Sponsors Have No Budget - What Do We Do?

This blog is a part of a greater series called ‘Ask Dr. Michael’ where we're taking your questions and answering them right here on the blog. Don't worry, we're not using anyone's name or organization. This way everything is anonymous and generalized, but we find that if anyone in our audience has a question, chances are others do as well so our answer is of great value to you, as we look to give you the best content. 

This week's question says: “Association executives report that sponsors say sponsorship of your association isn't in our budget next year. The association executives often assume the company has slashed its marketing budget and cut sponsorships, is the issue cost or value?”

It's hard to fully say what the answer is only because we don't have access to the sponsors’ budget for marketing and partnerships.

However, to assume that they have no budget for partnerships at all is very unlikely. Chances are it's about your value -- what is the value that you are communicating to your sponsors, and do they feel that it is worth the cost?  Will they get an ROI?

Listen, over the last two years we have had to stretch ourselves and do a lot of things in order to make good on the sponsorship contracts that we had in place.

The pandemic absolutely wiped out opportunities that we normally would be able to offer to our sponsors, and as we did our best and pivoting, we found that some things worked well and others simply did not. Ultimately, that means that our sponsors might have been happy, but they might also have been unhappy and not looking to partner in the short-term because they didn’t actualize value and ROI. 

If you're already at this place of a sponsor saying that they do not have a budget, then what I would recommend is having a sincere conversation about what value do they have a budget for, and what opportunities are they looking for, even if it's not with your organization for this year. 

Listen and ask why quite a bit. Get to the heart of what they specifically are looking for, whether it's a number of leads or getting in front of a specific segment of audience or the capacity in which they want to show up.

Many sponsors are moving from just wanting a logo and a shout-out during a breakout to wanting to present and share thought leadership and being seen as a source of knowledge for the people in your profession. 

Find out what they're looking for, and see if you can deliver that. You might be able to create a package for them that does work, even if it's rolled back. It's better to have some level of sponsorship than to have nothing. 

Now I want to be very clear here -- I'm not recommending that you offer them the same package for a lower amount. 

Don't discount yourself and don't lose profitability. 

What I am recommending is that you really listen to what they need, and see what new value you can offer, or what current value you could tweak, and then price based on the value. Never give away value in excess beyond what price you’re capturing. Strongly reconsider what value you are offering, and then how much you get as your piece of the pie, which is your price. 

If you're not at this place yet of sponsors declining based on budget, that's even better. I want you to still go have that same conversation with your sponsors and ask “As we move forward into the next one to two years, are there other ways that you can see partnering with us, or do you have any other ideas or any other marketing objectives that we can help you meet?” 

You may not be able to do everything that they asked for. They might ask for your list, and you might not be able to give that ethically. 

They might ask to sponsor breakouts, but if you have specific continuing education requirements that state that you cannot have sponsored-presenting sessions, that might be out of reach.

Do listen to what they are looking for and see how you might be able to accommodate that. 

Bring those ideas back to your staff. Don't keep it amongst business development.

Talk to education and membership and events. See if they have ideas of how they could sprinkle in sponsored opportunities that are a win-win. The goal is for sponsors to provide value for your members and your audience, and in return they meet the marketing objectives of your sponsors that they are willing to spend money on.

Now is absolutely a great time to reset and have meaningful conversations with your sponsors around what they need while maintaining a solid relationship so that you can sell them the right solutions.