Selling
How To Attract, Secure, Upsell Mobile Marketers
Sellers should view mobile marketers as potential sponsors, not simply renters of space.
1/21/08: Even as cold January winds rattle through shuttered fairgrounds and other outdoor event sites, marketers and agencies are busy readying their mobile marketing tours to hit the road when fair and festival season returns.
That means it also is time for properties looking to host and partner with mobile marketers to lay the groundwork that will maximize interest in and revenue from those campaigns.
As a growing number and variety of companies take to the highway to interact with consumers and showcase their latest and greatest wares, properties are finding such tours to be a lucrative revenue stream that can dramatically impact the bottom line.
For example, Baltimore’s three-day
Artscape festival brought on six new mobile marketing programs last year, a move that played a significant role in lifting its revenue from corporate partners nearly 70 percent.
IEG SR reached out to properties and mobile marketing agencies to identify the most important steps sellers can take to maximize the amounts they can earn from prospective and existing mobile marketing partners.
Approach agencies, not marketers. Properties interested in hosting mobile marketing programs should reach out to the firms that manage traveling tours on behalf of corporate clients.
While the client controls the budget and makes the final call on where tours will go–identifying stops, negotiating deals and implementation is handled by the agency.
“The initial step is to make your property known to as many agencies as possible,” said Dan Fromm, president of Barkley Sponsorships & Events, which routes tours for Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. and other clients.
For example, Barkley has compiled a database of properties. The agency adds events and updates information–including location, attendance and other data–on a regular basis.
A handful of agencies dominate the mobile marketing space. Those firms, including Aspen Marketing Services, GMR Marketing, Pierce Promotions and U.S. Concepts, handle tours for many clients. Other agencies typically represent one or two clients for mobile marketing.
Apart from specialist agencies, properties should note that some marketers use their ad agencies to develop and route tours.
For example, Ten United runs mobile programs for Abbott Laboratories Inc.’s ZonePerfect nutrition bar, while Rubin Postaer and Assocs. plans and manages tours for American Honda Motor Co.
In addition to agencies, Fromm recommends properties reach out to Seattle-based Festival Media Corp., an event aggregator that brokers deals between sponsors and properties.
“From time to time we may have a weekend that we need to fill, and they can help us put together a schedule. If I’m a property, that’s another place I’d try to build a relationship,” he said.
Properties can stay front and center with agencies and others throughout the year by emailing them event newsletters, sponsor press releases and other updates and information.
To stay on top of agency developments and plans for new tours, properties should keep up with trade publications and periodically visit the Web sites of mobile marketing agencies.
Research mobile activity at other properties. Fromm recommends that properties check out the Web sites of similar types of events to see who those properties are working with. When possible, he suggests attending those events as well.
“I would go to similar festivals to get a feel for the types of companies that are conducting mobile marketing programs and their on-site presence,” he said.
Research mobile activity by current sponsors. Properties can upsell existing partners by offering real estate they can use for their mobile marketing programs.
“Properties should look at their existing sponsors and determine which of those companies have mobile programs,” said Henry Rischitelli, president of Next Marketing.
“Offering space for a mobile unit adds value to the sponsorship and helps the property generate incremental dollars.”
Next Marketing client Plantronics, Inc. this summer brought its mobile tour to the Grand Prix of Cleveland presented by LaSalle Bank to support its sponsorship of a car in the Champ Car
World Series. The headset manufacturer used the rig to host consumers and business customers.
How much additional revenue can an event earn by adding mobile marketing benefits to a package?
According to an informal survey of properties and agencies, fees to acquire space at local festivals and events are in the $500-to-$1,500-a-day range, while state fairs, NASCAR races and other large events typically charge $3,000 to $5,000 a day.
Those fees vary based on a number of factors, including the market where the event is located, attendance and the location and footprint of the display. Rates typically come down for multi-day or multiyear contracts.
Be equipped with detailed audience research. To uncover the most likely corporate prospects and increase the potential of attracting interest, properties should be able to draw a clear picture of exactly who is attending their events.
“Our clients are becoming more specific in terms of whom they want to reach, and many events need to sharpen their skill set in terms of understanding their audience demographics,” said Marty Merrick, GMR Marketing’s senior vice president of operations.
“They need to understand who is coming to their event, where they are coming from and their household income, among other things.”
For example, Merrick noted, “is the property a destination event or a local event?” in terms of where it attracts its visitors from. “If it’s a local event, are we reaching people that live in certain counties, or are they coming from a wider area?”
Merrick recommends that properties update their audience research data at least once every several years.
“Some events have not conducted research in five or ten years. Their consumers most likely have changed in that amount of time, as well as their attendance numbers.
“We try to motivate some of the younger and smaller festivals to conduct that kind of research.”
Look beyond space rental to sponsorship. The great news for properties is that mobile marketers are increasingly looking for more than just a parking spot, and are stepping up to integrated packages that offer real estate for their rigs in conjunction with on-site identification and other assets more commonly associated with sponsorship.
For GMR, gaining additional on-site touchpoints for its clients has grown in importance. “We want to make sure that everyone that walks into the event knows about our client and goes to their display,” Merrick said.
The agency drives traffic to Jeep’s Go Anywhere, Do Anything Tour by posting Jeep representatives near event entrances to pre-register attendees for ride-and-drives.
For many properties, the conversation with mobile marketers now begins with an integrated package of sponsorship benefits bundled with space for the mobile tour set-up, a change from the days of starting with a space rental agreement and then trying to upsell marketers on additional benefits.
Organizers of the Taste of Chicago presented by U.S. Cellular have adopted this approach, leading with a bundled offering and then slicing out benefits that marketers don’t want or can’t afford.
“It’s not that much more expensive for them to get the additional benefits, and then it becomes more of a partnership where they participate in our programming,” said Dan Hines, director of corporate sponsorship for the City of Chicago’s Mayor’s Office of Special Events, which produces the food festival.
Be mobile friendly. Mobile marketers prefer to work with events where setting up, running and breaking down their display areas will be as easy as possible.
Properties should provide electricity and water hookups, as well as phone and Internet access. When possible, vehicle washing and generator refueling services add to an event’s attractiveness.
Providing pre-arranged entrance and exit plans also is important, insiders say.
“Properties shouldn’t be surprised when they see a tractor-trailer pulling in and say, ‘Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. You won’t be able to get over this curb or around this fire hydrant,’ ” Merrick said.
For suggestions on operational details and other points to consider in drafting agreements with mobile marketers, please see sidebar.
Consider aligning with other area events. To make itself more appealing to mobile marketers, the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning has struck informal partnerships with Bethlehem, Pa.’s Musikfest and other events in the region that draw a similar demographic.
The balloon festival offers information about and access to those events when pitching mobile marketing agencies.
“Routing is always important to those agencies. I make them aware of the different events that draw the same demographic as ours in the weeks leading up to and after our event,” said Howard Freeman, president of Promo 1, the event’s producer. “We make it as easy as possible with one-stop shopping.”
The strategy has helped secure several mobile marketing programs, Freeman said. He does not seek a commission or any other compensation from the other properties for helping to land new business. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” he said.
Properties located between large cities or near major transportation routes also should play up their events as a convenient stopover that will provide access to additional consumers.
Sources
City of Chicago, Mayor’s Office of Special Events, Tel: 312/744-3370
Promo 1, Tel: 973/882-8240
Barkley Sponsorships & Events, Tel: 816/842-1500
GMR Marketing, Tel: 262/786-5600
Next Marketing, Tel: 770/225-2200