We (David, Austin, and I) have been at this blog for quite some time now. We knew coming in to it that we didn’t know what this would be or become. We’ve done blogs, a few podcasts, and even had some guest posts. We tried monthly topics, set schedules, and all sorts of methods for posting blogs.
What we attempted to do from the beginning was make sure that we weren’t just pumping out content. There is so much content that hits the web every day and if we were going to add to that we wanted it to be something truly unique and new. Although we were trying to bring our style, our experience, and our unique views to each topic and discussion, at times it just felt like we were doing what everyone else does.
What we ultimately decided was to take the site in a bit of a different direction. We will still be posting blogs, having guest posts, probably doing podcasts, etc. But instead of limiting ourselves to a schedule or a set topic, we wanted it to be more personal. By that, I mean more like a blog.
All of us have some very interesting things that we are taking part in, whether it be working for companies, running our own, starting our own, etc. Instead of talking about the things we know to be definitively true, we thought it would be much more interesting to write about our personal experiences (both success and failure). In doing this, it gives the reader a chance to learn along-side us and also offer input and ideas on how to do it better.
At the end of the day, we think it makes our content more useful to you and to us. We certainly have had our fair share of fantastic discussions so far on some of our content (and I’m sure we’ll still post similar content), but what you will hopefully be seeing soon are posts that are more open-ended, more experiential, and more true to who we are and what we are trying to accomplish.
In a sense, it’s the kind of things you would hear the three of us (and our guest authors) saying if you were overhearing a conversation we were having at a coffee shop… business over coffee, if you will.
Zach
The hunt for sponsors is a year-around duty – there’s always eligible businesses and there’s always empty advertising space, tangible or intangible. What if we looked at these sponsorships as partnerships – where both parties were looking to increase revenue through an agreement.
Sponsorship: to sponsor something is to support an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. A sponsor is the individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor.
Partnership: a cooperative relationship between people or groups who agree to share responsibility for achieving some specific goal; “effective language learning is a partnership between school, teacher and student”; “the action teams worked in partnership with the government”
If you look at the primary reasons that some sponsors don’t renew their contracts with athletic departments (for example), lack of ROI is going to be at the top of the list in most cases. Companies dish out 10-15 K hoping to gain a 5 percent rate of return on their investment. Here’s a little insight, sponsoring a halftime performance isn’t going to have people lining up at your door the next morning to buy insurance from you. It takes teamwork, creativity, and most of the time a little extra work from the party initially receiving the payment.
Now, I realize that there is a place for the $3000/year sponsorships where a banner will be hung from a railing and both parties involved are completely content. The sponsor chooses to pay the fee because they feel its their duty to have a presence at community events. I’m writing this more for the businesses that want to advertise at a sporting event for the sole purpose of seeing a drastic increase in revenue. Obviously the athletic department will receive revenue from the business for the advertising rights – but what if the athletic department went one step further? Encourage the sponsor to advertise the athletic department at their place of business, thus increasing attendance at games, which will allow more people to witness the advertising that they originally paid for.
For example, if McAlister’s Deli chooses to advertise with the ORU athletic department, why shouldn’t all McAlister’s employees be wearing ORU apparel on game days and running game day specials to increase pre-game traffic into the restaurant. So many businesses choose to buy advertising and then just hope and pray that sales shoot through the roof. Of course, this is just one example. It’s important to meet with your “partner” I find ways to make your sponsorship reach its maximum potential.
This aspect of advertising at athletic events should be called a partnership for 2 reasons: (1) The marketing staff should be active in offering advice and ideas to help build off of the marketing campaign that the business is already running. As the professional, help them devise plans to help “their dollar go further” while also increasing awareness of your department. (2) Chances are – your department needs some marketing help too! It’s not a bad idea to discount the price of the advertising if the “sponsor” agrees to advertise on their end. My suggestion is to have that partnership mentality with your sponsorships so that both parties are gaining that highly coveted “added value” to sweeten the deal on both ends. Be creative. After all, you’re in a marketing position. Spread your creative wings and stretch to get every last dollar out of the deal.
About the Author
Kyle Krajenka is a recent graduate of Oral Roberts University (’11) and a young professional at the beginning of his career in the sports industry. He currently does marketing/game entertainment for the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock and manages social media accounts for the ORU Athletic Department (Twitter & Facebook). He can be reached on his Twitter or LinkedIn accounts or at kylekrajenka@gmail.com
If I’ve learned anything about marketing and how it fits into business, it’s that you must first find a need that is not being met, then fill that need, sell the heck out of the product or service, and make a killing off of it. But there is one thing missing from this formula – having a product that is profitable. This is exactly what Pandora‘s problem is. This past week they had their IPO, which ended up being somewhat of a disappointment, especially when compared to LinkedIn who’s stock price doubled on it’s first day on the market. (Pandora opened at $16, shot up then back down to its eventual close at $17.42, while its second day closed at $13.26.
And things only get worse when talking about Internet based companies. For example, Gro
upon and Facebook have both shown interest in an IPO, which could push out other, weaker tech companies. And this is not good news for Pandora, whose biggest weakness is monetizing their service. For example, the two main revenue streams are ads and membership fees that eliminate ads. But the membership fees only make up 14.5% of their revenues, and that’s a problem since advertisers haven’t put their full trust in Internet based advertising.
This brings us back to our original topic. Yes filling a need is crucial to success (look at the great depression which was partially created and fueled by overproduction of unwanted and unaffordable products). Pandora has met a need, but if they are going to be successful going forward (and receive my investment in their stock) they need to find ways to bring in more revenues from more avenues. It will be interesting to see what they do.
-Austin
