Promoting Your Sponsors!

Promoting Your Sponsors!
A few weeks ago we visited the Fall Fair in Kingston. One of their sponsors was “Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)”. Almost every farm participant we saw was eating a KFC box lunch! What a great promotion! When I saw it, it started me thinking about how festivals and events do or don’t promote their sponsors! If sponsors “make or break” events, why don’t festival/event organizers go all out to promote their sponsors? Some do, but many don’t! Perhaps the best example of an organization that takes full advantage of promoting their sponsors is NASCAR. Every time you see a driver or crew chief (or for that matter any NASCAR employee), being interviewed, they are continually promoting their sponsors! They eat, drink, wear and talk about their sponsors! You might think that this is over kill, but you are wrong. When sponsors hand over buckets of money, they want to know that those they are sponsoring are doing everything possible to promote them. They want value (over value) for money spent! It’s no wonder, that in these economic times the good NASCAR promoters are able to keep their key sponsors! This brings me back to festivals and events. Festival and event organizers should take a serious look at how NASCAR promotes its sponsors and then look to see how they can promote their own sponsors.

Here are a few simple ideas:
* Find ways to use sponsor’s products. For example, if it’s a soft drink company, insist that all food vendors sell the sponsor’s products.
* If you are being interviewed by television or radio, make sure that you mention as many sponsors as possible.
* If you have a key sponsor, try to wear a shirt or cap with their logo. Especially when you are being interviewed.
* During the event ask sponsors to set up product displays. Make the space part of their sponsorship package.
* A comprehensive promotion plan should be put into place and all team members should be fully aware of the plan and should carry it out throughout the festival/event.

The better you promote your sponsors, the more likely they will return next year, even in a poor economy!

Curb Appeal…

A few weeks ago Judi and I attended an event that had very little “Curb Appeal”! It’s too bad because it really took away from what could be a great event. As Judi pointed out, if we had just been passing by, we’d likely not have gone in. That being said, we did go in and as a result, I am writing this article.
The main problem with this event was their venue. It was older and not in very good repair. It was also too small for the type of event being held! To be honest, the best solution to the problem would be to move locations, but this is probably not a viable solution. So here are a few suggestions for organizers to help them improve the Curb Appeal of their festival or event:
1. Preliminary Inspection – Once you have decided on a location, make a thorough preliminary inspection of it. Be very critical of everything, especially how it will look to festival visitors on event day. After completing your inspection make a list of both the positives and negatives. Strike a location committee to determine what can be done to minimize the negative aspects of the location and then prepare an action plan.
2. Work with Location Owner – After you have completed your inspection list, you might want to contact the owner of the property to see if he/she will remedy some of the problems. If the owner is not willing to help or there are problems the owner can’t or won’t fix, the location committee will have to see what improvements they can make.
3. Clean Up – Prior to the event taking place, the location committee should prevue the facility to make sure it is clean and tidy. If it is not, arrangements will need to be made to have it cleaned up. Any contracts with facility owners should have a clean-up clause. Make sure that everything that can be done to improve the facility is done prior to set-up!
4. Visitor Friendly – When you are making your improvement plans, you should make sure that you include ideas to beautify the facility and to make it “visitor friendly”. This could include flowers, plants, informative signs (professionally created) and other items that enhance the theme of the festival or event.
5. Site Plan – During the planning stages, a comprehensive site plan should be prepared. This would include the best use and layout of the venue for both participants and visitors.
6. Attractions – Make sure when you are planning where to place your attractions that their placement makes sense and that they are visually pleasing.
7. Visualize – The best suggestion I can make is that you and your committee walk the location and visualize what it is going to look like on event day(s). The more clearly you can see the final set-up in your mind, the better the “Curb Appeal” will be!

The Importance of a Festival/Event Name…

One of the most important decisions any new festival or event committee must make is the naming of their event! Your festival/event name should tell potential visitors exactly what the event is all about. Before choosing the name, organizers have to decide the main purpose of the event. That is, is it a sporting event, an art show, wine festival, music festival, etc? Once a theme has been agreed upon, you need to decide if including your geographical location in the name is necessary. Depending on the type of event or area, adding your location may be positive or negative. Sometimes if you have a broad based event, you might want to have a general name and then a number of sub-names. A good example of a broad based event is the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest. The main name tells where the event is being held and what the theme is, Oktoberfest. Within this great event they have a number of events. These include such events as their Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Miss Oktoberfest Gala Ball, Oktoberfest Idol and the Onkel Hans Food Drive! In fact, they have over 40 different events! As you can see, all these names connect with the main festival plus they suggest what the sub-events are all about. Choosing your name carefully is not only important for event identification, but it is additionally important for event marketing and promotion! This is especially true for internet promotion on your website. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts agree that one of the quickest ways to gain page ranking on one of the main search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing/MSN) is to have keywords (your event name) that potential visitors, on the internet, will use to “search” for events like yours. This is why your name is so important. The internet has now become one of the most powerful and least expensive marketing tools available. Let’s say you live in a town called “Acme” and you are holding an art festival. You’d likely want to name your event the “Acme Art Festival”. Then when people make their event search, they will likely type in the words “Acme festivals” or “Acme Art”. If they do, your events name should be listed on the first search page. Of course there are other things you need to do to “optimize” your website, but a “smart” name is one of the main keys!

What’s In An Article?

Over the past 2 ½ years I have written articles about each of the 125 plus festivals and events Judi and I have visited. I try to keep each article fresh and interesting. When you visit and write about as many events as we have, it can be a daunting task! I enjoy it, though. Not only because of the challenge, but because it gives me the opportunity to think carefully about the uniqueness of of each the festivals and events we visit. Sometimes when I write, I am able to use my own experiences to tell the story, while other times I just describe what I have seen and heard. One of the tools that really helps me recall the details of each event are the photographs and videos taken at the event. Right now I have about 20,000 photographs in my archives and about 1,000 videos! Another tool I use for accuracy and content is Judi. Before and as, I write an article, I bounce ideas off her. She always comes up with something that I have forgotten! She is also my harshest critic. Finally, each article is submitted to event organizers for their final input. When I write an article about an event that we have visited, I always try to find the positive aspects of the event. I am not a critic! I don’t want to be! There are enough of those in this world! I believe the festival and event organizers try their hardest to produce the best product possible and, most events are run and organized by dedicated volunteers. They deserve all the help and accolades they can get. The whole purpose of Ontario Festivals Visited and our festival and event articles is to provide potential event visitors with information about the events we have visited. In doing this, we also hope that we are helping to promote all of Ontario’s fantastic festivals and events.

Go Green (Part Four)…

Here are the final “Green Ideas”, at least for now!

Green Website: I have visited a few websites lately that have included their “Green” philosophy and policies. The most notable of these is the Toronto Zoo. I think that this is a great idea because it shows the organization and its management’s commitment to “Go Green”. Their website outlines all the actions the Zoo and its staff is going to take and the benefit derived from these actions. I believe that more festivals, events and attractions should consider their commitment to “Going Green” and then let visitors know what their commitment is. A great example of this is Canada’s Largest Ribfest in Burlington. There website has a special section that tells visitors that they have gone “100% Green”. They then outline everything that they accomplished at their 2008 event!

Signage: Why not use more signage to replace expensive and wasteful paper programs. Most of these are eventually thrown in the garbage. The use of informative well placed signs will enhance your visitors’ event experience. Signs can be used both to direct visitors to specific locations and to inform them what activities are taking place, where they are taking place and when they are taking place. The key to using signage properly is to have enough of them to be truly useful. Organizers should put themselves in the place of out-of-town visitors who know nothing about the town or the event and then place the signs accordingly. Lack of proper signage is the number one mistake festival and event organizers make! Besides, signs can be sponsored and therefore become a profit centre! If you are concerned about promoting your activities, a well designed website with plenty of details and well placed signage should be the trick! If you are still not convinced, try taking a survey of festival/event visitors to see what they think, good signage versus paper programs. I think you will be surprised by their answers, especially if you tell them that you are considering the change in order to help the environment!

Shuttle Service: If you offer a “People Moving” service, is it “Green”? Are the buses you are using gas driven? If they are, you are not “Green” even if they are diesel. Why not consider a more “Green” option! Most communities have horse drawn wagons readily available. These are a lot of fun and certainly “Green”! If you want something a little more exotic, there are electric trains and vehicles available for hire. This option is more expensive, but the benefits are substantial and the “WOW” factor can make your visitors’ event experience that much better. If they enjoyed it, they will likely tell all their friends! Interesting “People Movers” are also easier to sell to prospective sponsors. If you get enough of them you can either reduce or eliminate your expense!

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this “Go Green” article, there are plenty of “Green Ideas” out there. It is up to festival/event organizers and their communities to decide what is best for them. The biggest commitment of all is getting started! Good luck!