I was recently asked for some advice on finding a sponsor and found myself getting quite carried away with a detailed response which i thought i would share.
When looking for sponsors I would suggest a two-pronged approach. As with any form of public relations or marketing activity, following up and persistence is critical to success. Make an initial contact by phone and ask who the best person to speak to about sponsorship. Try and gauge their level of interest briefly and then offer to send them a sponsorship pack out. Follow up with a call after the pack is received and ask if you can come and see them to explain more. Therefore the pack needs to contain the key details but leave a few gaps/questions which means the target will need to see you to find out more.
I would certainly recommend spending some money on getting your sponsorship brochures nicely presented and bound – the extent to which you spend on this will depend on who you are targeting and how much money you want. If for example you are approaching a blue chip company and are looking for several thousand pounds then the package must be smartly presented. Conversely if you are a small charity asking for a few pounds from local organisations then you may give the wrong impression if you use a plush brochure for your appeal as it looks like you are already rich! The sponsorship package must outline the key benefits to the organisation that this sponsorship association will bring. So if you are a charity you might outline your work, the opportunities for sponsor engagement (eg free tickets to an event), opportunities for sponsors to promote themselves (eg weblinks, adverts in programmes/magazines etc), the profile of existing customers and how this matches to the sponsors’ target audience and so on.
Without knowing the context of the sponsorship need its difficult to suggest anything else but if its an event that you seek sponsors for then you could ask them to attend a previous event (FOC) to see what its like before they commit to funding. Similarly if you are a sportsperson for example then invite potential sponsors to come to an open day at your training centre or watch you compete.
Good luck in your search!
If you would like further support in securing sponsorship then contact kate(at)activemd.co.uk or call 01603 716700
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Friday, 11 December 2009
Shortlisted for Young Businesswoman Award
I'm still coming to terms with reaching the finals of the East of England Businesswoman of the Year (EEBW) awards in the young businesswoman category. All quite a shock as the competition seemed pretty stiff and the judge's questions were very searching, especially on finances.
Since the EDP launched their Future 50 list of entrepreneurs to watch in the Autumn my feelings about promoting women in business have galvanised somewhat, and I have been inspired to do my damnedest to get myself in the Future 50 2010 to grow the current representation of just two women. In the many discussions which the Future 50 has sparked in recent weeks, there are two key points that have been repeated many times. Firstly how do you measure success? The Future 50 criteria relied heavily on the importance of financial success and a scaleable model - the EEBW awards conversely put weight on community involvement and voluntary work and well as cold, hard figures.
The second issue that keeps coming up is the general reluctance of women in business to shout about our success. I have to say I felt pretty uncomfortable compiling my entry for the EEBW awards which required me to boast about the (modest) success of my business. The many kind congratulations I have received since reaching the finals also feel somewhat awkward but I suppose that is all part of learning to have more confidence in our abilities and to shout about it from the rooftops.
Here is the full press release about the EEBW awards for information:
Since the EDP launched their Future 50 list of entrepreneurs to watch in the Autumn my feelings about promoting women in business have galvanised somewhat, and I have been inspired to do my damnedest to get myself in the Future 50 2010 to grow the current representation of just two women. In the many discussions which the Future 50 has sparked in recent weeks, there are two key points that have been repeated many times. Firstly how do you measure success? The Future 50 criteria relied heavily on the importance of financial success and a scaleable model - the EEBW awards conversely put weight on community involvement and voluntary work and well as cold, hard figures.
The second issue that keeps coming up is the general reluctance of women in business to shout about our success. I have to say I felt pretty uncomfortable compiling my entry for the EEBW awards which required me to boast about the (modest) success of my business. The many kind congratulations I have received since reaching the finals also feel somewhat awkward but I suppose that is all part of learning to have more confidence in our abilities and to shout about it from the rooftops.
Here is the full press release about the EEBW awards for information:
A young Norfolk business owner is flying high after reaching the finals of the East of England Businesswoman awards, which will be held in the shadow of Stansted Airport in February. Active Marketing & Design Director Kate Elliott (29) beat competitors from six counties to reach the final three of the Young Businesswoman of the Year category in the Lloyds TSB-sponsored awards, which are organised by the Institute of Directors.
“I’m amazed to have been shortlisted against brilliant businesswomen from across the region,” exclaimed Kate, who is responsible for all aspects of client management, along with copy writing and managing the company’s main office in Blofield. “The entry process was quite rigorous with a 2000 word essay and then an intense interview with a panel of five judges that included Karen Hester, Operations Director of Adnams and a previous winner of the award.”
The judges were impressed with Kate’s drive and enthusiasm to establish the business she conceived just over 3 years ago with work colleague Claire McDermid. Together these enterprising women have built up a client base from scratch, remortgaging their homes to raise start-up capital. Their client list includes public sector bodies such as Broadland District Council, the UEA and independent local businesses like the Norwich Lighting Centre.
A keen networker herself, Kate has also given her time freely to start four local business networks including the innovative Norfolk Netwalking group. Kate is committed to a variety of charitable causes and is a regular volunteer with the Riding for the Disabled, also completing pro bono public relations projects for the Buckenham House Group based at Middle Harling.
Steve Elsom, from lead sponsor Lloyds TSB Commercial, said: "We have been impressed by the high quality of the entrants this year. Their drive and talent is a real credit to them and it says great things about the business being delivered here in the East of England.”
The final will take place at the SAS Radisson Hotel in Stansted on 4th February 2010.
For further information about Active Marketing & Design Ltd visit www.activemd.co.uk or call 01603 716700
For further information about the awards see www.eebw.co.uk
Monday, 7 December 2009
Women mean business in Norwich
I came back with some really strong and inspirational messages from today's launch of the WEETUnetwork at Dunston Hall. It was fantastic to see sparky TV presenter Trisha Goddard complete with big new hairdo fighting fit and well on the road to recovery after battling with breast cancer. Never one to mince her words, Trisha had plenty to say about inspiring our daughters to be the businesswomen of the future, and talked passionately about instilling a work ethic in young people, just as her parents made her work hard for her pocket money as a child. I'm really keen to support young women into business and self employment and to give them the opportunity to consider enterprising ambitions in the future, and it seemed that Trisha would be an excellent role model for them to aspire to.
Trisha referred fondly to memories of her grammar school headmistress who had every day instilled a sense of self-belief in her pupils through rousing school assemblies, something I think is lost in most modern schools since the demise of the daily assembly.
She spoke of how her eldest daughter is currently working her way through university, despite her "privileged" upbringing, and how she encouraged her daughters not to feel the need to conform but to cherish their individuality. It seemed that she was suggesting that this unique selling point in each of our personalities is key to our success as individuals in work and life, a point which resonates closely with my thoughts on successful marketing which is so much easier when your business is distinctive.
Trisha also spoke from personal experiences about the critical importance of balancing health and work, firstly in her own battle with a mental breakdown and of course more recently her cancer diagnosis. She suggested that women usually work harder than men in managing both the home and work and we need to learn to give ourselves a break. These thoughts were echoed by the second speaker, Jane Trippett-Jones (Mayor of Diss) who raved about the benefits of a regular massage to simply reduce tension and stress. Both speakers highlighted the importance of voluntary work as key to building self-confidence and as an ideal route to pave the way for women to return to work.
WEETUnetwork is a new venture from the established Womens Employment Enterprise and Training Unit for "women who mean business". With the room bursting at the seams for the first event and Norwich North MP Chloe Smith notable amongst the audience, it was clear that WEETU mean business with their aim to become the recognised voice for women in the Eastern region and I hope the network continues to grow.
www.weetu.org
Trisha referred fondly to memories of her grammar school headmistress who had every day instilled a sense of self-belief in her pupils through rousing school assemblies, something I think is lost in most modern schools since the demise of the daily assembly.
She spoke of how her eldest daughter is currently working her way through university, despite her "privileged" upbringing, and how she encouraged her daughters not to feel the need to conform but to cherish their individuality. It seemed that she was suggesting that this unique selling point in each of our personalities is key to our success as individuals in work and life, a point which resonates closely with my thoughts on successful marketing which is so much easier when your business is distinctive.
Trisha also spoke from personal experiences about the critical importance of balancing health and work, firstly in her own battle with a mental breakdown and of course more recently her cancer diagnosis. She suggested that women usually work harder than men in managing both the home and work and we need to learn to give ourselves a break. These thoughts were echoed by the second speaker, Jane Trippett-Jones (Mayor of Diss) who raved about the benefits of a regular massage to simply reduce tension and stress. Both speakers highlighted the importance of voluntary work as key to building self-confidence and as an ideal route to pave the way for women to return to work.
WEETUnetwork is a new venture from the established Womens Employment Enterprise and Training Unit for "women who mean business". With the room bursting at the seams for the first event and Norwich North MP Chloe Smith notable amongst the audience, it was clear that WEETU mean business with their aim to become the recognised voice for women in the Eastern region and I hope the network continues to grow.
www.weetu.org
Monday, 30 November 2009
Feminomics: feminine values
I was wowed by Erika Watson MBE on Friday at The Forum. A pioneer for women's enterprise issues, Erika left her role as CEO of Prowess earlier this year to explore new challenges and is in the process of writing a book.
I have to be honest, I wasn't completely sure what to expect, and was a teeny bit worried that it might descend into a man-hating, bra burning kind of debate. But Erika did a great job of presenting some key facts about the role of gender values in the recession and the wider economy to the gathered audience of Women, Research and Enterprise Forum (WREF) members and friends, which allowed us to draw our own conclusions. My conclusions were:
1. The UK has a huge distance to travel to reach anything close to gender equality in the workplace. As the discussion was focused on the circumstances of the recession, we looked specifically at the financial services and banking industries where the gender pay gap is the largest of any industry sector at a whopping 55%. Similarly women earn only 20% of the bonuses of their male counterparts.
2. Self employed women do far more unpaid work than any other group. This includes caring for family, voluntary work and contributing to the community. Therefore encouraging more women into enterprise has a massive, unrecorded wider impact.
2. I learnt a lot about the concept of feminine values - it doesn't mean everyone hugs each other and eats chocolate at board meetings - far from it. The difference between feminine and masculine values can be seen clearly when it comes to measuring success. In masculine terms, a country's economic success is measured in GDP, that is cold hard cash. If you use feminine values (which interestingly are being adopted in France and have been mooted by our own David Cameron), success is all about quality of life, sustainability and environmental impact.
Achieving success in terms of masculine values could come at the expense of all of the above.
Read Erika's blog: http://enterpriseandequality.wordpress.com/
I have to be honest, I wasn't completely sure what to expect, and was a teeny bit worried that it might descend into a man-hating, bra burning kind of debate. But Erika did a great job of presenting some key facts about the role of gender values in the recession and the wider economy to the gathered audience of Women, Research and Enterprise Forum (WREF) members and friends, which allowed us to draw our own conclusions. My conclusions were:
1. The UK has a huge distance to travel to reach anything close to gender equality in the workplace. As the discussion was focused on the circumstances of the recession, we looked specifically at the financial services and banking industries where the gender pay gap is the largest of any industry sector at a whopping 55%. Similarly women earn only 20% of the bonuses of their male counterparts.
2. Self employed women do far more unpaid work than any other group. This includes caring for family, voluntary work and contributing to the community. Therefore encouraging more women into enterprise has a massive, unrecorded wider impact.
2. I learnt a lot about the concept of feminine values - it doesn't mean everyone hugs each other and eats chocolate at board meetings - far from it. The difference between feminine and masculine values can be seen clearly when it comes to measuring success. In masculine terms, a country's economic success is measured in GDP, that is cold hard cash. If you use feminine values (which interestingly are being adopted in France and have been mooted by our own David Cameron), success is all about quality of life, sustainability and environmental impact.
Achieving success in terms of masculine values could come at the expense of all of the above.
Read Erika's blog: http://enterpriseandequality.wordpress.com/
Friday, 23 October 2009
Man made recession
At risk of sounding like a man-hating, bra burning activist I was struck by a comment I read online recently: This recession is man made. Despite the best efforts of the equal opportunities policy-makers, its fair to say that men still hold a strong majority of the positions in senior management. Likewise in politics women are still under-represented, a point noted by David Cameron recently as he drives to recruit more female candidates for his party.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that it would have been a completely different story if women ruled the world, but simply that its worth considering the difference that a few more women in the banking boardrooms for example could have made. Stereotypically women are more cautious and risk-averse, characteristics that might have reduced the widely publicised problems of reckless lending. We all know that women like to talk things through (often at great length while long-suffering men politely pretend to listen), but maybe these soft skills could have been put to good use in discussing small issues before we reached such a global crisis.
The truth is that men and women are different, with stereotypical skill sets that make each of us well-suited to certain tasks and roles. I hope that we will continue to see the development of diversity in the workplace and that this balance in business will help to reduce the impact of the next recession.
I'm not suggesting for a moment that it would have been a completely different story if women ruled the world, but simply that its worth considering the difference that a few more women in the banking boardrooms for example could have made. Stereotypically women are more cautious and risk-averse, characteristics that might have reduced the widely publicised problems of reckless lending. We all know that women like to talk things through (often at great length while long-suffering men politely pretend to listen), but maybe these soft skills could have been put to good use in discussing small issues before we reached such a global crisis.
The truth is that men and women are different, with stereotypical skill sets that make each of us well-suited to certain tasks and roles. I hope that we will continue to see the development of diversity in the workplace and that this balance in business will help to reduce the impact of the next recession.
Monday, 21 September 2009
EDP Future 50 - Women in Business
Last week the bible of Norfolk life, the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) published their Future 50 list of East Anglian entrepreneurs to watch over the next 12 months. Disappointingly only 2 women featured in the ones to watch and I felt compelled to write the letter below which was published in the EDP on Saturday 19th September:
Congratulations to the EDP business team on your excellent Future 50 project. Its fantastic to see the local media supporting local businesspeople in this way and sending out a positive message to readers in spite of the surrounding economic doom and gloom. I was however disappointed to see that only 2 enterprising women (Claire Martinsen and Kate Gaskin) made it into the list. This mirrors the pattern of last year’s Power 100 list in which I recall we were similarly sparsely represented. I’m sure that a balanced, high quality publication such as the EDP is not specifically discriminating but moreover that there are simply not enough women in business in Norfolk who are shouting about their success.
We have recently completed some research into female enterprise skills in association with the UEA and this identified that women still lack confidence in asserting and fulfilling their enterprising ambitions. As a result, a programme of training and support will be rolled out for women as part of Global Enterprise Week in November. Lets hope that after this many more women will be confident in their enterprising abilities and apply for the Future 50 in 2010.
Yours faithfully
Kate Elliott
The letter seems to have got everyone talking and I now have the ear of the EDP Business Editor which I hope to bend with my further thoughts! Watch this space...
Congratulations to the EDP business team on your excellent Future 50 project. Its fantastic to see the local media supporting local businesspeople in this way and sending out a positive message to readers in spite of the surrounding economic doom and gloom. I was however disappointed to see that only 2 enterprising women (Claire Martinsen and Kate Gaskin) made it into the list. This mirrors the pattern of last year’s Power 100 list in which I recall we were similarly sparsely represented. I’m sure that a balanced, high quality publication such as the EDP is not specifically discriminating but moreover that there are simply not enough women in business in Norfolk who are shouting about their success.
We have recently completed some research into female enterprise skills in association with the UEA and this identified that women still lack confidence in asserting and fulfilling their enterprising ambitions. As a result, a programme of training and support will be rolled out for women as part of Global Enterprise Week in November. Lets hope that after this many more women will be confident in their enterprising abilities and apply for the Future 50 in 2010.
Yours faithfully
Kate Elliott
The letter seems to have got everyone talking and I now have the ear of the EDP Business Editor which I hope to bend with my further thoughts! Watch this space...
Monday, 10 August 2009
Creating a social media personality
I have been lucky enough in the last week to deliver two workshops on social media and to share the potential of online networking with some interested individuals. The great thing about training and teaching is that I always find myself learning something at the same time as sharing my knowledge with others. One of the key comments raised in one workshop was the importance of integrating all aspects of social media activity into a streamlined strategy with blogging at the core. As I work my way through the maze of social networking opportunities I can really start to see the potential benefits of a holistic approach, although I am not yet tempted to go as far as "cheating" by using automatic updates as i still feel the individuality of the posts is crucial. One of the key values of social media is the importance of personality, which must show through in both individuals and brands. This also extends to adding an element of emotion to posts which makes them far more interesting to the reader.
Kirstie Allsopp @KirstieMAllsopp (posh presenter of Location, Location, Location) is an astute example of a social media-savvy celeb. One of her tweets which stayed in my mind when asked for a twitter tip was simply FFF - follow fun folk. She mixes home life and work life in her posts to achieve a healthy balance of personality and emotion with the serious promotion of her new tv series. When recently appointed as a celeb ambassador for the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, organisers credited the fact she made a personal call to express her keen interest in the role as a key factor in their choice. Again the real personality is shining through.
The challenge for small businesses is to identify and develop this type of appealing, almost human personality for their brand and share it with the world.
Kirstie Allsopp @KirstieMAllsopp (posh presenter of Location, Location, Location) is an astute example of a social media-savvy celeb. One of her tweets which stayed in my mind when asked for a twitter tip was simply FFF - follow fun folk. She mixes home life and work life in her posts to achieve a healthy balance of personality and emotion with the serious promotion of her new tv series. When recently appointed as a celeb ambassador for the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, organisers credited the fact she made a personal call to express her keen interest in the role as a key factor in their choice. Again the real personality is shining through.
The challenge for small businesses is to identify and develop this type of appealing, almost human personality for their brand and share it with the world.
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