Why Your Sponsorship Strategy Is Failing (And How to Fix It!) with Alex Durant

Hello and welcome to today's episode of the Marketing Media & Money podcast. Another question for you, are you an event or podcast host and searching for a way to identify untapped and creative sponsorship opportunities? Well, you're in the right place. Today, we're going to be talking about strategic events, sponsorship for event and podcast host, and we have someone who has, oh, a few years behind her in talking about this topic. So today, we're going to be talking with Alex Durant, who is a seasoned professional with over 15 years experience in managing sponsors at award winning festivals across the US, renowned for her concierge service and meticulous attention to detail, Alex has garnered praise from both festival clients and sponsors alike. Building and nurturing long term relationships lie at the heart of her success. Alex founded grant Consulting Inc, which has overseen sponsorship fulfillment and advancement for over 500 brands, facilitating sponsorship piece that exceeds 21 million that's what I said. Million dollar Duran Consulting Inc, not only managed to sponsor but also works to coins, to craft events sponsorship proposal and to streamline all sponsor communication. So Alex, thank you so much for taking the time to be here with me today.

Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited.

I'm excited too. So let's just dive right in. Well, it's I've heard that you share, whether you're hosting an event or participating in event as a sponsor, that it's imperative to like, look at the event from a sponsorship lens to make the most out of the partnership. So could you share an example? Let's just jump right on. Can you share an example of a strategic approach that led to outstanding results for both the event host and I'm sure you have lots,

Yeah. I mean, there's I've worked with, I've done a lot of wine and food festivals over the years, and even some large music festivals. So it's just so important to, if you're hosting an event, look at your event from that sponsorship lens to identify almost like, what do you have to sell to a sponsor that's going to make it great? You can't just say, like, hey, we want you to be a sponsor. We're going to put your logo in our program. Like that really is kind of, we're past that. If that might have worked 1520, years ago, but now, sponsors want to have engagement with your attendees, whether that's through, you know, interaction directly, if they're in a booth or have an activation space, or maybe they want to take the stage and have a chance to talk, if you're, you know, be a session host or keynote speaker, or even just welcome the crowd. I was at an event recently where they had decided they wanted to be sustainable and not have water bottles anymore. It was a two day conference. Wanted to get rid of all the plastic water bottles, so they got a water I don't want to say the brand name, but, you know, a sustainable cup that is branded with the event name and their logo. And then, obviously, the sponsor's logo was on it. That was the welcome gift for every attendee when they when they checked in, and then we just had water cooler set up for them to refill it. Well. Then at the end of the weekend, they gave that sponsor an opportunity to come on stage and just say, it's been so great being a part of this two day, you know, conference with all of you, we're so happy not only to support the mission of what this conference is about, but also the mission that you decided to be sustainable. So we hope you've enjoyed carrying around our, you know, reusable cups all week, all week, and continue on. And I tell you, I still have mine. I use it all the time. Like, what a great way to not only sponsor an event, but get your product in the hands of the attendees.

So I that's really great when you can entirely like a mission, right yours, and that it aligns with something the sponsor that you're asking to do. Because now, not only are they sponsoring, maybe with money, and there's a lot of different ways, I know, but I know that there's a lot of ways that are not just writing you a check, but when you could align those, I think that's where, really, honestly, like the magic happens, right,

Right? Which comes to, you know, a lot of I, I know this might be coming up in this conversation, but how, as a public speaker, can you get sponsorships? And I think we, you and I discussed this a while ago, but what if it's aligning with a company that believes in what you talk about, or they also sell a product that has to do with what you are talking about. Maybe they want to give the swag to everyone sitting, sitting in the room that day, or they want to do a giveaway. Or they want to do, you know, like they could support you as the speaker and almost sponsor you, but then tie in to give. Something to the attendees to make it on a larger scale.

And I think that's really powerful. Now, as an international speaker, I am this amazing sponsor, literally, it was their idea crazy. And what they did is they made jewelry that actually was in Christie in New York City. So we're talking high end jewelry. And they had a piece of jewelry that just happened to be in my brand color. Just coincidentally, the stones were in my brand color, and they actually came to me and said, How do we know you do a lot of international speaking, and we would love to give you the necklace and the matching earrings. And what we would love it if you would just wear them. Bring you, you would just wear them when you're international speaking. And I know they take a lot of photos of you, and whenever you're wearing it, and there is a photo, you will just, you know, kind of tie this mentioned, like our necklace, you know, whatever. And I was like, Sure, the necklace was like, over $2,000

Well, I mean, I think that's rare, but very lucky that you had that as a sponsorship tie, and

I still have that necklace, and I love it. So there you go. So running, that is an extreme example, right, you know, but I have to tell you, one of the things I love to say is that's more about thinking outside the box, right, you know, and not the kitty caught up in, oh, they could write a check for this and make it right for that, right? Yeah, so I think that's important. So I know that you also like to talk about brand grub. I just yes that that is just a quotation there, right? Air, air quotes, brand Rudd, right? So can you explain the concept of brand rub and how, most of all, it can be leveraged, right? Because that's all about that, right? How can you leverage that advanced the value and the visibility of the host, sponsor partners?

Well, like I said, I do, I work and manage sponsors at major national wine and food festivals. So it's no surprise that when I'm working with the South Beach wine and food festival that a lot of their sponsors are like wine and spirit beverage companies, of course, but also lifestyle brands that also fit into the mission and the party vibe that we're throwing at this four day festival. So we've got anywhere from a cruise partner to a credit card company that's partnered to a, you know, host hotel, to a vehicle sponsorship. They all want to attach to our demographic, and we want to attach to their demographic. So we're rubbing off on one another. That's why I call it the brand rub. So it's not, it's, you know, what makes sense for us to have a pharmaceutical company as a sponsor at the wine and food festival. That was who, when I worked in the medical conferences, all of the sponsors for pharmaceutical companies. So like that brand rub. But even on a more micro level, at one of these Wine and Food Festival events, they were throwing a dinner for with a celebrity chef who had created like a three course dinner. The guests came in. They and I was responsible for the wine sponsor. They had paired all the wines. They had figured out a wine pairing, a wine for the reception. All the guests came in. They had their welcome drink. They were escorted into the dining room. The tables were set beautifully. The menus on the tables to talk about all the pairings, and at each place setting was a bag of potato chips, and that was because that sponsor was willing to pay top dollar to have their bag of potato chips at every place setting. But in my mind, that completely diminished the feel and the exquisite dinner vibe that we were hosting, but I also knew that that bag of potato chips came with top dollar sponsorship money underneath it, but it had that been a box of Godiva chocolates or something similar, that would have made much more sense that brand rub didn't quite work out. So is it worth even though maybe a sponsor is contacting you, willing to give you an item or money for you, you know, had that piece of jewelry that been something that was not in your taste, would you have worn it at every single speaking gig? No to know what? What is your mission? What are your beliefs? Who do you want to pair up with? Who do you want to rub up against? Like you have to look it's not just about the money when it comes to something that doesn't align with what you're working for.

When you told me that story, right there, I was thinking, Oh, the guy the guy, the chocolates make much more sense. That was what my friend was thinking. And I was waiting for you to say that the reason why it worked was because eating therpetic is making more thirsty and even more one. But I was thinking she had to talk about together. It makes so much sense in your example of how that may or may not be a good, you know, bite, whatever, right. You know, so. That really be so I'm saying now, could we kind of go, I love that. You said micro. Now we can swing back and forth. So again, whether you do events or sponsor or your podcast or another, from a podcast point of view, for them, how would that work for them? Like, how would brand rub and some of those things work for somebody who is a podcast host if they wanted to attract and accord and incorporate sponsors into their podcast and you know, so many podcasters, so many different podcast scores, you know, so is this something that would work for them, and how would they attract and incorporate sponsors into those different podcast formats, and does it matter what that format is in order to get sponsors?

Well, part of looking at your event through that sponsorship lens is also identifying it's not just about you know, what space you have at your event to have a table set up for a sponsor, or, in the case of a podcast, you know, do you have commercial slot for commercials like that's the most easy thing to think about, as far as a podcast, but also with that sponsorship lens, I talk about identifying all the marketing assets that you have available. So if you're hosting a podcast, are you sending an email about it? So in that email, is there a chance to do an a little, small ad for a sponsor, or at least logo inclusion, or a blurb about, oh, we're excited to this upcoming podcast is hosted or presented by XYZ company. Are you sending out social media? Could you give them a dedicated post on one of the channels you know? Are you on LinkedIn? Are you doing any print or digital advertising about your podcast. So thinking of all the places that you can incorporate them in your marketing plan, you know, and those assets that are tied to marketing is another sponsorship sell for your potential sponsors, and a benefit, a deliverable that you would give back to them as part of their sponsorship.

So basically, what you're saying is sometimes it isn't even about a podcast. So I know that, for example, for me, I got a sponsor, and my sponsor is a podcast production company, but it wasn't just that. I think what made them want to be the sponsor was that I also published magazine of the same name, and so they wanted to be a sponsor of the magazine, because they knew that we had over 235,000 email subscribers, and they wanted to be environment because So, okay, so it was a really easy it was a really easy fit, and it has worked really, really well. So I do think that it is kind of, again, thinking differently. And it's not just about the thing, right?

You know exactly. It's leveraging all those other pieces that tie into the thing that you can give as an additional benefit

Which kind of goes into the next thing I wanted to ask, which is really another thing that you talk about, what you call sponsorship, real estate, right? So in this case, you know, having my magazine and those other things for me. But what are some of the, let's say creative tip right for identifying those untapped sponsorship opportunities within events to attract potential sponsors. Because I think sponsorship real estate. I could tell you, I love these phrases of your brand. You know, strategic, you know, event sponsorship, sponsorship real estate. I mean, I like it. Alex,

Oh, thank you. Oh, I've been doing this for a little while, about 15 plus years. Sponsorship, real estate, we've touched on some of it. It's not just about it. You know, first of all, it's if you're having an event, it's your it's your space. What do you have at your event that you can sell? But also, people, I go to so many events, and I'm walking through and I'm grabbing a cocktail from the bar, and I'm thinking, How come that's not sponsored product at this bar? Like, how? Why is it just whatever bottles, they probably just got a package from the from the venue, instead of saying, Hey, we could have a signature cocktail for this event, presented by blankety, blank vodka. Or here's your first pour as you enter the door, and it's by the champagne company. And here's a tray full of glasses, and their table card is on the tray, and it's got their logo on it, so you know what you're drinking. You know it's sponsored. Or even, if I see a dessert station, why isn't the dessert station sponsored by a local company? I mean, what a great opportunity for a local real estate company to underwrite that dessert table, throw their logo on the cupcakes, create a cookie that's in the shape of a home, and have a sign, you know, dessert, dessert spread sponsored by XYZ real estate company. So much better if they had if then them being with a six foot table in the in the happy hour like no what everyone would have breezed right past them. No one would have talked to them. No one wants to talk about get a pamphlet or a flyer. But if I go and get a cookie and I see that they've taken the time and they're supporting. This cause sponsored all the desserts, I'm gonna walk away and think, Huh, that's the company I'd like to do business with. So it's identifying all the little pieces of your event. I mean, I'm sure you've even been to a gala where, when you go to valet, there's like, a little s'mores or hot cocoa station if it's in wintertime, so that while you're waiting for your car, and instead of getting annoyed that it's taking too long, they've gotten it sponsored, right, like brilliant. And if you're hosting a conference that also is, you know your sponsorship real estate includes direct engagement with your attendees. I think I touched on this before. So do you have an opportunity for a sponsor to do a Keynote or to host a session or be a sponsor of a breakout snack station? You know, all of those little pieces. You know, everything can have a sponsor attached to it.

Any member before Twitter was x or Twitter was x when it was Twitter, always at my events, we always have a tweet station. And, um, to where we have a tweet station, and I always get that sponsored, and they provide the tweet that we at the tweet station, and they do it, and that's how they do it, too. We have it all kind of set up, like social media, whatever. But every one of the people who sponsor it. Yes, they had their stuff on there too, but a lot of what they did was they were very big into Twitter, right? That was really, really had a huge presence. And so they really wanted people to connect with them there and kind of tie into it there, and their product too. But it was really fun too. So I do agree with you, because I know that sometimes when I go to rest, I'm not in the in your space, but just about I, because I do events and I'm in marketing, when I see him, like, why are they not right back, I might have anything besides just a plasmid swag bag and pudding stuff, like, right, right, you know, which most People anyway.

And to that x, Twitter, point social media has, you know, taken over, and that selfies rule. So even having a sponsor for your big photo activation, you know everyone's going to be taking a selfie in front of it, posting, tagging you and your event like just it makes it better engage, direct engagement with all of the attendees. It makes it more fun for the audience. No,

I totally agree. Totally agree. But now, how can event host and podcast host leverage sponsorships that build their personal brand so it expands their reach within the target audience? Because, you know, a lot of times we talk about business, but we have a personal brand too, right? So how can they leverage sponsorship to build their personal brand? Well?

Yet, in what way, right? Are you trying to just build your con like your subscribers? Are you trying to build your social Are you trying to build your email database? I guess you have to look at what is the goal, and then, with that goal, what are you asking the sponsor to do for you? So are you asking them as a sponsor, we want you to cross post, promote our my brand, promote my event. Then it becomes a little more like sounds like ad space more than sponsor space. So I guess I need to know a little more about what you kind of,

If the goal is really to expand your reach right now, truly to expand your reach. And sometimes that is kind of crossing too, right, you know? And I know a lot of times when you're trying to get into, like, want to expand your target audience, or you want to get into a new market, or you want to get into a new market and stuff. Though, I have found that whenever you want to leverage those with your brand, you know, trying to find some neat ways that you can do some sponsorship in there, mostly because, if you're trying to explain that sometimes it cost you some money to do it, right? You know, it's going to cost you some money to do it. So that's always something that I am looking at, and I know that as a podcast host, it's a conversation I have with a lot of other podcast hosts, when they're talking about it, right? They're like, well, how can we do it? Because my podcast is my brand, right? You know, alright, so my podcast is my brand money, but it's not the name of my company, though, right? You know, I do other things. So I think that really honestly, it can sometimes be really a good question when you're thinking, how can you leverage because to me, that's what I want you. How can I leverage everything, right? Because a lot of times what it is that you have a unique community, right? You have a lot of things that a lot of time, like, you have a good audience, and then when you have an audience, you know, finding ways that you know that can work together. Now, I know sometimes that's more of a collaborative opportunity, right than a sponsorship one, but if you're going to be putting money into it, because you really want to tackle into that, sometimes. It can be something that sponsorship would really work for. What advice would you give to like speakers and podcasters that want to saying tailor their sponsor to attract brands that align with their values? Notes really about making sure that you align your value right, and that you stay in alignment and vision and your mission. But if somebody had never done that right, and their event host or seeker podcast host, and now they want to create sponsorship packages, what are the things that they should look into that will

You need to create a sponsorship proposal that really, if you're hosting a podcast, gives a full picture of what your podcast is about. You know, I want to pick up that package. Look about what's the podcast about? What have been Pat? Who are the past guests on the podcast, what are the general topics of the podcast? Then you go into your basically like your analytics. So how many like you said? How many subscribers, how many downloads, how many people you know generally tune in, that type of thing. All that data, even, how many times? How many social media channels do you have that are promoting the podcast? How many followers do you have on each when you like you say you've got an email database of 250,000 plus subscribers. That's all part of how you're promoting your podcast. That is very attractive to sponsors. They want to see that, then you're getting into Okay, what do you have to offer? What are your What are your sponsorship tiers or levels? You know, if you're a bronze, silver, gold, bronze, sponsored, you're gonna get one social media post. We're gonna put your logo on this place. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like, break it down, give the cost. They need to know what they're buying, what you're offering. And it's all about then aligning with they're, they're going to know if they're, that's something they're in alignment with. And then when they you approach, you can identify who you want to target, and you're going to send it to ones that align with you. So hopefully you're already picked out prospective sponsors that you're sending your package to, that you know would be a good fit if you happen to get a, you know, you promote that you're calling, calling all sponsors or accepting sponsorship app we hate, you know, expecting sponsors right now for upcoming season. If you happen to get some that just came in cold, you want to make sure that they are in that brand, brand alignment with you before you proceed.

That makes a lot of sense. So you shared with us those key elements, right? And there are key elements that should be in a sponsorship proposal, right? We need to include, to stand out, right and secure those high value sponsors, yep. What are some of the ways that we really need to make sure that we include those things, and how should the documents take crafted clearly define deliverable and mutual benefits. Because I have to tell you, every time I've ever heard of somebody had a sponsorship that didn't go right, it always comes back to it wasn't there was no clarity in really, right? Was going to do what? Well,

I think the clarity begins with the sponsorship proposal, if it's outlined very neatly and clearly in the proposal, you know what you're selling. They know what they're getting, but then once they agree that needs to go into a contract for even just a letter of agreement of this is what has been agreed upon. This is how much you're paying for the sponsorship. And these are your deliverables that I promised. Harking back to the proposal. Now it's in a formal legal document that this is what you're going to do. But then you as the event host or the podcast host, if you've promised 18 social media posts, way too many, you're going to have to you're going to have to follow up on that and deliver that. So do you have a team doing those social for you? How are you? Are you writing all that content? Are you asking them to submit 18 social media pieces for you to post for them? Like that's a lot of back and forth. I mean, even at a festival, trying to get everyone to submit their logo, which has to be used on the website, on the signage, on the menus, on the welcome posters like that is one piece of data that we have to get from a sponsor. It takes a long time when you're talking about 100 to 50 to 200 sponsors. Then, if you promise social media, what channels are those going on? What's the content calendar look like? When do you need that content buy to make sure you have time to get it posted and reviewed in time. If you've promised ad space, like, you've got to collect that from the sponsor. If you've promised an email inclusion a blurb, do you need to send them what you've written for their pre approval before you put it into your E newsletter? Like it's a lot of back and forth. So how you have to be prepared with what you've promised as a deliverable, that you can deliver it and that you have the means in the organization to traffic all that information like you? Right? Exactly that. I mean, that's why I get hired as a sponsor manager, my tracking grid, even if I'm managing 20 sponsors at a festival that's four days long and has over 100 events, some of those sponsors may be doing three events. Some of those sponsors may be doing 20 events. If it's the water sponsor, they might be at 50 dinners. So I need to make sure their logo is on every single dinner menu. My grid is like an insane matrix information. But then I'm following up with the marketing team. Hey, when have you put you know they're supposed to get one social media post? When is it on the content calendar? When do you need their information? By then I'm going back to the sponsor. Hi, here's the the specs for what we need from you. Here's when it's due, then I send that back to the marketing team, like there's a lot of back and forth. Well, I think often, if you're doing it,

You touched on something I think is really important. Now, those people may not think about which is content, right? You know, we all know content is Ting, but who's providing the content? Now, when you just mentioned them, I think that's really, really important, because you're right. If that's never been discussed. And you said, Oh, I said I would do this 10 times, and you do, but they don't like what you wrote, right? That there's like that. You know they're gonna say, oh, no, we didn't that you represented us what you want. We want you to take that down, or they didn't like it. So there they may choose to not be a sponsor for you the next time because they didn't like the way to do that. So knowing whether they are providing the content, or you're providing the content, like I said, it has to be pre approved. I mean, that makes a lot more time you're right. You have team. Or are you hiring somebody? You do that for you? Because I don't think people would think about that content. You know, I know that exactly. You know, just having doing the things that I do, I know all the time. Some yes, they want to see them, and sometimes no, and sometimes I have to provide content for them that they said that they would do it. And sometimes I provided because I don't always love the way that they do it. You know that means, right now, when you and that's, that's very love right there, like, is that congruent, really, in that? But that's a huge, huge thing. Because I think that it sounds so easy for people to say, you know, on a more micro level, or doing events, maybe not your 20 big, huge festival things like, you are a seeker, and you do your own events. Maybe you do two of them a year, and you have, you know, 200 people attend them still. If you want sponsors for those you need to be thinking about some of those things. And do you have time for those kind

To execute, to execute it exactly. I think that. I mean, I worked with music festival that they were very particular about social media, and they expected the sponsors to submit their own content, but then they would rewrite it in our festival voice, because that was hitting a certain demographic. They didn't want it to sell sound too salesy or look like an ad. It needed to be like a sponsor, incorporation, partnership, you know? So we had this extensive shared document where the sponsor had to submit the content, I had to tell the market marketing team was ready for a review. They would go in, they would rewrite it. They would tell me, now it's ready for you to send back to the sponsor to make sure they prove what we've rewritten. Sometimes it will go back and forth, two, three times. This is to get one post for like Facebook. I mean, it's not crazy

One thing a lot of times.

But when you're looking at the integrity of your event, and this is again, your name on the line, your I your reputation, your personal brand, or your corporate brand, like you want it, everything you put out there to be locked up,

And that makes sense. And then, of course, from the sponsor's point of view, they want it to not have you change their stuff so much that it doesn't align with their brand anymore, right? So that's why it's important that you make sure right up front, that the sponsors that you're choosing that it already does align, and that you have that conversation right up right up front. So I can see where that would be really important. So we talked a little bit about metrics. But what metrics and indicators can you find that are the most impactful? You know, sometimes people get caught up in vanity metrics, right? You know. So what ones do you find that are most impactful for, say, evaluating sponsorship success and how can they interpret different types of events?

Well, I think it all, it really depends on the type of event. So a conference is going to want to see how many attendees it ended up coming. How many speakers did you have? How many of those attendees went to the exhibit hall and interacted with the sponsors? A lot of times they, you know. Sponsors have a little passport that you have them sign so the sponsors are able to see how many people came to their booth, and really get that one on one engagement at a festival. It could be, you know, how many people attended? How many media impressions were there overall for all the sponsors? How many, if it's a product sponsor, like a beverage. How many cans were served? How many how many cocktails were served? Liquid to lips, like they're trying to sell their product. That's what's important to them. For another sponsor, it could be, how many signups did they get at their booth? How many people participate in their sweepstakes? It's going to be different. Pretty much every type of event. But the more I think recap points that you can give a sponsor, the better. Obviously. If they've had social media or any type of marketing deliverables, you want to either show a give a little recap deck and, you know, give a show that post, show that where, when it was toasted, show that that was included in the email. How many people clicked that email? How what was the open rate on the social media? How many followers? How many clicked it? You know, all of that. How many people ask the question or click through to their URL, like all of anything you can give, I think the the more the better, because they're going to use that to see their ROI, and also you can use it as a tool or re engaging them for the future.

Because you'd like to talk about, to me, it's like a given. Hey, not everything does everybody think is given, right? So you're talking about, I love that. So you also talk about sending thank you. So thank you. Notes and event recaps, I heard you say that they're essential in sponsorship management, right, but the impact that they can have on maintaining cognitive sponsorship relationship, because there is a relationship, right? You gotta get one off, right? So what kind of things like in but you just get that telling us about all those things that you could put in an event recap. I think that makes so much sense when you're sending the Thank You card, like, how entailed does that? This is really relationship. The Thank

Exactly, and maybe it's just because I'm a girl from the south, from Augusta, Georgia, but I was raised all about, you know, if you got a birthday gift, you sent out a thank you card, and I try to do that with my own 13 year old son as much as possible, but it so many times I see events that they their end, they end, and all of a sudden it's like, great, we're done, moving on. Let's start planning for next year. But I just think it's so important, obviously, to thank the sponsors. I send a one on one email to each of my sponsors. You know, the dust has settled. The festival's over. It was amazing. I just want to thank you again for your partnership, your sponsorship, and by the way, this year, your activation was top notch. I love the fact that you did blah, blah, blah to interact with the guests. I mean, it's to be just a simple line. It's just like the same thing you would do if you're sending out your thank yous for a wet for a wedding gift or a birthday gift. Like it doesn't need to be a diatribe. It's not like a eight page letter. It's just like a little paragraph. Thank you so much. And then that's my chance to say and I'd love to schedule a recap call with you. I want to get your feedback. It's so important. These most sponsors. This is not the only event they sponsor every year, or the only podcast or the only conference. You know they're doing multiple they, they and they're going to these events so they see what's happening, and they have great feedback. I've had recap calls where a sponsor says, this, this, this, and this was great, but hey, you might notice that I just noticed you really didn't have enough recycling bins, because that's just something they noticed. They said at a recent event I was at, they not only had recycling, but also composting. And you're like, Oh, great to know that you notice that. So that's something we need to think about as a festival or an as event moving forward, like it could be not related to their sponsorship at all, but because they are event experts, they have great feedback. And if something did go wrong in their sponsorship, maybe a social media post was skipped, or their power went out in their booth. You know, that's usually not something we could control, take care, like control, but it's great to acknowledge it. I'm so sorry. I know your power went out, as you know, you texted me. I was on the radio with the production team. It was back on within five minutes, or three minutes like but I'm so glad, glad that we have this communication that we were able to solve it quickly. You know, it's like you have to acknowledge everything they say, and then you put it in a recap, and then in notes, then for the next year, when you're starting conversations about their sponsorship, potential sponsorship. It's great to bring that up. Hey, remember, last year you, you've mentioned you loved your location, but you thought if you moved two door, two steps down, you would have liked that better. We've, we're we remember that we're going to put move you down this year. And you know, and

People like to be heard, and they and that you listening to what they said, kind of like in the thank you note that you can pick out something just very specific to them, kind of like, you know how, like, at Christmas, get all these Christmas cards from these people, and then they're just like, Master cards, and they're just like, whatever. Why didn't even bother saying they're not going to say something personal or acknowledge something or right? We're like, that's good waste of paper and and so I really think that, you know, personalizing that and then knowing that you remember the night you listened could be and, you know, going back to what you said about the recycling, I love the liquid can rip that was, but, I mean, like, that was something that they were giving out, and it did. It was something that couldn't recycle. Of course, they're going to notice that, right, you know, so, so I didn't baptize, I think that is really important. So, so do you see some common mistakes or challenges that then organizers kind of really close when they're doing sponsorship management or, you know, especially ones that want to do it themselves, I'm hiring somebody that this is what they do. You know, what strategies do you recommend they overcome those hurdles. What are some of the most common things that you see?

I see just lack of communication. You know, when I've worked on the brand side a little bit, and I go to a festival and I'm working with the, you know, the wine sponsor, and I say, What time are we loading in? And and she says, I don't know. I never got an information about when we're supposed to bring our car and drop off our boxes or set up. And I'm thinking, how could you not have gotten this? Like that's basic information, or where do we pick up our credentials? Oh, I don't know. We it's unclear. And just think that is so easy, that's just it's communication. It's looking through all the parts of from start to finish, of the contract, the you know, happening, being signed, and then working on through all those deliverables, ensuring that they're taken care of. And then, if it's an on site event, does this, the sponsor needs to know, What time are they showing up? What time is their speaking session slotted for? What time do you need them to be miked up? Like just, you've got to give the you know,

I love that, because I think, you know, a lot of times when you're a host to an event, you know, I do it when you host an event, especially like the day or so before we were actually getting ready, you're set up and all that stuff, like, your mind is on these things. Now, I don't know how anybody could do not have a team or hire somebody to take care of those things, because the reality is, you're stepping on that stage. You're whatever it is that you're doing. You need to be focused on the people who are attending, and how you're going to do it, and all those other things have to be done, right? And they have to be done, right? And so you can do both like and do them both Well, in my opinion, right? You know,

Right? And if you're the event host, you want your time available to Hobnob and schmooze with the swamp first. You don't want to be giving them the here's here's your packet, here's this. You want it welcome. So glad you're here. You know, it's just the same reason you would hire an event manager. They're dealing with the cold in here, the video and the the food, exactly. They they're dealing with the hotel contact, or they're dealing with the rental companies. They know where the portals need to be dropped right now.

You don't need to be doing that most of the time. When you go to events, they always start or somewhere in the beginning. There's always those you know, like hospitality. You know, here's where you go for your bio breaks right out the door, right? You know, if you have anything, and the most, a lot of times, it's because, really, you don't want somebody coming up while you're on stage trying to do whatever you're going to do. And now there's that kind of cold in here. Could you turn up the heat, you know, or whatever, right? You know. So, right? The thing is, I don't even want to think of those things, right? You have to have somebody that's going to be like, yes. And so whether it is an on site this but I that that's great when you're at the event, but all the stuff that comes before that, that's where it really matters, right? And especially if you're going to have sponsors, those things, you cannot drop the ball there. That has to be done, right? And that's where you don't really want to be worrying about those things yourself. So I could really see where I own someone like you wouldn't be nervous.

Exactly. You want your sponsors that have paid money to be there and to support your event to have like that white glove concierge service. You want them to feel like they're taking care. Of they're getting the best customer service. And of course, that sponsor manager or that person that you've hired, they're going to report back to you. And also, I always say, like, if there is a issue, tell the event host first what's going on. Like, I might figure it out. Like, you know, oh, they lost power for five minutes. We got it back on. Well, I'm going to tell my leader, or, you know, whoever I'm reporting to at the end of the day. Hey, just so you know, this went this happened, because the worst thing then that sponsor walks up to them, did you know that we lost? Oh yeah, I'd heard you, you know, I heard you did lose power. And I think Alex said you got it back within five minutes. Oh yeah, oh yeah. It was then all of a sudden, they changed their tune. It was no big deal. You know, they sponsors do tend to blow up little things, but if you take care of it and then that the main person in charge knows everything that's happened, then they see, oh, wait, there's a lot of communication going on. Everyone's in the loot. We are being taken care of. We you know, I think that's great, obviously.

What would you say are some emerging trends in event sponsorship that event organizers and sponsors should be aware of, and how can they leverage those trends to gain a competitive edge and enhance their event experience?

Well, it's funny enough. I just learned about a new company and had a conversation with them about a week ago. They have a whole digital swag company. So they can turn a wristband with their chip in it to a band that you scan into your own phone, and you can if the event is the one that gives out the band. You could then go to every sponsor station and tap it, and then their data would come to your phone and you would say, oh, yeah, I visited Patty farmer's booth. I visited Alex's booth. Here's a blurb about it, or it could be sold to one sponsor, specifically, if they're hosting, if they're have a big activation. So you tap and then if you've taken a photo at their activation, that photo goes into your phone, into your data. The whole URL that it taps into could be branded by that sponsor and owned by that sponsor. Then the sponsor's getting the data of who taps and all the contacts. So what a great way. And they they can do anything. It could be a chip on the lanyard, it could be a chip on a koozie, it could be a chip on the a band. It could be chip on a poster. So they're really revolutionizing, uh, kind of those analytic technology.

I think remember when they I that was, I don't know how long ago, but when, when technology really fed up the check in process, right? You know, when you when you check wine, and now it's so much easier, and all that kind of stuff and and they do so right things now where people can interact. And, I mean, there's just so many ways that you're interacting before you can get there. That's great sponsorship opportunities too, right, you know.

So I love that exactly. So

Alex, thank you so much for being here with me today, and you came bearing a gift. And I love it because it ties back to probably the biggest question everybody wants to know is about the sponsorship proposal, right? You know. So when you tell everybody a little bit about your gift, and I just want you guys to know about our listening or watching. You're on our YouTube channel, or you're just 16. Just look below when there is a button there for you. Just grab it. But tell everybody what it is that they're going to

Get just a little freebie, but it's a download of the 10 questions you should ask yourself before you draft your sponsorship proposal. So it's helping you kind of look through your vet what we talked about through that sponsorship lens, identifying some of those deliverables that you can get give to your sponsors, just a few questions that will really trigger some good thought to put into that of that

And I noticed that you said that one of the marketing, media money strategy that you're using today is about hiring a virtual assistant. So tell us a little bit about that strategy and how that is working for you.

Yes, well, I took, it's funny, it all started really with I took a class about being more present on Instagram for Business and really getting your face on camera, because I've been doing these festivals for 15 years, and a sponsor manager. You know, it's like my close friends know what I do, but everyone else in the world probably doesn't really understand what it is that I do. So I took this class, and I started thinking, Yeah, I've got to post more and talk about all these things, and it's daunting though. You know, you film you gotta talk, you gotta film it. You need to put auto captions on it. You gotta put the text on top to start the video. It was too much. I didn't want to do it, but I hired a virtual assistant two months ago. She's doing all of that for me, plus she's. Doing data entry, plus she's doing research, plus she's great in Canva, she's she's amazing. I'm thinking, why did I wait so long to do this? It's taking a lot off of my plate that I can focus on the bigger picture.

But if you're doing an opportunity and consider focus more on the things you like to do, the things you're good at and big ticket items too, right? Versus, like, tedious cat

Exactly, exactly, exactly. I love that exactly.

So I really think that what that really says somebody who like you said you've been in business for 15 years, you do all these things. It doesn't matter whether you're just done one event two, whether you're a podcaster, have never done it, whether you're looking for sponsorship opportunities, all of those things. There's always going to be things that maybe you don't love here, and whether it is something as simple as following a VA or something like hiring you to take care of all of those things for them on the back end, so they can step up and serve in what their area of expertise is. And they're brilliant, right? It makes a lot, exactly. So I have to tell you, Alex, thank you so much for being here with me today. This has been fabulous, and I love that you shared your version. You know, so generously in answering the questions, and I'm sure everybody took a lot of notes. So I appreciate you being here today, and thank you my audience, so much for spending time again with us and showing up every single week. And if you like this episode, and I'm sure you did, please like, share, review all those things, right? All those things on your favorite list, channel. And also, if you haven't already read our we talked about it earlier. About our marketing media Money Magazine, please grab your precocnie at m3digitalmag.com thank you so much. I'll see you next week.