panelists were terrific. They spoke of what they do right, what lessons they learned along the way, and how they repeat success.
I believe this “sport tourism” success can be (and is) duplicated in other industry sectors. Too often, I hear, “Oh, just the big markets can afford to do that,” or “Just the large organizations have the infrastructure to do that,” or even “We are too small to do that.” I say that is a pile of you-know-what.
Tonight, I am in the community of Marwayne, Alberta. It is a village of less than 600 people about 45 minutes northwest of Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan, which is about two and-a-half hours east of Edmonton. They are building a new centre and will undertake to sell sponsorship and possibly naming rights. I am there because we have been hired to assist them in this process. Tonight, I am delivering a two-hour workshop for all the community organizations (from 4H to charities, the agricultural society to charities to sport teams) on how to generate sponsorship revenue for a small community. They know they can be successful and have undertaken to acquire the tools and training to do so.
On the sport organization side, we have done work for the Alberta Sport and Recreation Association for the Blind, the Association for Canadian Mountain Guides, the Vancouver Island Mountain Sports Society, and also the Montreal-based Canadian Deaf Sports Association. Each of these organizations has taken on the perspective that they have something of value that others want from a marketing perspective. They are out seeking sponsorship opportunities and have the tools and training to do so. None of these (and other organizations across the country) say, “We are too small.”
Charities, municipalities, and membership organizations can all do the same (and some are). They can be successful. The City of Yorkton, Saskatchewan; the Town of Minnedosa, Manitoba; and the Municipality of North Cowichan are all either looking to engage or actively involved in a municipal sponsorship program. Burlington Ribfest, Alberta Wilderness, Renascent-none of these are top brands in Canada or even in their own backyards, but all are engaged in corporate sponsorship as a revenue channel. So when I hear, “We cannot afford to get into corporate sponsorship the right way,” or “We are too small to have anything of value to sell” or terms like that, I feel sick. These organizations are defeating themselves before they get out of the starting gate. I encourage those that have the leadership, like the folks in Marwayne, to buck the system and get the ball rolling. You are not too small to be successful.