Coworking University:Sponsorship 101

The What, Why, Who and How-To’s You Need to Know to Land Sponsors and Partners for Your Coworking

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Mike LaRosa@liveventi

What is Sponsorship?

A type of advertising or marketing campaign where an organization pays to be associated with a specific property. They do so to be viewed positively as a participating member of that demographic/community.

Recent evolution of advertising has resulted in more focus on Experiential Marketing – a form of sponsorship.

A property can be a sporting team, festivals, shopping centers or even a coworking space.

Four Criteria for a Successful Sponsorship

• Relevance: The sponsor should have some degree of relevance to the services or products you provide.• Brand Fit: The brand should fit with the audience in question.• Mission Alignment: The interests of the property looking for

sponsorship must be in alignment with the prospective sponsor.• Business Result: The sponsor should have a reasonable basis

to believe that the sponsorship will create tangible business results.

Why Sponsorship? Why Now?

Why Sponsorship? Why Now?

Why Sponsorship? Why Now?

Why Sponsorship? Why Now?

The Top 5 Challenges in Securing Sponsorship

• The Gatekeepers• It’s not you – sponsors make it hard for you to connect with them. Imagine

100+ unsolicited phone calls, emails and proposals every day• If you don’t have a relationship, 99.99% of the time you won’t get a response

• Everyone is a Stakeholder• The Sponsorship Manager, CEO, CFO, PR, Marketing Manager all have their

fingers in the pie• Each of them have their own conflicting and competing objectives for funding

The Top 5 Challenges in Securing Sponsorship

• Turnover• Just keeping track of where your contacts are working and what they are working

on is a full time job• More often than not if you get contacts that were not your own, more than half of

them will already be obsolete• All About the Widgets• Do you know enough about their business to offer an irresistible value proposition?• More than that, do they?

• Lack of Proof• Anyone can say their sponsorships are winners. It’s proving it that is difficult

The Two Fundamental Questions to Ask Yourself

• Does this offer added value to my members?• Will they care?• Will they be offended/annoyed?

• Does this offer a measurable ROI for my sponsor?• Do your sponsors know what they want?• Do they have a way of defining success?

The Two Fundamental Questions to Ask a Prospective Sponsor

• What does success look like for you?• How can I/we help you be successful?

Set Yourself Up For Success

• It’s Not About You• Too many properties spend all their time talking about themselves• Mass sending identical proposals to a generic and broad list of

contacts• The proposal is about them – needs to be relevant to the prospect,

their company’s goals and their current situation

Set Yourself Up For Success

• Know the Competition• You are selling against anything and everything else that can improve

their business• How are you different?

Set Yourself Up For Success

• Track Everything• Step One? Get a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) program• Step Two? USE THE CRM!• Track your emails, web visitors, social followers/likes

Set Yourself Up For Success

• Don’t be a Salesperson• Become a trusted advisor and prove you have their best interest in

mind• Don’t be the person who only says hello when you have something to

sell• Position yourself as a problem solver

Set Yourself Up For Success

• Do Your Research• Utilize resources, directories and marketing conferences• Master LinkedIn

The Sponsorship Deck

The Proposal

The Exit Report