We have all been there, you get called to a meeting with your stations Program Manager, they have committed the station to an event as an official sponsor (and usually not consulted anyone about it – but we won’t point fingers will we?). ARGH!!!
Now the hard work begins. Now the sales team have to sell the sponsorship of the event. But before it gets to them, you need to do some work on it to polish the presentation that will go out, now that the station is an ‘official sponsor’ of the event.
First you need to recognise as the ‘Promotions Person’ at the station that your job is to make the sales job easier. They need to be able to sell a package that will appeal to clients, make them money, and make the sales team money too (honestly, most sales team members don’t usually think that they are making money for the station, only for themselves).
Before you put the packaged proposals together (I will call them ‘PROPS’ for the rest of this article), here are 10 things to consider:
- Make sure you have 3 price ranges in EVERY Prop. From the basic sponsorship to a full blown credit, that way a client can be upsold if they spend more, or may take complete ownership of a sponsorship because they are prepared to be associated with the event. I have known business owners who didn’t know they could spend more on a sponsorship, because it was never presented to them – make sure they have options – 3 at the most, 2 at the least.
- Make the tie in of the promotion, with your station, relatable for your customers customer – ie: your listener. Will it appeal to them and get them to go to the store in question? Make a call to the sponsor, check out their website? Do something to make sure that the sponsor gets some type of measurable feedback.
- Offer an incentive in the prop for clients. Incentives should not be limited to bonus spots, but if they spend X dollars, then they may get a free cross or outside broadcast remotely from their store. Free signage, interviews, appearances or tickets to the event that they are sponsoring. Something to incentivize them to agree to the sponsorship deal, the more they spend the more they get.
- Dig into your prize cupboard, give the client some freebies or added value to say thanks when they agree to sponsor. Don’t give them boxes of stuff, just a couple of things to say thanks.
- Make sure that your promo, or any promo is going to appeal to your listeners by really thinking about it. Is $1,000 to pay off their credit card a better deal than a deposit on a car? How you word your promo and how it appeals to the audience is very important.
- Don’t just put the same price on the prop that every other prop has. Sure the General Manager and Sales Manager have to be happy, but the price needs to reflect the prize, the recovery and what listeners will think of the prize or sponsorship. Price it to sell or it won’t.
- You have to also remember to offer an incentive to the sales staff. Give them time to sell and offer some form of motivation to be the first through the door with a sale – be it a silly gift, certificate, food, coffee, something that will make their day a little brighter for going that extra yard.
- Drive traffic on-air to the store that agreed to sponsor. Seeing more people in their store will make clients think better and more favourably on future sponsorships. This ‘mental return’ on their spend works wonders.
- With your 3 different price ranges in your props, target the ego of a store owner. Naming them the “OFFICIAL” or “EXCLUSIVE” sponsor for a top spender is far better than being listed with other sponsors who are somewhere in the middle of this “thanks to blah, blah, and blah, blah blah!”
- Finally, Track activity and share that with the sponsors. That means, log how many callers called in, use recordings and send them to the sponsor on a regular basis during the sponsorship time, if you are doing remotes and crosses to their business TAKE PHOTOS! Get them out of the business to stand with and talk to listeners who have come out. Share those on social media and send photos and videos to clients to use on their socials.
