11 Sponsorship Mantras to Keep Your Team on Track

Doing sponsorship training is one of my favourite parts of this job. And even though my training is meant to change the way people do sponsorship, it still stuns me when – years after just a day or two of training – people tell me that what they learned “changed everything”. They often go on to recite some specific mantra they and their team have adopted that has guided their sponsorships ever since. This has happened three times in the past eight days and would happen several times a month, at least.

I thought it might be useful compiling some of those mantras that people quote back to me over and over; the ones that drive their results and changed everything. These represent a mixture of sponsor and sponsorship seeker mantras, but most of them can be tweaked to work for either side.

• Sponsorship is win-win-win. Your brand wins when you create meaningful wins for your target markets.
• Sponsors don’t get results from benefits; they get results from leveraging those benefits.
• Sponsorship is the opportunity to connect with people through something they already care about. Never buy, sell, or do anything that diminishes their experiences.
• It’s not about the logos.
• Don’t try to be a brand hero. Make your customers and staff the heroes and bask in the reflected glow.
• Don’t measure the sponsorship; measure the leverage
• You can’t leverage sponsorship in a vacuum. Internal sell is critical.
• There is no more meaningless a phrase in sponsorship than “Proud sponsors of….”
• It’s not a bargain if you don’t have time to leverage it.
• The role of a sponsorship seeker is to be a conduit connecting sponsors with target markets. It’s not about you.
• Always aim for fewer, bigger sponsors.
• The most important party in a sponsorship negotiation is the target market. Protecting their interests insures yours.

Which of these resonate for you? Do you have a sponsorship mantra? Drop a line on Twitter – @KimSkildumReid – and let me know!

Need more assistance?

You may be interested in my latest white paper, “Disruptive Sponsorship: Like Disruptive Marketing, Only Better“.

If you need additional assistance with your sponsorship portfolio, I offer sponsorship consulting and strategy sessions, sponsorship training, and sponsorship coaching. I also offer a comprehensive sponsorship capacity-building service for large and/or diverse organisations.

Please feel free to drop me a line to discuss.

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