Sales Tips From Billboard Touring Conference
Posted: 11/19/2009 12:51:43 PM by
William Chipps | with 0 comments
Below, four takeaways that emanated from the sponsorship panel I moderated at last week’s Billboard Touring Conference and Awards.
Start the sales process early. Properties should hit the street with sponsorship opportunities at least six to nine months prior to an event.
The length of time extends dramatically when pitching packaged goods and other types of companies that sell through retail channels. Case in point: Drew McGowan, senior group manager of public relations & sponsorships with The Clorox Co., is currently putting together programs for ’11.
Offer tailored packages. Rather than the typical gold, silver and bronze sponsorship packages, 4Fini—producer of the Vans Warped Tour, Rockstar Mayhem Fest and next year’s upstart Country Throwdown—works with sponsors to create custom packages culled from a list of available assets.
The strategy allows 4Fini to develop packages geared to each sponsor’s marketing objectives, said Sarah Baer, director of tour sponsorships and marketing.
Don’t walk away from sponsors that say no. Looking to build relations over the long term, 4Fini offers concert tickets to prospects that passed on an opportunity as a way to demonstrate what a relationship could look like.
4Fini also offers smaller packages—such as sponsorship of several stops on the Vans Warped Tour—to let sponsors test a partnership, with the goal of expanding the relationship into a full-blown tour sponsorship, Baer said.
ROI isn’t always driven by sales. For Clorox, direct sales are just one piece of the measurement equation.
“We’re trying to maximize ROI from two standpoints, return on investment and return on involvement. Are we creating programs that are enhancing our consumers’ lives and truly engaging them in a way that they want to share these ideas with their friends and family?” McGowan said.
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Filed under: events, how to get sponsorship, music, packaging, entertainment